How many celiacs in your family?

[Sheynath]

How many people in your family are celiac?

I was the first one diagnosed in my family. My daughter was diagnosed a couple of years later.

My dad was screened, and the blood test was negative, but he does have a number of symptoms consistent with gluten-intolerance and I am not convinced that enough testing was done.

I have an aunt (dad's sister) that we think is celiac, she agrees, but doesn't want it to be true so she refuses to talk to her doctor about the possibility.

And even though he is long deceased, in retrospect we are all sure that my Grandfather (dad's father) was celiac, based on a long history of gastro-intestinal issues, but never diagnosed.

[Catfish Charlie]

I suspect that my father might have been, but we will never know for sure. I also suspect a few of my siblings but they are in denial and won't get checked.

Of my nuclear family, I am the only one thought to have celiac; my kids show no signs but at least we know what to look for if they ever do start showing symptoms.

[Sheynath]

Again your experience has some similarities to mine. When my daughter started showing signs I had her checked right away. Her doctor was not impressed with me wanting the tests done, but when they came back positive she called me at home on a Sunday afternoon, she was in shock! Oh, you need to start changing her diet right now! So I told her don't worry, she is already eating gluten free. Then the doctor recommended having my son screened, even though he wasn't showing symptoms, just because he has two first degree relatives that are celiac. Luckily for him, he is negative, but I keep a close eye sonce I know it can develop at any time.

[GinnyP]

So far my dh is the only dx'd celiac. But, even he wouldn't be dx'd if he hadn't had DH. He really didn't have digestive symptoms. The DH is what gave it away.

[Divinemom5]

So far DD#2 is the only diagnosed one. DD#1 and I were tested a few weeks ago and it was negative. DS#1 is an air traffic controller in the Navy and is worried that a positive test would effect his career,so he refuses to be tested.
Their dad(my ex)should be tested, but I doubt he will. I think he probably has it.

[GrandmaG]

Several in my family have had severe digestive problems resulting in major surgery, but so far I'm the only one. I have just recently been diagnosed and my DD has symptoms.

[Chef #284580]

My mother was first diagnosed after about ten years of trying to find out what was wrong...then my sister was diagnosed....I also had a test but couldn't be confirmed....symptoms persisted....more testing....finally my other sister and I (who had started to display symptoms) just decided to go gluten free anyway.

[elainegl]

None of us are officially diagnosed, but my gastroenterologist thinks I have it due to the gene, associated autoimmune disorders, deficient IgA (which caused negative blood tests, although we found that out later), and improvement on the diet.

My DD#1 doesn't have the gene, but she's the one who we diagnosed everything through. Although she doesn't have true CD (supposedly she can't since she doesn't have the gene), she is definitely sensitive to gluten and had classic gastro symptoms, plus failure to thrive, etc. She's done great on the GF diet.

With DD#2, I thought she was allergic to wheat while I was breastfeeding her. It caused awful reflux. I was going to wean "since I could NEVER live without wheat" (ha ha!), but my doctor just doubled her dose of reflux medicine. At 6 months she fell off the chart for weight and weaned herself. She wasn't happy as a baby until she went on soy formula at 7 months. Since then the whole family has gone GF, so I'll never have her tested properly. She does have the CD gene however.

My husband tested positive through Enterolab, but completely ignores it. My sister also tested positive through Enterolab and now follows a strict GF diet, which has really helped improve her Sjogren's syndome.

[Sheynath]

amazing isn't it, how different people react? DD and I are still the only diagnosed celiacs in our family, but I am reasonably sure my dad and sister are, The don't want to be though, so they pretend they aren't.

On a side note - in my work unit of 21 employees, in the last 6 months 2 of them have been diagnosed. I have been digging out alot of the information I found when I was first diagnosed, and helping them with recipes.

[VNess]

My story's fairly similar to yours. I was diagnosed about a year ago, after struggling for a couple of years to figure out what the heck my problem was.
As I explained the disease and began to educate my mother about it, she was able to connect many of her health problems to celiac-for at least the past 15 years! My younger sister figured it out within a couple of months of my mom, and now one of my brothers is showing at least a medium sensitivity to it. That leaves only 2 of my immediate family members unaffected (although they would argue the "unaffected" part) by celiac.
My grandma always called my mom's gastrointestinal sensitivies the "Gerster stomach," refering to my maternal gradfather and his family's tendency to experience digestive probelms. Surprise! We're now pretty sure that it was the gluten. Did I mention we're all from KS?

[elainegl]

The paternal side of my family is from Kansas too. We'd been wheat farmers for generations! Ironic, isn't it?