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Hey everyone!

I'm katherine......living in atlanta, ga.  My only child so far is 18 mos
old, her name is Alana...dh is Marc.

I've known about this list for months, but just got around to subbing....I've
been lurking now for a few days.  I wish that replies went to the list, as
i'm so interested in answers to many of the ??'s that others have posted, but
oh well <sigh>  :)  Does anyone know about any other GF/celiac lists that are
a bit more 'chatty'?

I'll skip the whole long drawn out history and get to the pertinent info and
my ?'s

I still actually don't have a diagnosis.  My doc won't persue it - b/c she's
of the mindset that 'it's impossible to be 30 yo and have undiagnosed
celiac'.  she's also of the (erroneous) opinion that it's very rare....and
not considering my european and irish heritage.  I could, I suppose, track
down a doc who will do the tests for me, but it's very difficult to get to a
physician b/c I don't leave Alana with babysitters and none of our family
lives in the area (not that I'd leave her with most of them anyway;))

I'm 100% certain of my diagnosis....at first, I thought it was diary - this
was probably 10 yrs ago.  About 7 yrs ago, when my eczema (and now I know, DH
as well) was at it's unbelievable worst, a chiropractor said to me "you're
probably allergic to dairy".  I cut it out by going on Fit For Life and was
improving within 24 hours and better w/in 2 weeks.  What I didn't recognize
though, was that by following FFL to the *letter*, I was cutting out wheat
and diary.  I'd decided to sub the rare wheat foods for other things like
whole grain millet or quinoa, quinoa/corn pasta just b/c I  felt that they
were 'healthier' choices.

While I had moderate digestive symptoms, they came and went, I didn't have
any of the weight loss....being on FFL, eating basically fruits, veggies,
nuts, seeds, etc was fantastic for me.  I was very very healthy with only the
occasional 'problem' - which probably coincided with gluten intake - though
at the time I didn't know it.

As time went on, I strayed away.....I started eating more and more typical
foods over the course of time...digestive discomfort returned and increased,
eczema and dh (though no one recognized the dh) returned with increase
ferocity.  I cut out diary but kept eating other crap and got sicker and
sicker.  around that time (about 4-5 yrs ago), I came across _Against the
Grain_ and realized that this could be an issue for me.  Simultaneously, a
friend of the family, who is a doctor of Traditional Chinese Medicine, looked
at my arms, face, neck, hands, feet and said "dermatitis herpetiformis, not
eczema".  Then he showed me which spots were which -   I already knew that
there were two "different kinds of eczema" that I'd had since I was little
teeny tiny.

I did a little research, cut out gluten -bam!  improvement in 24 hours,
totally healed w/in two weeks.  For the last 4 yrs or so, I've gone back and
forth between gluten free, not gluten free, healthy, not healthy, whole
foods, processed foods.

By this time, I knew that gluten caused my eczema, caused my dermatitis
herpetiformis, but I *didn't* know that DH was basically celiac of the skin.
I knew that eating too much dairy caused digestive problems and knew that too
much gluten did too (gas, bloating,  occasional diarrhea) but I just figured
I was "allergic" to it and should avoid it.  In the back of my mind, I
wondered if continuing to ingest gluten could 'cause' celiac disease, or
cause silent celiac to sprout symptoms.....

got my answer this June.  developed full blown celiac at the beginning of
June.  I was in the midst of eating horribly and was so in denial.  I just
couldn't give up the crappy food and the wheat....  after spending 35 minutes
in the bathroom at Target, I decided I not only *could* I change it, but I
*had* to change it.  Wasn't fair to my baby for my to be spending the better
part of a day in the bathroom, and lots of time curled up on the sofa with
incredible abdominal pain.

That's it.  *done*  *finis*  That was sometime around the end of July.  I've
had a few slips- some accidental - one purposeful.  Ugh.  Got really sick
again.

After the (unfruitful) visit to the doc I just went ahead and told the fam
and friends that I was diagnosed.  When I'd previously tried to go GF, they
were very unsupportive, rude when I'd bring my own pasta or whatever to a
family dinner.  I knew that  *they* needed the diagnosis to take me
seriously.  So I gave it to them:)

B/c of my high level of certainty, I feel no need to further persue a
diagnosis, but have a question....should I anyways?  how would it benefit me?
Should I be enocouraging my first degree relatives to persue testing?

thanks so much for listening.  Interested in hearing responses.  Since i'm GF
right now, I know that testing wouldn't be accurate and I'd be very hesitant
to return to previous diet b/c I know not only how sick I can get in the
short term, but also b/c of the long term health risks.


katherine in atl