Please accept my deepest condolences. I've been married 38 yrs (not counting the 3 before that). I would be devastated! You sound like a strong person.

As I age I begin to realize that every day is a gift. And you had 30 yrs of that.
Most people do not. I know this does not make up for the loss, but as time passes, you will remember those years. And he is with you in some way, everyday too. I believe that.

This strongly suggests the possibility of gluten sensitivity/celiac; did they do any serum tests for anti-gliadin or anti-transglutaminase antibodies?

We have a whole gluten forum here (as there was at BT1); you might want to reprint your post over there and let those experts respond, too.

I also want to extend my condolences on the loss of your husband.

You are in my prayers. I do hope you are feeling a bit better.

Take care, (and a hearty welcome to our new home, here on the PN boards)
Melody

Thank you for the kind words.

Glenn - I have had not only blood testing for celiac disease but biopsies during endoscopy. Both tests were negative.

Ides~
I'm sorry to hear about your loss. I feel your pain. I lost my husband 21 years ago. There are no answers now. (((Ides)))


Hugs,
Jan
Welcome to the forum too!

--but, as I'm sure our gluten people will tell you, neither of those negative results rules out a possible neurological gluten sensitivity, which can be very hard to diagnose, and which can lead to gluten ataxia, neuropathy, etc.

Something still to keep an eye on for the future--plenty of "negatives" have turned positive later on. It seems sometimes neural disruption can be a presenting feature.

Having one autoimmune condition greatly increases the possibility of others one day showing . . .and there are antibodies that are specifically targeted to certain components of peripheral nerve (the GM's, GQ's etc.--Liza Janes's charts have a list of these; might be interesting to look to see if you were titred up for all of them).

Got the following blood results that I can't wait for my neuro to explain to me:
IGM [Immunoglobulin M] - low. Value 40 [reference range 48-271]
IGA and IGG were both normal.

B6 - high. Value 34.7 [reference range 3.3-26.0]

Thankfully, and finally, a neuro that is doing the testing to get me some answers.