Can Someone Recover From This...

[super-sally888]

Hi All,

I am waiting for an "official" diagnosis. In the meantime, I have been snooping around my family. We are not physically close (I live in Philippines, they live in Australia) and it seems we don't talk about medical stuff (my mum only told us the day she was being admitted to the hospital that she was having a hysterectomy - we were really mad, and it turns out it was not a good decision, and her problems could better have been managed by conservative treatment. Just the doctor was too lazy to do anything different and Mum is of the school that just trusts doctors and doesn't ask questions. Sorry RANT here.).

Anyway, it turns out that my youngest sister was diagnosed with "Gluten Intolerance" through a blood test (I don't know what test). This is not something I knew about even when I first saw my new Dr. 2 weeks ago - guess it makes my having celiac more likely (regardless of the test results). But I did know that some of my neices and nephews have various food allergies (out of 4 sisters, three have children with food intolerances, some of them very severe, one of which includes gluten, caesin, salycilates...).

Anyway, my little sister said that although she was diagnosed with it, she is now able to tolerate some gluten and that she is using some supplement which she says is improving her and something called liquid zeolite. My sisters are all going a bit "alternative".

But has anyone ever heard of this condition reversing or going from "intolerant" to tolerant? Once an immune response has been triggered , wouldn't it be very unlikely to reverse?

I didn't know that my sister had an actual diagnosis. Maybe I should also see if blood tests for this are available here (if my biopsy is negative) (this is Philippines so celiac is probably not very common)... just so I have some idea..

What tests exactly should be asked for? What will their interpretation be?

Would be interested in any input from people here.

Sally

[Guest cassidy]

It is my understanding that you don't outgrown gluten problems. People may go through stages where they have more or less symptoms when they consume gluten, however it is still always doing hidden damage to their intestines and should not be consumed at all.

There are all sorts of info about supplements that help you be able to eat gluten, but I don't think any of them have been proven to be effective. Even if they help control your symptoms that doesn't mean that damage isn't occuring. I have seen an alternative doctor and she recommended probiotics, and digestive enzymes which she said would help me digest my food but she said the diet was a must.

My doctor ordered a celiac panel for the blood test. I'm sure someone else knows exactly what that is. If your biopsy is negative then your blood test would likely be negative as well. The tests are only about 50% accurate so it is nice if you get a positive, but a negative can't rule it out.

If you have already had a biopsy you could start on the diet and see if you start feeling better. If it runs in your family and you are suspicious that you have it, then you probably do.