<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>

In today's "Telegraph Magazine" (published as a supplement to a UK
newspaper - the Sunday Telegraph) there is an article which I quote :

--------------------------------------------------------------------
Diana H***** first symptoms - dizziness and exhaustion - started in her
late 20s. Then she started having fainting spells and was told she had
epilepsy. Bowel problems led to a specialist diagnosing coeliac disease
- an allergy to gluten - and she spent 11 years on a restricted diet.
Severs muscle pain led to a diagnosis of polymyalgia rheumatica, a
muscle disease, and she was sent to psychiatrists for depression. Other
conditions she has been told she had are myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME)
and myasthenia gravis, a serious neuromuscular disease.

Mrs H*****, 54, (personal details deleted gjk) put on 2 stone and even
spent time in a wheelchair, too weak to move. But her nightmare ended
three years ago.

"I went to see a private doctor and he suspected that I had a thyroid
problem just by looking at me. I'd had at least one thyroid function
test in the past but was told my thyroid was normal", explains Mrs
Holmes.

She was given a trial of thyroxine hormone and her recovery was
dramatic. "I got well and then wanted to know why. It made me angry that
such an easy treatment could make me better and I wanted to know why the
thyroid function tests could show I was in the normal range, and why my
symptoms had been ignored."

----------------------------------------------------------------------

I have no reason to doubt the content of this article (there are far too
many references for it to be false !), but have these questions for the
List :

1. Has anyone else heard of this ... a problem in the thyroid causing
Coeliac like symptoms ?

2. If the article is correct, why has the possibility not been mentioned
on the List? Surely, someone would have mentioned this for the benefit
of the many people who are "self diagnosed" (to avoid an incorrect
diagnosis).

I'm actually thinking that she was diagnosed before the endoscopy test
became commonplace. Any more thoughts on the matter ?

Graham KENT
A Coeliac from Lincoln, England