I'm going to see a new doctor this month, hoping to get my diagnosis process rolling. Do any of you have advice on how to approach your doctor about Celiac? Naturally, my worst fear is that she could be as clueless about it as my last doctor. Should I come armed with newspaper articles? Already I've typed out a list of my symptoms, so that I won't forget anything. I'm *hoping* that this plus having a celiac mother will at least lead her to refer me to a good GI.

it might be useful to print some information off just incase the new doctor is completely clueless. It may be a good idea to see how manyof your symptoms coinside with the ones your mother had. Dont get agitated if your doctor doesnt know that much about coeliac or if they think that it may not be coeliac.

If they refuse to take notice then put your foot down without raising your voice, show them the information and if they still dont listen then go home get a self testing kit and test yourself, if the tests are positive then go back to your doctor and show them the results.

You might want to call and ask the doc on the phone how familiar he/she is with celiac so you can avoid making an appointment if the doc doesn't have a clue. Ideally you wouldn't need to bring in newspaper articles describing what celiac is - a doc should know what the disease is and, if he/she is any good, be familiar with the fact that many have non-traditional symptoms.

Sounds like you may be fairly convinced that you have celiac even without doctor "proof". Would you consider trying the diet without the official diagnosis? (Note that an official diagnosis will probably come back negative if you've already gone gluten-free so don't do this if you want to pursue testing).