More About My Dad

[JerryK]

So I've talked about my brother some...

Can't remember if I talked much about my dad. Dad seems to have had the classic Celiac

body shape. I know he had gastro symptoms, because I lived with him for years.

He had fatigue, lethargy, aches and pains...he quit working when he was 55 because he

was "all stove up". Dad was perhaps 5'6"..

Talking to mom this evening she was mentioning that she went to a nutritionist to help with her

cholesterol problem. Then she said..."Funny but your dad's cholesterol was always really low.....

I told her that was a classic Celiac symptom, because his body was malabsorbing.

I think she's coming around....

[darlindeb25]

I think after we gain knowledge about celiac disease, then we can see it in others in our families. I have come to the conclusion that most people should not eat gluten. I think if tests were done on everyone, which isn't realistic, we would find many out there who have no symptoms, yet are also celiac without knowing.

My dad always had stomach issues, I remember him taking a little pink stomach pill everyday for years and years and years. He carried TUMS with him and had gotten to a point where he was popping them like candy. He also fits that body shape, the big tummy and the flat butt. He became so ill 4 years ago. He had heart issues for some time and has had bypasses. Then the diarrhea began and this big man, he was 6' tall and over 260# lost down to 130# and so frail. My sister and I were already gluten-free at that time so we asked that he be tested. His doctors didn't think it necessary and he didn't press it. He did however, try going gluten-free. He felt better for a time, yet as many of us know, we have setbacks and he became depressed and decided if he was going to be sick, he might as well enjoy what he did eat. Finally the doctors did exploritory surgery and found huge calcifications. His small intestines are completely covered in calcifications, all the blood vessels are encased that lead to the large intestine, so removal is out of the question. The doctors have never seen anything like it. Did celiac do that? Did the years and years of TUMS do it? A combination of both? My dad finally went gluten-free in Nov 2004 and it has helped, yet he still has problems with diarrhea and is still very frail. He is back up to 165-170#, yet is pasty white and just does not look healthy. He just had skin cancer removed from his face this week with more to be done next week. He is only 71.