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Hi,

My family and my husband's family have a great number of food
intolerance's (including gluten).  I am writing you about my
father-in-law.  He doesn't like to talk much about his problems because
he considers it personal.  This is what I know about his problems
because there is no way around it when he goes to the hospital etc.  He
is 70 yrs. old with an average build.  The Drs. keep telling him that he
needs to loose about 20 lbs, but he has very thin legs, arms, and no
buttucks.........so, why the weight loss suggestion.  Well, he looks 10
months pregnant.  He has always had a "bad" stomach (that is how he puts
it) and needs to make frequent bathroom trips (I think it must be a
little like diarrhea because he says things just go right through him).
He has to run to the john after having dairy, but especially after
Italian meals (wheat pasta, and cheese), and therefore tends to avoid
dairy and Italian foods.  He was diagnosed with diverticulitus (sp?)
several years ago and the Drs. tell him that this is connected to the
"bad" stomach.  He is and has taken several medications to deal with his
"bad" stomach.  He is presently recovering from a TURP which in my
opinion is probably food related or at the very least aggravated by
food.  He does tend to get regular exercise (racquetball and golf).

My husband, 2 sons, and I are gluten free (our 3rd son only needs to
avoid dairy and therefore we do have regular bread in the house for
him.........I know about the bread crumb and airborne problems that are
associated with this, but we are all able to tolerate this amount of
gluten).  We have been gluten free , dairy free, and several other foods
free for 2 years now.  Two years ago, we almost had to admit our middle
son because he lost so much weight and became so weak (we were told it
was psychological and it was only with the help of God that I decided to
take out gluten and dairy from his diet).  He took over a year to get
back on his feet and I was wondering if it was indeed gluten and dairy,
but today he is a miracle kid. his problems started when he was 3 yrs.
old and he is 13 now.  My father-in-law tends to think that we have gone
off the deep end because I don't allow my boys to have bread (they don't
like the gf breads).  He also thinks that I won't let my husband have
any, but it was his decision because he noticed a bunch of general
health benefits once going gf.  I use to get the sickest while visiting
my in-laws rather than my parents because my in-laws served bread with
every meal and my parents never did.  My in-laws often cooked Italian
and my parents were meat and potato people.

I know that my father-in-law won't go for a biopsy, but I may be able to
get him to try gluten free for a week (in a couple of months....once he
fully recovers from his TURP).  I am afraid that he may not have CD, but
rather gluten intolerance which means a biopsy and blood work may come
back negative anyway and then he won't have the support of the Dr.  He
won't believe what I have to say because I am not a Dr.........he puts a
lot of stock in what the Dr. says and would never question it. What if I
get him to go gluten free for a week and feels a lot better.......you'd
say let him go back to eating gluten and get tested, but what about
negative results like so many of us have?  I was gluten free for over a
year and then tried to eat gluten for a test. My GI said to eat gluten
for 3 months and then get tested.  Well, I made it 2 weeks and became to
sick to continue.  The GI had my blood tested then and it was
negative.........this GI didn't believe that I had CD anyway (said I had
IBS).  I was referred to this GI from a CD support group in my
area........he is suppose to be the best around.  Personally, I don't
think that I have CD (never will eat enough gluten to ever properly
confirm this anyway), but rather I am gluten intolerant which is almost
more difficult because people don't believe me.........think that it's
all in my head. What do you think is going on?  What would you suggest?
I will only summarize to the list if people ask me to.

Thanks in advance.

Pat in USA