What Do You Do?

[SillyYakMom]

If there is a friend who comes to you with every symptom in the book, her children have the symptoms, her dad has had intestinal cancer, brother has lymphoma, cousins have Chrone's, was told she has IBS, etc. etc. and finally goes to the doctor to get her children looked at for it and you swear they got it wrong?? Everything she has told me sounds CLASSIC. She went to the same hospital my relatives went to who had possitive biopsys and whos gastroenterologist told them to go off of dairy INSTEAD of gluten??? She had her kids get the blood test and the doctor said "Everything looks fine so we won't do a biopsy." The blood test isn't fool poof, the biopsy is and from everything I have heard from that hospital they don't know what they are doing or looking for. So they said her problems and her kids problems are just cronic constipation. When people come to me complaining of things and asking questions I tell them what they can do to see if it is celiac disease and then they go to these terrible doctors who tell them to cut out dairy? It's sad to me, because her family has all these problems and after all I have heard it sounds just like it and if she only had someone tell her what it REALLY is she would do it. And if she only knew how much better life is without eating what is like pioson to a celiac she would empty her whole pantry. But maybe you guys know what it is like where it was amazing that you got someone to listen to you enough to persue medical help and it didn't turn out. This I guess is more of a vent, but wanted to know what you would do.

[CarrieinIowa]

If there is a friend who comes to you with every symptom in the book, her children have the symptoms, her dad has had intestinal cancer, brother has lymphoma, cousins have Chrone's, was told she has IBS, etc. etc. and finally goes to the doctor to get her children looked at for it and you swear they got it wrong?? Everything she has told me sounds CLASSIC. She went to the same hospital my relatives went to who had possitive biopsys and whos gastroenterologist told them to go off of dairy INSTEAD of gluten??? She had her kids get the blood test and the doctor said "Everything looks fine so we won't do a biopsy." The blood test isn't fool poof, the biopsy is and from everything I have heard from that hospital they don't know what they are doing or looking for. So they said her problems and her kids problems are just cronic constipation. When people come to me complaining of things and asking questions I tell them what they can do to see if it is celiac disease and then they go to these terrible doctors who tell them to cut out dairy? It's sad to me, because her family has all these problems and after all I have heard it sounds just like it and if she only had someone tell her what it REALLY is she would do it. And if she only knew how much better life is without eating what is like pioson to a celiac she would empty her whole pantry. But maybe you guys know what it is like where it was amazing that you got someone to listen to you enough to persue medical help and it didn't turn out. This I guess is more of a vent, but wanted to know what you would do.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I can understand what you are feeling frustrated about. My whole family has a problem with gluten but none of us have tested positive in bloodwork. I am the only one to have a biopsy so far and it came back normal---though, honestly, I haven't trusted the way my tests were run. We all feel better gluten free and that is the best test. Unfortunately, doctors don't tell their patients that the tests they are administering may not be fool proof. Neither a biopsy or bloodwork means that someone does not have celiac or a gluten sensitivity---it can only rule it in.

You need to encourage your friend to research this more and if they have already been tested it won't hurt for them to try being gluten free---if they feel better then that is proof enough. Though I don't know if it always clears up quickly for people on the diet--they may need to give it a few months and of course, there can be other issues as well. I'd recommend the book Dangerous Grains and the ever-controversial Enterolabs website for more information for your friend.

Carrie

Iowa