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    This is an embarassing revelation, but I would feel the need to share it
and ask for any insights. I learned three days ago, by sight checking my
child's bottom while she slept, that she has pinworms. I checked her
brother, he does too. So do I.
        I posted in June about being traumatized after a visit to a GI who
told me my gastro problems were due to breastfeeding and to wean. He did
blood tests, I tested positive to Giardia, but had it several times as a
child so the test could have just shown I have had it. The gluten/gliadin
blood work was negative, but the allergy tests were high and had noted that
the presence of parasites could cause elevated readings. We did an "ova and
parasite" check, and it came back negative, and I was about to do another,
this time with Great Smokies Lab in North Carolina which has a good
reputation on parasite testing.
        In a moment of serendipity, I did the sight check. We have taken the
medicine and will see.
        Our all-out dietary changes over the past several years (I'm
chagrined we could have had them that long and not known :()--no gluten,
casein, corn, eggs, pork, liver, additives; very low salicylates, benzoates,
caretenoids, pigments, sugar, sulfur foods--were each in their own way
effective at controlling the symptoms.
        Could pinworms causes "leaky gut"? Or could there be other parasites
present too, such as giardia? I am wondering how long to maintain a
gluten-free diet in order to let our digestive systems heal once the
pinworms are irradicated?
        Thank you, Ann von Mehren