<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>> Dear All, I thought a summary might be a good idea as I have had a number of replies. My points were:- 1) That where an adult had a predisposition for coeliac disease, high levels of stress may trigger off the actual disease (ie stress is NOT the cause but the trigger factor) 2) That where a coeliac is fully controlled by diet, stress can trigger off a coeliac attack even though no gluten has been eaten. This is known to be the case in a number of coeliacs who have had operations, even quite small ones (NOTE the "operational insult" is the primary stressor NOT "worrying about the operation"). It has become obvious that many people believe that only psychological stress is "stress" and have therefore missed my point entirely, as I was and am thinking in terms of stressors of all types - physiological, physical and psychological (I am a trained Safety Adviser even though I mostly operate in a small subsection of the area). One or two messages were very worried that I might be claiming that CS is "all in the mind" - I'm not. I'm not even claiming that it might be for some coeliacs. I'm saying that once you are a coeliac, stress may manifest itself as an apparent CD attack when you have remained GF. One particular reply does seem worth quoting to you all in full, the others either agreed or missed the point. You are absolutely correct in the link between mind and body. As a charter member of the Albany (New York) Society for the Advancement of Psychosomatic Medicine I can attest to that. More attention was paid to it 40 years ago than now. Your observations about the difference between your wife's celiac distress and normal passing moroseness are also interesting. Can you put the difference into words? As for the stress factor, I am sure you are aware of the gut connection and emotions. In all of us. I will flesh it out for you if you like but basically it amounts to the fact that stress can similate almost any intestinal malady. The variable is that stress differs from one of us to another. (One man' meat is another's poison). Therein lies the "romance" that the psychoanalysts probe. But that too is a long story. I'm thinking of an America fighter pilot who was caught in the open in London when a buzz bomb hit 200 yards away and knocked him down. He was a nervous wreck. It took Joost Meerloo, a Dutch psychoanalyst who was working in the aid station only a few minutes to point out to this emotional invalid that he was a hero in his plane (he had been shot down three times, and yet refused to accept transfer to the US). But he was splattered by the V-2. Different strokes for different folks as the saying goes. But Joost was able in a few minutes to reassure the fellow sufficiently to discharge him- and no sedative required. Jack Maines (the colic and exercise man) Regards David David J Walland University of Bristol Radiation Protection Adviser [log in to unmask] Tel +44 (0)117 928 8323 Fax +44 (0)117 929 1209