<<Disclaimer:  Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>

I have appreciated getting to know you people over the "net" and learning from
you all more about CD.  It is fun telling people when asked that "yes, I know
other celiacs in a similar situation like ours.  In fact I know of not only
many
in the states but some in Australia and Spain and ..."

I have downloaded the BLOODTST information document and appreciate it very
much.
My question is with regards to a doctors visit in a couple weeks.  Here is a
little history of our situation.  After we had been playing with our 1 ? year
old's diet for a month or so we went to the doctor.  Based on our descriptions
and foods we had eliminated that seemed to help, the first thing out of his
mouth was "we first need to eliminate CD" (1 for the doctor).  He did not warn
us that a diagnosis of celiac would be much harder to produce after going
GF (1
against the doctor).  I am not really convinced that the doctor knows that it
will be harder to get a proper diagnosis now versus before the GF diet (he
relies much on the Childrens Hospital 3 hours away).  Enough was going on at
that time in our lives that we decided to try the diet (we have a friend
who has
CD) and if it works either just stay with it or have him tested later.

We will be taking our almost 2 year old in for an appointment with the doctor.
We are sure he is going to want us to do a challenge and blood test at least.
Now, if the
       IgG AGA  needs a couple months of gluten to do it's thing   and
       IgA ARA   correlates with flat mucosa (a couple month's time at least)
and
       IgA AGA   quickly responds to gluten

How long does IgA EmA take to change?  Are we testing just 1 (IgA AGA) of
these
4 since he has been GF for 6 months and we don't want to do a challange for
any
longer than necessary?  We are not against the gluten challange but are
against
doing it for the 2 months or more that it would take for these other blood
antibodies to show up or a biopsy to be of benefit.  In our minds we know
he has
CD and the only benefit of going through all this is so the doctor will agree
with us.  The pharmacy already knows we need GF stuff for him and family and
friends are understanding so if a blood test won't tell us anything we can
hang
our hats on (because of being GF for so long) why bother?

Tim Meadows, Warsaw, IN
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