Kaiser Doctor - Northern California?

[superfob]

Hi,

Does anyone know any good Kaiser doctors in Northern California? I'm hoping to get my mom tested for Celiac, and she has Kaiser.

Thanks

[T.H.]

I don't know of any, but I know that this practice:

Open Original Shared Link

has a lot of specialization in celiac disease and are in the Bay Area. Perhaps they might be able to recommend someone in Kaiser?

[Takala]

No.

If you cannot get this resolved, you can either have her change insurers if she is on Medicare, during the open enrollment period, or go to over the counter testing for antibodies and genetic tests. The gene tests will not prove anything, but she can see if she falls into the categories of having the genes which pre dispose her to being gluten intolerant or celiac. About 30% of the population has the genes, but about 1 in 100 actually go on to develop it. Also, you can look up on wikipedia the articles on HLA DQ2 and HLA DQ8 genes and see if your ancestry makes it more likely she would be a carrier. Remember that sometimes the blood tests for antibodies to the gluten proteins are negative, even with people who really do have the disease.

Or she can trial a gluten free diet and see if she responds to it.

While this is not standard medical advice, it does beat being crippled by the neuro form and suffering from other chronic problems and being treated like ****. We changed insurers and that let me see different doctors. While I don't have the "official" diagnosis, getting out of the Bean Counter System, and getting real medical tests scheduled and done, and not blown off helped to find enough other things wrong, that by process of elimination it very likely pointed to gluten intolerance / celiac.

If she wants to do Battle With the Bean Counters, be sure to read up on as many of the possible symptoms as possible and see how many match, because G*d Knows the Kaiser physicians aren't going to recognize it. Notice how none of the neurological symptoms which may afflict older adults are mentioned here, nor is weight gain due to thyroid issues, nor arthritis, nor moodiness or depression, insulin resistance, liver, kidney or ob-gyn problems like cystic ovaries : Open Original Shared Link

Besides this site, here is another one which has a good write up of when celiac isn't so obvious: Open Original Shared Link