<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>> Thanks so much to all of you who responded with your advice and support. As I have not yet met a celiac face to face, it helps tremendously to know that I am not alone in my first efforts to deal with gluten-intolerance. I hope that this summary is helpful to anyone else with peripheral neuropathy or who is struggling in the first few months of a gf-diet. One of the most frequent responses I have received is to listen to what my body is telling me. There is probably something I'm still eating that could be making me sick. If ANY food is suspect, eliminate it for the time being. I spent half a day researching everything I've been eating and found that the insiduous corn tortilla might be the culprit. Having subsided on the authentic homemade ones during my travels in Central America, I guess I've been completely naive and unprepared for the blasphemous versions of tortillas they make in the States! I tried to call the company and guess what? Their number has been disconnected! I also learned that amaranth is in the cereal I was eating and that some people react negatively to amaranth. I'm also trying to stay on as bland a diet as possible until I start feeling a lot better. Secondly, I haven't received reports of a clearly defined "detox period" for antibodies affecting the nervous system, but one person said that they,too, tend to get cycling of symptoms even after being gf for years. One reply was that potentially "leaky gut" syndrome could be causing the peripheral neuropathy, and high IgG antigliadin antibodies are sometimes the only abnormal sign. While searching MedLine, I found a really interesting abstract: Hadjivassiliou, M., Gibson, A; Davies Jones, GA; Lobo, AJ; Stephenson, TJ; Milford Ward, A. 1996. Does cryptic gluten sensitivity play a part in neurological illness? Lancet, 347 (8998): 369-71. The good news is that from my personal experience and from the other articles I found on Medline, the peripheral neuropathy seems to responding to a gf-diet. (side note...if any doctor tells you your peripheral neuropathy is occurring because you're hyperventilating, put on your tennies and run away as fast as you can!!!!). Speaking of doctors, many have recommended that I see a really, really good doctor because I will just be wasting my time and money on all the rest. I'm a trained scientist and frankly I'm appalled at how few doctors I've seen that seem to believe in Occam's Razor (the simplest explanation is most likely correct...if one accepts the single condition that an endoscopy may not be 100% reliable then everything else would suggest a really bad case of gluten-intolerance) Also, many pathologists may not be well versed in reading the biopsies and it might help to send the samples to Mayo or U. of Maryland. Furthermore, sometimes 30 samples need to be taken during the endoscopy to detect CD. Many have warned me that lactose intolerance doesn't just go away in the first month or so, sometimes it can take up to 2 years, so I need to hold off on any milk products for a while. Many have also suggested I might have an additional food allergy. Since my symptoms seem to be "mini-episodes" of my previous gluten-sprees, I still suspect a hidden food source. Since I've improved after eliminating the tortillas and cereal, I hope I've found the culprit and cross my fingers that I'll have some more relief. Finally, many have written that I would have to ingest gluten again to have a positive diagnosis. Frankly, being one of those with peripheral neuropathy, I feel that I cannot risk doing that again because who knows what it is doing to my nervous system? How well I can keep recovering from these "episodes"? At this time I think I will be most happy if I can get a good doctor who could rule out anything else that might be causing my symptoms and in the absence of all else, assume I have CD. Thank you all for your help and advice, I would like to thank all my responders individually but it will take some time! I now realize that I have to really, really back off on introducing things into my diet, being "simply" gf (if that's not an oxymoron!) is too harsh on my system right now until it has a longer time to heal. I also would like to report that I had enough energy yesterday to do some shopping and go to the health food store to post a notice to start a local support group (since I've learned there apparently isn't one in my town)! Thanks again, Carrie, IA