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Jackie,

    There'd be no way I could convince my dad he has celiac.  He's had acid
reflux so long he's used to it.  His chronic sinus trouble is explained by a
deviated septum, his brown spots on his face are something the doctor simply
scrapes off, and my sister as head of the hospital lab says all his usual
tests are perfect.  She has not tested him for celiac, and probably won't.
He is 69, and apparently in excellent health.

    I have mild scoliosis, had terrible posture as a child, was a very
picky eater.  The only symptom that forced me to consider  gluten
intolerance was a bout of diarrhea I caught when it went around, and it
never went away.  Nothing seemed to help much.  I'd also had really
heavy periods for 10 years that also responded to nothing else.  I'd had
acid reflux off and on for 3 years.  None of this happened till I was
43, so if you are still in your 30's you could have another 10 years or
the rest of your life with the illusion that you are normal.  You may
have nothing damaged in your intestine except the part that absorbs
iron, though I think most celiacs eventually discover they can't drink
milk anymore.  But none of us humans are "normal", we all have
differences.  You happen to have been given a name and a regime to deal
with yours, whether you do it is up to you.  As I say, I did not have
noticeable symptoms for years, nothing to make anyone suspect there was
anything like celiac going on.  But I had 15 years of back pain at
night, eventually progressing to day and night.  I lost 2 molars to poor
calcium absorption.  I spent a couple of years, no closer to 4, under
the weather because I didn't know my magnesium and calcium were at rock
bottom, and I would have "attacks" of feeling wiped out, which I
eventually discovered responded to salt.  I think a lot of the
"hypoglycemia" people get in fibromyalgia is not just falling blood
sugar, I think it can be from the adrenals freaking outover their last
meal and dropping a load of salt into the kidneys.  Blood pressure
drops, and the person feels washed out, even shaky and panicky.

    If any of you want to try the salt to deal with the effects of
accidental gluten ingestion, the test formula is 1/8 tsp salt in 8 oz
water.  If you can;t taste salt, you need it.  One of these attacks hit
me at work one day, and a woman I'd gotten on the salt and magnesium
solutions (same strength, Epsoms salts, with bitterness the clue you
don't need it) a couple of years earlier said, "I know what you need"
and gave me about half a teaspoon of salt in a little water.  It tasted
great, and I felt fine the rest of the day.  I found out since I've got
celiac, and I still do the salt when I crash (and start wondering what I
ate that did it), and I am now convinced she has celiac too.  (She has
LOTS of health problems, all look like celiac) I too wonder what to do
about celiacs who just don't feel sick enough to want to think about it.
Like my 3 sons in their early 20's who all have mild scoliosis or poor
posture, never been tested.  In general, men do not seem to suffer as
much from celiac because they don't bleed every month, and they don't
have the volatile calcium/magnesium metabolism women do.  I think it
takes bad gut trouble to get them to deal with it.  If I could have
controlled the gut trouble myself, I wouldn't be here either.  No one in
my family has ever been suspected of having celiac disease.  Donna