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Hi everyone,
I don't know about the article in question, Tracie, but gluten is the cause of DH. However, he may have been referring to triggers such as iodine or NSAIDS. A person has to be predisposed to DH (ie. have the genes and be gluten intolerant) but it might not appear until something triggers it. The latest mini poll deals with the question of triggers.
Pamela, I'm glad you're doing much better now. As I understand it, the IgA remains in the skin for several years so a skin biopsy would confirm DH for quite some time. An intestinal biopsy performed whilst on a gluten-free diet is expected to produce normal results as the gut doesn't take very long to heal. Most DH sufferers only have a mild form of gluten enteropathy in the first place and the gut involvement can sometimes go unnoticed under the microscope. I hope this helps.
Annie 
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Replying to:
Rob - I am confused. I was diagnosed with DH via biopsy in november of '02. Started a GF diet, but still had miserable outbreaks. Discovered I'd still been eating hidden gluten as I was eating out a lot. I have stopped that and am doing much better. Before that, I was on Dapsone for a couple of months, and was actually worse. I have allergy to sulfa and that seems why. I did have the cd biopsy done after I'd been on the gf diet for a while. The gastro dr said I had no signs of cd. Right after that my derm dr did another skin biopsy and the results again were positive for dh. How can that be if you say all dh folks have cd?
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Replying to:
Tracie,
This seems to be a missunderstanding by doctor Zone. Someone with DH will always have CD. This is now by definition of DH - that it is a form of Gluten Enteropathy.
Rob.
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Replying to:
Hi,
I read an article online-I think by doctor Zone. It stated that MOST of the time that DH is caused by gluten sensitivity. Is there anything else BESIDES gluten that is known to cause this rash and the results on immunoflorescent biopsy? Thanks!
Tracie
Tracie
Annie is right, many people with DH have only minor signs of CD. "Gluten enteropathy" is the route cause of both diseases. CD is always present with people who have DH (but visa versa is not true), however the villi damage measured by intestinal biopsy is often less servere or more patchy for those with DH, thus those lab workers performing the test often miss the tell tail signs or put it in a different category (eg minor damage.) (Also for those with DH the villi damage may be more servere further down the small intestine.)
Rob
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Replying to:
Hi everyone,
I don't know about the article in question, Tracie, but gluten is the cause of DH. However, he may have been referring to triggers such as iodine or NSAIDS. A person has to be predisposed to DH (ie. have the genes and be gluten intolerant) but it might not appear until something triggers it. The latest mini poll deals with the question of triggers.
Pamela, I'm glad you're doing much better now. As I understand it, the IgA remains in the skin for several years so a skin biopsy would confirm DH for quite some time. An intestinal biopsy performed whilst on a gluten-free diet is expected to produce normal results as the gut doesn't take very long to heal. Most DH sufferers only have a mild form of gluten enteropathy in the first place and the gut involvement can sometimes go unnoticed under the microscope. I hope this helps.
Annie
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Replying to:
Rob - I am confused. I was diagnosed with DH via biopsy in november of '02. Started a GF diet, but still had miserable outbreaks. Discovered I'd still been eating hidden gluten as I was eating out a lot. I have stopped that and am doing much better. Before that, I was on Dapsone for a couple of months, and was actually worse. I have allergy to sulfa and that seems why. I did have the cd biopsy done after I'd been on the gf diet for a while. The gastro dr said I had no signs of cd. Right after that my derm dr did another skin biopsy and the results again were positive for dh. How can that be if you say all dh folks have cd?
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Replying to:
Tracie,
This seems to be a missunderstanding by doctor Zone. Someone with DH will always have CD. This is now by definition of DH - that it is a form of Gluten Enteropathy.
Rob.
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Replying to:
Hi,
I read an article online-I think by doctor Zone. It stated that MOST of the time that DH is caused by gluten sensitivity. Is there anything else BESIDES gluten that is known to cause this rash and the results on immunoflorescent biopsy? Thanks!
Tracie
I would like to thank all of you people who participate in this program. Today, July 6, 2003, I decided to go on-line to see if I could find out what the horrible itchy rash was that my 16 year old son has had for years!!! It started on his lower legs...we thought it was alergies to grass since he was playing football everyday. It never went away. Then it moved on to the back side of his arms just below the elbows. Again I thought it was due to grass and football. He began getting it on his face, neck, chest, shoulders, and back. I took him to an alergist, Dermatologist and our GP. We determined he had a food alergy so he stopped eating certain things but the rash got worse. The GP thought it was like acne but I told him no way!!! You don't get acne on your legs and acne doesn't itch so bad that it would make an adult practically cry!! Anyway, thanks to the pictures on this site, I was able to confirm that what my son has is DH. I am so totally bummed out that he has this but at least now I know what it is and I can definitly do something about it. I printed out some info and some pictures and we are going to the doctor first thing in the a.m. I am concerned though when I read that symptoms can get worse after meds. I don't think it can get much worse...can it??? I will try to get a picture of my son's rash for your site...if he is willing...
Thank you again so much
Traci D.
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Replying to:
Hi everyone,
I don't know about the article in question, Tracie, but gluten is the cause of DH. However, he may have been referring to triggers such as iodine or NSAIDS. A person has to be predisposed to DH (ie. have the genes and be gluten intolerant) but it might not appear until something triggers it. The latest mini poll deals with the question of triggers.
Pamela, I'm glad you're doing much better now. As I understand it, the IgA remains in the skin for several years so a skin biopsy would confirm DH for quite some time. An intestinal biopsy performed whilst on a gluten-free diet is expected to produce normal results as the gut doesn't take very long to heal. Most DH sufferers only have a mild form of gluten enteropathy in the first place and the gut involvement can sometimes go unnoticed under the microscope. I hope this helps.
Annie
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Replying to:
Rob - I am confused. I was diagnosed with DH via biopsy in november of '02. Started a GF diet, but still had miserable outbreaks. Discovered I'd still been eating hidden gluten as I was eating out a lot. I have stopped that and am doing much better. Before that, I was on Dapsone for a couple of months, and was actually worse. I have allergy to sulfa and that seems why. I did have the cd biopsy done after I'd been on the gf diet for a while. The gastro dr said I had no signs of cd. Right after that my derm dr did another skin biopsy and the results again were positive for dh. How can that be if you say all dh folks have cd?
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Replying to:
Tracie,
This seems to be a missunderstanding by doctor Zone. Someone with DH will always have CD. This is now by definition of DH - that it is a form of Gluten Enteropathy.
Rob.
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Replying to:
Hi,
I read an article online-I think by doctor Zone. It stated that MOST of the time that DH is caused by gluten sensitivity. Is there anything else BESIDES gluten that is known to cause this rash and the results on immunoflorescent biopsy? Thanks!
Tracie
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