<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>> In a message dated 1/3/2001 7:31:35 PM Mountain Standard Time, [log in to unmask] writes: > Do you have any information as to why celiac and diabetes are often > diagnosed together? They are both autoimmune diseases (like rheumatoid arthritis, lupus and other diseases). With diabetes, something (current thinking is that in many cases it is a retrovirus) triggers the body's immune system to atttack the insulin producing beta cells in the pancreas. I don't know a lot about the autoimmune response connected with celiac, other than it's primarily the small intestine where the damage is done since that's where most of the gluten proteins are in the body . . . In my daughter's case (where she's only recently been showing celiac symptoms and was also recently diagnosed with diabetes), it's is likely that whatever triggered one, triggered the other -- but this isn't necessarily the usual case . . . so far, every one I've heard from that has both, had the diabetes dx'd first and the celiac dx'd anywhere from a few years to a few decades later . . . HTH Lyndy