In 1994 I was diagnosed with celiac disease, which led me to create Celiac.com in 1995. I created this site for a single purpose: To help as many people as possible with celiac disease get diagnosed and living happy, healthy gluten-free lives. Celiac.com was the first site on the Internet dedicated solely to celiac disease, and since then it has become an invaluable resource to people worldwide who seek information about celiac disease and the gluten-free diet. In 1998 I created The Gluten-Free Mall, Your Special Diet Superstore! which was also another Internet first—it was the first gluten-free food site to offer a shopping cart-style interface, and the ability for people to order gluten-free products manufactured by many different companies at a single Web site.
In the Friday, February 9, 1996 edition of the Independent newspaper (UK), there was a short article reporting research into ME (myalgic encephalomyelitis) by doctors at the Royal Hallamshire Hospital in Sheffield. Their research was published that same weeks Lancet.
Mysterious symptoms, including muscle weakness, wasting, and poor coordination and balance may be due to an undiagnosed allergy to wheat, barley, oats or rye, according to new research which may have implications for some people with ME...A study of 53 patients with these and other unexplained neurological symptoms, found that nearly three-fifths of them had antibodies to gluten in their blood...none of the patients in the Sheffield group had been diagnosed with celiac disease but when samples of tissue were removed from their gut, more than a third showed evidence of the disease or inflammation of the middle and lower gut.