<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>> Dear list, Last week I posted a note about bloating etc.symptoms which I was beginning to suspect might be a lactose=related problem, I appreciate the quick replies and thoughtful suggestions received from many people -- 27, I think. I tried to thank each writer individually; if I missed you, please accept my apology. Thanks to this network of information and support I was able to figure the problem out within less than 24 hours of posting: the culprit was tomato. I had been eating at least two a day for many weeks.in fact, at the time I posted, fresh tomato was one of the very few things I was still eating. However someone said tomato kills her stomach, so I had something else for dinner and -- bingo! What a relief! I am, as you can imagine, thrilled that I need not eliminate something more complicated, like lactose or casien! summary of suggestions and info received: --many people suggested candida infestion. One person wrote: "There is a one pill antifungal; a several day or maybe it was a week antifungal pills; and the "natural" way which is a killer. The natural way involves starving the yeast out by not consuming any fruit, sugars, cheeses, breads, etc. My nephew was on it over a year on order of his naturopath and STILL showed candida in his system." --someone else said dark rings under the eyes can be a sign of lactose intolerance, caused by an absence of lactase, the enzyme that digests milk sugar. One's ability to produce it can diminish with age. There is, I am told, a a very specific test for lactose intolerance- a breath test that measures the hydrogen in the breath (produced when the body rejects the lactose). It takes a half day, but the results are known immediately. --cassien, the protien in milk, rathewr than lactose was also suggested as a potential cause. Apparently it also fllattens villi in your intestine, and lactaid tablets won`t help. --several people suggested the problem might be with corn. -one person said she has problems with gas fumes when the heating system starts up in the fall. --another person warned against self-diagnosis, a warning I think is worth repeating. Sometimes when you feel sick, you are sick -- and it has nothing to do with gluten, food allergies or anything else you've put in your stomach. However, given a celiac diagnosis, the first thing a doc. is going to ask about is diet. So my personal practice is to re-check everything for gluten and if that is not it, make an attempt to pinpoint a food related problem before I visit the doc. People report that it takes only a day or two off the offending substance (i.e., lactose, casien or allergy-producing foods) to begin to feel better. Were I still feeling bad, I would be on my way to the doctor's now -- but thanks to help from you all, I am FINE! Mary B NYC