<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>> Hello, everybody -- Okay, here is my story. I ll try to keep it short. I have been feeling pretty lousy for a long time. Symptoms include depression, fatigue, PMS, abdominal cramps, migraines. I would have different symptoms on different days, and I could never figure out what the problem was. I knew, however, that it was food related, because I went on a caveman s diet two years ago, cutting out all sugar, wheat, potatoes, corn, dairy, legumes, and I felt better than I remember ever feeling before. So this year I started to do this again. I cut out everything again, with the idea of adding things back one by one, after I started feeling better, to see what the culprit was. I also kept a diary of everything I ate and all my symptoms. Well, this is a really hard diet to stay on, and I would cheat once in awhile with, say, crackers. And in my search for non-wheat flours, I came across spelt. The day I made the spelt pancakes was horrible! I was so grouchy I couldn t stand it! Well, this was obviously a clue. I d also recently read an ad in the newspaper about the local Gluten Intolerance meeting, which included possible symptoms. So I was on the alert. I looked back in my diary, and saw that my symptoms did seem to follow wheat ingestion. So I went totally off wheat. I also saw that I had diary after eating barley, so I went off barley, oats and rye as well. I started feeling really, really good, for about a week. Then I went to the Gluten Intolerance meeting, where everyone told me I need to be tested, and I need to be eating wheat to be tested. So, like a good little girl, I went home and had a hamburger (with bun). I immediately started getting depressed. Of course, being depressed because I ve eaten wheat on top of being depressed because I have to make myself sick in order to get well really made a lot of sense to me. But I stuck with it. I went to my general practitioner, in the hopes of getting a referral to a gastroenterologist in the area who is supposed to be very knowledgeable about celiacs. The GI is no longer taking new patients, but is taking referrals. Anyway, I made the mistake of telling my regular doctor that my main symptom is depression. He of course decided that this was all a mental problem, but to be different from other doctors I have been to, he did not refer me to a psychiatrist, but instead suggested I go to church. As I already go to church, and the people praying for me have been the only thing keeping me alive, I didn t think this was the problem. Anyway, I guess to prove to me that it was all in my head, the doctor wanted to do some tests. He took blood, and tested and retested my thyroid. All came out well, which is to be expected if I am gluten intolerant, but also if it is all in my head. Next time I went, I took my husband, who is much more persuasive than I. The doctor agreed to give me a referral. Unfortunately, the earliest appointment was two months away. As I had already been a month back on wheat, and feeling really horrible, I ended up going to another GI, who would see me sooner. To my surprise, he agreed to do an endoscopy the following Monday! Tues day, he told me I don t have celiac. He then gave me Flagyl, which I diligently took for a week. This apparently did some good, to his credit. But, I also cut down on my wheat consumption. After fasting for the endoscopy, I then ate no wheat, thinking I would be going off permanently anyway. Besides, I wanted to feel better. I still get depressed or irritable after eating wheat, and the doctor has not given me a satisfactory answer why. Anyway, after taking Flagyl for a week, and cutting WAY down on wheat, I was feeling quite a bit better. I went back to the doctor and told him this, so he marked my file CURED. I told him I still have mood swings with wheat, and I plan to not eat it anymore, and he basically ignored this. He then decided to tell me I had two polyps in my stomach, which were nothing to worry about at this point, but I should get them checked every few years. So here is where I am: I am a self-diagnosed celiac. I am tired of going to doctor after doctor and trying unsuccessfully to get help. I am 38 years old, so I am choosing for myself to stop trying to be tested. I can either believe the doctor who says I am not celiac, (and who, by the way, said he took the biopsy in my stomach) and go on eating wheat and feeling bad, or I can keep eating wheat and keep going from doctor to doctor, feeling bad. Or I can quit eating wheat and feel good. Since I have these polyps in my stomach which need to be tested again, maybe a few years down the road, maybe I will feel better about eating wheat for a month before my next endoscopy. As it is, I feel really good right now, eating everything but wheat, oats, barley, rye and spelt (which I found out is higher in gluten than wheat). So I choose. My problem now is that I feel I won t be supported by my local support group. I don t want to go to every meeting expecting to argue about why I choose to feel better rather than fight the doctors. So that s my story. I m sorry if it s too long for those of you who are rushed for time. Just wanted to let you know I m out here lurking. And thank you all for your unknowing support. Debbie McCollister Man shall not live by bread alone. -- Jesus