Tim-n-VA

I had no significant symptoms when I ate gluten. However, routine liver function tests that my doctor ordered showed a lot of fluctuation. That lead to a GI doctor ordering a series of screening tests to eliminate things that could cause the symptoms. Net effect was positive blood test and positive biopsy.

That is what I thought was meant by silent celiac - having the disease and the internal damage - without external symptoms.

In retrospect the occasional nausea that I had was probably an external symptom but nothing like the exteme or even mild symptoms many describe.

Somewhere i got the understanding that some people have silent celiac (no observable villi damage), but I also got the notion that some people react to gluten and are not *any* form of celiac (incl. being without the same medical risks and malabsorption, and not really an immune response).

That is correct. There are non-Celiac reactions to gluten. To add to the confusion Celiac and non-Celiac reactions to gluten can happend at the same time. Specifically people can have Celiac and be allergic to a gluten-conatining grain.

I was in ROTC but didn't do the drill team. As a cadet I ran the drill competition at ETSU in the spring of '82.

Congratulations on your team's performance.