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First, thank you all very much for corresponding with me about reactions to lidocaine or carbocaine and about eye health and CD. 

I really don't know how to "summarize" all of the information--the volume of mail was huge, and everyone had such interesting experiences. I tried to write each of you a short personal note and hope that I didn't miss anyone. I learned so much--thank you!

Most of you wrote several paragraphs about your reactions to various "caines" and many of you posed your own questions back to me. For example, one person wondered if the agent that was placed on gums "prior" to injection contains gluten, which seems like a very good question. I don't know the answer! Along those lines, I wonder if any of the various agents and rinses used in a routine dental cleaning might also contain gluten--a good question for hygienists.

Five people sent me a great URL (www.glutenfreedrugs.com) and one person said that the author of that website, a pharmacist, believes that injectables do not contain gluten.

Some of you stated that the epinephrine in lidocaine had caused tachycardia and that using epinephrine-free injectables solved the problem. 

After reading all of your notes, I got to thinking about this: Because so many celiacs have problems tolerating the "caines" and because the "caines" seem to be GF, I wonder if there is something other than gluten that could make celiacs more susceptible to having (allergic) reactions than non-celiacs. If so, what is it? Could it be a metabolic "thing" that is as yet unidentified?

One of the reasons that I posed the question about eye health is that at about the same time that I mysteriously developed an unpleasant reaction to lidocaine, I also "suddenly" developed a very severe reaction to ophthalmic numbing agents. Simultaneous with these weird happenings, my intraocular pressure, which had always been normal, all of a sudden skyrocketed and has been that way since 1996. 

But, here's what is interesting: last month, just 2 months after having been diagnosed with CD and having adhered to the diet for that period of time, my intraocular pressure (for the first time since 1996) was "almost" normal. My ophthalmologist thinks that there is absolutely no correlation, but for me, there is no other explanation. Everything else about my health has improved markedly because of the diet, so perhaps the diet is also responsible for the improved IOP reading. Surely it cannot simply be dismissed, especially if the information could also help other people who are having the same problem!

Finally, nine of you have asked me to continue to send you any interesting findings on these topics. I have kept a record of who you are and will do so. If anyone else is interested, please drop me a note and I will put you on the list.

Thanks again!

* Visit the Celiac Web Page at www.enabling.org/ia/celiac/index.html *