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From:
Tim Jesson - Exchange <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Mon, 23 Jul 2001 15:56:37 -0500
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<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>

I too was fairly asymptomatic, until the last month or so before my biopsy
confirmation. I developed hypothyroidism, the autoimmune kindn (Hashimotos)
about 3 years ago. It is fairly prevalent in my family, but usually doesn't
develop to a treatable level in males, so it was sort of unusual for me to
get it. Once my physician got me on thyroid replacement, and got the level
balanced (took about a year), I was doing much better, but was still
fatigued. We had just had our second child and had a third on the way, plus
I work a fairly high-stress job, and I swim competitively, so I assumed it
was just my age catching up with me. Nevertheless, my wife convinced me to
go with her, and see a herbalist, that offered a live blood cell analysis.
When they looked at my blood under the microscope, it was obvious that
something was drastically wrong, and they thought it was H-Pylori baceteria.
So I proceeded to go and see my doctor, and get tested for H-pylori that
came out negative, and fortunately she was on the ball and tested me for
other thjings at the same time including Celiac, and she caught it. I was
highlyy positive on 6 of the seven indicator tests, and positive on the
seventh so she was pretty certain. She referred me to a specialist, that
took forever. It wasn't until just before I finally had my biopsy that the
symptoms got really intense. My appetite grew to the point I was eating 6
HEAVY meals a day and still losing weight, and I started passing out in the
evenings. The only opther symptom I had was acid reflux (fairly bad, but I
had had this for as long as I can remember, so I didn't consider it a
symptom). I never had any other symptoms (diarhea, DH, etc...) including in
those last 2 months. I think I have had the disease for at least 10 years or
more, since I have always had problems with acid reflux ( I used to live on
rolaids) and that has pretty much disappeared. Also I would guess that my
thyroidism, was worsened  or brought on by the sprue.

The things that both my family physician and specialist warned me about are:

1) All evidence suggests, that once a Celiac, always a Celiac.

2) You may think you are asymptomatic, but you are fooling yourself.  You
are risking developing other diseases, that may be much worse (diabetes,
lymphoma, etc...).

The fact that you had a negative biopsy, sort of fits with my experience. I
had very positive blood work, and then while I was waiting to see the
specialist, I started going quasi-gluten-free, and instantly got a whole lot
of energy. I was quasi-gluten-free for about 2 weeks. Then I saw the
specialist, and he told me to go back on the gluten diet, and stay on until
he could confirm with biopsy. So I went back on the Gluten diet for about 2
and a half months, the last 2 months of which I mentioned above were bad.
When they biopsied me, they gave me a positive diagnosis, but siad that my
bowels only looked like a mild case. I am guessing the reason my bowels
didn't look too bad, is because of the few weeks of relief I had given them.

Don't risk it. I have heard that the positive blood result, is extremely
accurate. Or get your doctor to test again.

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