Dear Doctor: There ARE a lot of zebras out here

I have a lot of issues with modern medical "care." One thing I despise are incorrect little sayings that are taught to future doctors while they are in medical school. One you hear a lot nowadays is "when you hear hoofbeats, don't look for zebras." They are told to look for the more common horse. They are often taught that a "rare" disease like Celiac's Disease is not something to look for because it is so rare, it is a zebra.

I beg to differ. I would imagine that the other 140 million Americans suffering from gluten toxicity agree that so-called zebra diseases need to be on the medical community's play list. More people suffer from Celiac's than Multiple Sclerosis or Diabetes.

There is a HUGE ZEBRA in the room, doctor!

My 3 long pages of worsening-by-the-year symptoms were shrugged off by my less than bright endocrinologist. I could have been helped as a young child as I had enough symptoms of gluten intolerance even then.

My Grandmother Mimi was not only never helped by the medical commmunity, she was prescribed drugs and treatments for her schizophrenia that made her condition wrose.

Mimi was on the earth for 76 years. For at least 46 of those years, her mind was convinced that everyone from the Beetles to the Communists were out to get her. She had osteoporosis, was severely anemic and I suspect she was hyperthyroid.

All of those symptom scream out: Gluten Intolerance. Yet not one of her doctors nor one of mine thought about the zebra in the room.