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

Connie wrote:  I know there are some very good doctors out there, but why should
we celiacs have to "go through" so many of them to find a good doctor?  If they
did this to say diabeties they would probably be sued.  My father was very ill
for most of his life with this disease, spending most of his time in hospital
wasting away and almost dying from this thing.He was diagnosed by a twist of
fate <snip>

Well, being  both a diabetic and celiac..... I must say the diagnostic
tools are *worlds apart*. Diabetic diagnosis can be done by a glucose
tolerance test... overloading the system with a measured amount of a
super sweet carb drink & testing at intervals to see where the blood
sugar levels are at. Also things like ketones in the urine can indicate
the diabetic condition for the type 1 diabetic. I'd like to add, that
even though they have some simple, rock solid diagnostic tools, even
still in 1998, some physicians do their patients a grave <word choice
intended> disservice, by telling them the have a "mild case of
diabetes". Similar to that of a mild case of pregnancy. You either are
or are not!

The problem, as I see it, with Celiac diagnosis is that even the 'gold
standard" biopsy, an invasive & expensive procedure is not all that
reliable. Neither are the blood tests.

I've seen so many stories posted on this listserv of people who were
"sick as a dog" for a long time until they omitted gluten. Tests were
either iffy or negative, but still the person did not become well until
going GF.

So, I agree we need to get more info out about Celaic Sprue/Gluten
intolerance.....
we also need a more reliable, less invasive  diagnostic tool.

This could be more difficult than we first thought!

~fran
stepping off soap box now