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Gayle wrote a very thoughtful and interesting letter, which I appreciate.
May I post this reply.

She wrote: " I've been ruminating about the message two weeks ago from a
woman who said her reaction to gluten had been eliminated by Chinese
acupuncture treatments.  What I wonder is whether or not it might be
possible that the acupuncture treatments might turn off that trigger
after it had been activated?  That would make it possible for a full
blown celiac who had been successfully treated by acupuncture to still
have the defective gene which causes celiac disease, but not be sick and
not react to gluten.  It might, in effect, turn many of us who have
celiac disease back into the second twin."

Or, I wonder, is it possible that accupuncture (and I do believe Eastern
healing methods are valuable and work) has relieved stress and brought her
body into an energy balance and her symptoms have abated while the disease
is still present. If our best preponderance of medical and experiential
information on Celiac has taught us so far that the gluten can be causing
destruction with a long period passing before symptoms are apparent, that's
the information I'm trusting. At 53 I might try accupuncture or Reiki (I'm
a Reiki practitioner) and hope to help my healing through symptom abatement
but I would not trust that healing to mean I am not celiac any more and I
would not reassault my body with what I consider to be poisonous for me.

Gayle also wrote: "It is so easy to simply believe that we, as celiacs,
have a life-threatening condition that is irreversible and not dangerous
as long as we avoid gluten for the rest of our lives.  But that concept
may make us blind to the possibility that we can reverse the process...
undo the trigger, and "

I disagree completely...it is anything but easy to accept Celiac as non
reversable. In fact I see and hear a myriad of folks trying to believe it
is not! I certainly wish it could be reversed. Perhaps the anecdotal
evidence we're hearing indicates that possibility. I'll be interested to
follow any research! Personally, I'll not participate in a study at my age.
I need to be sure I'm continuing to heal and eating gluten again seems too
great a risk for  me. Ironically, you mention your life being open to "all
sorts of gastronomic wonders" since reintroducing wheat. While I miss some
things, I feel like my kitchen got converted to a rather gastronomically
wonder-filled zone when I turned it gluten free, got some basic info and
some Hagman cookbooks and started using new ingredients to create. A friend
asked me to bake her birthday cake because she thought my gluten free one
was so delicious. And she's not celiac. This disease is hard to comply with
but it doesn't have to be a drag! I'm a lactose intolerant vegetarian who's
very sensitive to gluten. I've been diagnosed since October, when I was
very, very ill and I'm improving and seeing glimpses of thriving so far.

Best of luck in your healing and thanks for inspiring  us to think! Fondly,
deb


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Deborah Kate Hammond
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