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I have taken this mailing list off and on for over a year.  I knew I had a
problem with wheat and there's a family history of gut problems.  No one had
been diagnosed with CD tho.  So, I read the list and kept telling my aunt she
should be checked thinking she was the most likely to have it.  I
experimented with the diet last year for a while and found I felt better -
less abdominal pain and bowel function very different than what I considered
my norm.

Eventually I began eating wheat again.  The symptoms increased, but not
anything radical.  I had more problems with a cough since I had an illness
six years.    I saw an allergist who did the serum tests (at my request) for
CD.  Only one was a low positive.  He recommended a gluten free diet and said
I might have a mild form of CD.  The usual med's didn't work for my cough and
finally my doctor referred me to a GI specialist.  He scoped me to check for
regurg and Barrett's esophagus (positive) and at my request since he was in
the neighborhood, for Celiac Disease.  Didn't believe I had it since I don't
have a weight problem.  Boy was he surprised when the biopsy came in.  I
gained a lot of browny points for being right about that one.  His advice was
not to be real psycho about the gluten and that it is okay to eat it every
now and than.  (I am making him, and my other doctor and family, copies of
the information in the archives.

So here I am with this diagnosis.  It is one thing to suspect you have it and
play around with the diet.  It is entirely different knowing you cannot
knowlingly eat something as before which contains a goodly amount of gluten.
 Walking down a grocery aisle and looking at all the things I cannot eat was
very sobering.

I love to bake and have many appliances, among them a grain mill (Whisper
Mill) and  pasta maker (Atlas).   Are these now considered contaminated?  Or
can I run something like lots of rice through the mill to clean it out.  Same
thing for the Atlas.

I am missing being able to grab a quick bite without having to think about it
or just grab something while I am out and about.  What helps with this?  We
are discussing whether or not a freezer would help.  I have a nickel allergy
and frozen foods would be better than canned items for me.

I am sorry if the length of this is a problem.  I am a little overwhelmed by
all of this tonight and had to vent a little.  Thank you all for your
wonderful stories.  I would not have been diagnosed without them.

Yvonne Bruesch