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.
Dr. Lionel Fry from the U.K. talked about DH. He stated that all patients with DH have some degree of enteropathy, even though less than 1 in 10 patients with DH have GI symptoms. Dr. Fry also said 40 percent of DH relatives have gluten-sensitive enteropathy. He went on to say that the gluten-free diet can take 6 months to two years to get healing of DH, and a relapse of the DH rash may take 2 to 12 weeks to occur after someone eats gluten. Total disappearance of IGA skin deposits may take up to 7 years after a gluten-free diet is started. Dr. Reunala from Finland talked about associated diseases. He quoted others who said 5 to 14 percent of DH patients have thyroid disease and went on to say that DH patients have an increased incidence of lymphoma but a gluten-free diet seems to protect against lymphoma.