[Jana315]

Yes! Saturday. She has office hours - pretty cool 1st step, eh? She is the first & only Dr. so far that I've discussed Celiac/gluten intolerance with to date. I made the appointment with her to discuss family history and to ask her to order the genetic testing for me. I already had the Kimball Genetics kit, but I needed a Dr's recommendation for testing (must be "medically necessary") so that there's a slim chance my current insurance will cover the cost. Our insurance is changing next month and so far, I've been altogether avoiding a diagnosis in my medical record so that there won't be an issue with "pre-existing" - don't know if that's going to work in the long run, but we'll see.

I'm absolutely NOT interested in an endoscopy - guess she could refer me for that if I needed it to check for some other damage, but I will have to have a colonoscopy this year (my 37 years young sister had pre-cancerous polyps on her colonoscopy a few years back! Yikes....she's got a LOT of Celiac symptoms also, but the pre-cancerous polyps seem to indicate she has the disease as well.)

The Naturopath was very knowledgeable regarding the effects of gluten intolerance with or without Celiac and I didn't go that far into how much the diet has helped with my symptoms (again, because I wanted to use the family history to warrant the test - NOT my symptoms/diet response).

So, Kimball will receive my genetic test today - I express mailed it. I'm excited but also a tad scared. I would love to have the test negative - if it was negative, could it mean that I'm JUST intolerant and can heal and then re-start gluten? That would be wonderful, but I've heard that other genes can be involved which aren't tested yet in the US.

I'm planning to have the gene test be the ONLY Celiac test that I'll undergo, and I'm doing it for several reasons:
1. there's a chance that insurance will cover the cost
2. if it is in my genes then my family members will, hopefully, be tested also
3. depending on my genes, we'll keep a closer watch on the kids & their issues

Does this all make sense? I guess I'm looking for comments & feedback. Perhaps some thoughts that I hadn't considered. I should have those results back by Thursday or Friday - wish me luck...luck for what?? I don't really know....

Thanks.
Jana

[ang1e0251]

Theoretically, gluten intolerants have no damage and no autoimmune response; they only have symptoms. So, if this is true, then those with GI cannot heal (nothing to heal, no damage) and cannot return to eating gluten.

There are three ways you might react to gluten; if you have celiac disease, gluten intolerance or a wheat allergy. There is no cure for any of these. You cannot return to eating gluten if you suffer from any of the three. You must go gluten free for life.

Now there are persons who do not genetically test with the known genes for celiac disease and yet they have been diagnosed with it.

If your sister has had suspicious polyps, then you should think long and hard about the decision to continue to eat gluten. You can test negative and still have celiac disease. Some think that GI, is just the precursor to celiac disease. It is inconvenient but potentially life saving to eat gluten-free.