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To all you helpful list-mates, thought you might like to know what's
happening with my son's friend.  He decided to avoid gluten last week, and
he's a very intelligent young man, so I'm guessing he's been pretty
successful in doing so.  Just to jog your memories, he's the guy diagnosed
with psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis, and has lately added digestive
problems.

..................................................


Mary,

Thanks for the good words.  I cannot believe how much response you are
getting from your newsgroup.  I never could have imagined there are so many
people out there relating similar experiences.  In almost ten years, I have
only met one person with remotely similar symptoms and it seems to me that
my problem could potentially be more common than I had thought.

Things are going pretty good the last few days - appetite returned, guts
feeling better, and weirdly enough I can see better when I'm driving (used
to have alot of trouble focusing).  Sleep habits changed - I used to sleep
12+ hrs a day and now I cant sleep more than 8.  The prednisone is working
on my skin (less itchy) and I'm due for remicade treatment within the next
two weeks.  My research on the clinical pathology of CD/DH indicates that
remicade would be effective on symptoms of CD/DH because one of the
components in the CD/DH inflammation is TNF-a (Tumor Necrosis Factor
Alpha).

And of course, remicade is an anti-TNFa drug.  This means that if I do have
CD then it will not be a waste of time.  Oh - and there is no gluten in
remicade either.

I plan to schedule a biopsy shortly after I move to Edmonton.  I will
talk with my rheumatologist and formulate a battle plan because there
has got to be more to this than just psoriasis.  If it is psoriasis at
all.  I will let you know any results as soon as I find them.

Thank you,

Mark