<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>> Hello All, My sincere thanks to all who took the time to respond to my post on this subject. A number of interesting things came to light. The first being that it seems it may be in the nature of DH to flare-up from time to time, even in those on a strict GF diet, given certain circumstances. What circumstances? Well, the commonest seems to be the old nasty - stress. A number of you reported DH attacks coming during or after periods of stress. One of you gets itchy knees and elbows on a regular if infrequent basis at such times. And I have to say, reading your posts, and doing further research on the net, I have a feeling in my water that it was the biggest contributor to my own problem - which is now thankfully, but only slowly, receeding. DH can persist for a long time after going GF. Many of you confirmed this, and there is ample evidence for it on the net. The deposits which it leaves in the skin can be detected for months - even a year or more, after going on a GF diet. A factor which took me totally by surprise was the influence that iodine may have on DH. Three of you mentioned it. There was some slightly conflicting advice, but it sent me scurrying to the net once again where the concensus among those medics who one hopes knows what they're talking about seems to be that things such as sea-salt, iodised table salt, shellfish, kelp etc. - things having a large percentage of iodine in them - can exacerbate an already existing DH condition. So, iodine being essential to us, keep off them at least until the skin has returned to normal. Iodine is also present in some household cleaners. So I guess one should be wary of them too. Along with such things as bromides - again in some household cleaners. (What is a bromide??) And even be careful of non-steroidal, anti-inflammatory pain killers of the Ibuprofen kind. Those were the main things. Some of you advised care about shampoos, toothpastes, body-lotions etc. as possible sneaky sources of gluten. And one warned against wheat starch. The only wheat starch I've ever knowingly ingested has been that manufactured according the Codex Alimentarius - which has had an airing recently on this list - and in all the time I've had no problem from it. One warned about the possibility of other allergies in addition to that of gluten. (I think I'm right in saying that DH is not strictly an allergy). According to that same person, our immune systems may be so compromised that other things such as even quinoa can give problems - as in his own case. And there were the usual exhortations to be very careful about dairy, and soy. I hope this is as much use to others out there as it was to me, and once again I thank you all very much. And for those who expressed sympathy with my shingles - which have actually gone now - another thank you. They too I think were a reaction to stress. And in fact one of you said that like me, they had had shingles along with a DH flare-up. So be warned! Fight stress. Otherwise you might get DH and shingles together! And shingles, I tell you, made even DH seem almost bearable! :-) Jeff in London, UK