Lz Erk. Amazing how much you have in common with our family member with the same issues. I saw in another post you have sleep disorder, this gluten problem, and hypothalamic dysfunction.

Just like you said, After finding gluten issues in our family, someone else in the family went gluten-free finding it was the source of unexplained hives. Both gluten and cow dairy did a number on one member, in a major way- even minute amounts of cow dairy.

It must affect different people differently - it can cause diarrhea... or constipation... abdominal pain... or not... brain symptoms, or not... look like bipolar, MS, cause depression, or just cause hives and make a person sleep or cause insomnia, or trigger other autoimmune problems, make them need more tryptophan, or even cause an autoimmune osteoporosis.

I like the Gluten File at http://jccglutenfree.googlepages.com/ which has a lot on this topic (great place to start research). And www.ItsNotMental.com talks about how it affected a person's family members (with research links).

I agree with Jaspar. About 1 in 100 or less can have a gluten intolerance issue.

Another hidden issue is FRUCTOSE. About 1 in 3 can have this intolerance which may also give GI symptoms, fatigue, and malabsorption.

Sugar and fructose are now being targeted as serious offenders in the development of diabetes, and other diseases that come with age:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM
This is a long video, but if you watch it carefully you will see why sugared sodas are being removed from schools for purchase or for lunches. (only a beginning in turning around the terrible health consequences of sugar consumption in this country).