<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>> I am feeling extremely frustrated having just come back from an appointment for my 16 year old son with a Pediatric Gastroenterologist. I have biopsy diagnosed celiac (my blood tests were negative) , my sister was diagnosed at birth. My 16-year-old son has had chronic diarrhea since birth. He was diagnosed lactose intolerant at 6 months. We have seen numerous doctors who said he had juvenile diarrhea and it would clear up, as he got older. It hasn't! He is overweight by 50 pounds, has a lot of extra fat around his breasts and stomach, diarrhea 3 or 4 times a day with pain, painful gut and a lot of wind. He uses Immodium as he needs it to be able to function and go out. I have never put him on a gluten free diet, mostly due to his request not to and the fact that I realize if he is to be diagnosed he needs to be eating wheat. He actually chooses to eat a lot of wheat containing foods as his staple diet. He has had the blood tests done and all three of the antibody tests came back as normal. The gastroenterologist told us today there is no way he can have celiac. And that he either has a sucrose-maltose deficiency for which we are supposed to make him eat large amounts of fruit and have three stool samples done for stool ph and reducing substances. If that comes back normal then he must have Irritable Bowel Disease. This doctor said he sees a lot of irritable bowel and its VERY common and there really is no treatment and no definite diagnosis. But he can give him a mild anti-depressant that helps with the gut motility. One thing that confused me was this doctor said that pysillium (used as a bulking agent for irritable bowel) is derived from wheat or barley???? I was under the impression it was wheat free as my celiac doctor had said it was safe to use when my gut was bad. Maybe its just because I have celiac myself and I was misdiagnosed for 20 years of my life - and also diagnosed with irritable bowel in the past that I am feeling mixed emotions here. I really want to rule out completely any possibility of celiac as it seems to me my son has classic celiac symptoms and it would be so unfair to him to put him through what I went through with a misdiagnosis. I ended up with a cancerous large intestine polyp and the celiac was finally found at the same time. I am lucky I am alive today - but would not be if I had not finally found a great gastro doctor who cared enough to look into every possibility. Even with the strong family history of celiac, it still took 20 years to diagnose me!! Please could I have some informed feedback here - what I am seeking is papers, links, forums and other information that would help me decide whether to go back to this doctor armed with medical information to show that he needs to look further for a definite diagnosis. Or if anyone has information confirming that normal blood tests definitely rule out celiac. And then I guess I have to start researching irritable bowel. I cannot see this being a sucrose-maltose enzyme problem as my son does not eat fruits and still has diarrhea. But we will do the testing for that as requested. Does anyone know of a gastroenterologist specializing in celiac disease in the Bay Area/Pleasanton area?? I may have to insist we see a true specialist. Please even though I enjoy reading other peoples stories and histories, right now I need concrete evidence and medical opinions, papers etc. so I can go in armed with all the right information to hopefully get my son onto a healing regime. We all know how horrible it is to have chronic diarrhea and the exhaustion, hunger and irritability that go with it!! Thanks in advance. Chris Kranzler