You may have gluten intolerance or celiac disease – an intolerance to wheat, rye, barley, and most oats. Gluten intolerance is NOT an allergy, it is an immune mediated intolerance which can eventurally result in damage to all organ systems if left untreated. It is NOT rare – a 2003 NIH study confirmed that 1 in 100 people have this condition, although many remain undiagnosed because the American medical community is still catching on to its prevalence. In Europe, and especially Italy, screening for celiac is common and gluten free products are widely available. It is NOT a childhood disease – a recent study found that most people being disagnosed are adults. Additionally, most people who are diagnosed are overweight, not malnourished as one might expect. The good news is that it is nearly always curable with a only gluten-free diet, and this diet is becoming easier as American manufacturers catch on to the fact that the market is, and will be, huge. The bad news is that left untreated you may eventually experience lymhoma, ataxia, osteoporosis, and other conditions. I encourage you to see your physician and be tested. However, I will also say that doctors are still requiring positive blood tests and a positive EGD biopsy, before they will diagnose celiac disease and recommend a gluten free diet. The fact is that you may very well have gluten intolerance or gluten sensitivity and will still not have a positive blood test and/or biopsy. A study has been recently published that is the first that I’ve seen which questions the necessity of a positive biopsy. Despite the earlier negative feedback on private labs, many in our celiac/gluten-intolerant community have been diagnosed through fecal antibody testing at http://www.enterolab.com – including me. Many credit this test with turning their lives around and even saving their lives. It will be years, perhaps decades before the medical community accepts fecal antibody tests, despite its intuitive applicability and medline supported studies. Anyone with thyroid issues, osteoporosis, Type 1 diabetes, undiagnosed ataxia, Sjogren’s, irritable bowel syndrome, lupus erythematosus, migraines, uncontrolled seizures, chronic bloating, chronic diarrhea or constipation, or generalized ongoing fatigue should be screened for celiac disease, and/or gluten intolerance. Many people who have been tested for celiac disease because they have a relative with the condition, have been found to have total villous atrophy, despite having no symptoms. So if you have kin with the condition, you should also be screened.