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Hi Everyone,
    My brother and I are both biopsy diagnosed celiacs and we suspect that
our other brother also has celiac. My parents had the serology bloodwork and
they both came back normal/negative. The also just had the genetic test done by
Enterolab (Dr. Fine) and they each carry a gene. My dad has HLA-DQ2, the main
gene. My mom has HLA-DQ3, one of the main genes. My dad has nerve damage to his
abdomen. He is in constant severe pain and so he is on pain medication. This
has been going on for seven years and he isn't able to do anything besides eat
and sleep. He has been to Hopkins and the Mayo Clinic and many other places
and has tried different therapies including a spinal cord stimulator. The
doctors don't have anything left to offer besides pain management so they are
thinking of implanting a morphine pump. No one has been able to figure out what
caused the nerve damage. One idea is that he had shingles (which he doesn't
remember having) and it progressed and caused nerve damage.
    My question is, given that my brother and I both have celiac, what are
the chances that my dad has it even though his bloodwork was normal? I have
heard that Celiac can cause nerve damage, but he doesn't have GI symptoms.
Basically, he is wondering if he should have a biopsy and whether or not a doctor
will do one given the negative bloodwork and lack of typical GI symptoms.
Thanks in advance for input!
Jill in PA

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