All of us have patterns of proteins on the surface of our white blood cells. The proteins are known as human leukocyte antigens (HLA), one of which is DQ. Celiac Disease (CD) and non-Celiac gluten sensitivity (NCGS), and several autoimmune conditions occur more frequently with certain HLA DQ types. DQ gene testing is performed by analyzing cells from a blood sample or from a Q-tip swab of the mouth. HLA types have a naming system that can be confusing even to scientist and physicians but here is my explanation of the testing, the results, and what they may mean to you and your family.

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The most important thing anyone can do for the depressed person is to help him or her get an appropriate diagnosis and treatment for depression. This may involve encouraging the individual to stay with treatment until the symptoms of depression begin to abate (several weeks), or to seek different treatment if no improvement occurs. The very nature of depression can interfere with a person’s ability to get help. Depression saps energy and self-esteem and makes a person feel tired, worthless, helpless, and hopeless.

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Before the 1980s, doctors were dead set on the idea that ADD was a children’s problem. Most have revised that position, but there are many who still hang on to this belief. Adults with attention deficit know for sure that attention deficit doesn’t always go away when you grow up. Yet, many adults aren’t aware that the symptoms they exhibit are related to ADD, like the inability to stay organized and their problems with interpersonal relationships.

If you think you might have ADD, start online to explore the possibility. You can take some preliminary tests that will tell you if you might have ADD or not, but you will need to remember two things: 1) the symptoms have to

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Attention deficit/hyperactivity, or ADHD, is often diagnosed when children show symptoms of hyperactive and impulsive behavior, along with lack of attentiveness to individual tasks. Without the hyperactivity, a child may be diagnosed as having attention deficit disorder, or ADD. Statistics peg the current prevalence of ADHD at about five percent of the population of the United States, with boys at least four times more likely to have it than girls. Recent studies, however, have shown that attention deficit disorder in a girl may actually be more common, and is often misdiagnosed or undiagnosed.

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Asperger’s Syndrome is understood by many professionals in the field of child development, to be a form of higher functioning Autism. It is described as a triad of impairments, namely problems with

a) social communication
b) social relating
c) imagination / imaginative play.

Problems with change, need for routines and extreme anxiety when they are compromised, are also common features of this syndrome. Further signs may be difficulties with reciprocal (two way) conversation and difficulties with empathic responses to others (i.e. lacking emotional understanding).

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