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Hi, everyone!

I have been a member of this list ever since my mother was diagnosed with
celiac disease a few months ago.  I will be going in at the end of this month
for a biopsy of my intestines to check to see if I have celiac disease, which
I do suspect.  I have a few questions for you all:

1.  When I was a child, I was always sick with vomiting and stomach problems.
It turned out that, after going into the hospital for a week for a series of
tests, I was diagnosed as having celiac disease.  (This was about 15 or 16
years ago).  The doctors told my mom that I would have to be on the gluten-
free diet for life.  When I went back for a check-up some time after this
diagnosis, the doctor told my mom to take me off of the diet for one month.
He did not give her an explanation as to why, and this concerned my mom.
Additionally, before the celiac disease diagnosis, the doctor told my mom that
I had a brain tumor, which I didn't.  So my mom ended up switching doctors as
she did not trust this doctor any longer.  Before the diagnosis of celiac
disease was made, neither my mom nor I remember the doctor doing any type of
biopsy on me.  We do, however, remember them doing barium x-rays and lots of
blood tests.  Could a diagnosis have been made by either the x-rays or the
blood work back then (it was around 1983 or 1984)?

2.  Can an extremely stressful emotional ordeal bring out celiac symptoms if
you have never experienced them before or is it almost always a virus that
starts the onset of the symptoms?

3.  How many of you have experienced muscle twitching as a symptom of celiac
disease?  I am currently getting muscle twitching in my legs and feet, along
with alot of diarrhea.  It has gotten to the point where when I put just about
anything into my mouth, I feel that I have to rush to the bathroom.  I also
experience dizziness and lightheadedness on occasion.  Also at times, I get
what appear to be hives right after I eat something with gluten in it.

4.  Does a person with celiac disease almost always have anemia?  If a person
is not anemic, does that mean that they are absorbing all the necessary
nutrients?  I have had blood tests, which all came back fine - I am not
anemic.  I also had the blood test for celiac disease, which came back
negative.

Thank you all for any answers you can provide to me.  I am in the process of
trying to learn all I can about celiac disease, and this list is a huge help
to me.  I am sorry this was so long.

Thanks, again!

Sonja