Undigested Food

[crittermom]

So I have been watching Michael's bms and they have not turned white or gray like Katharine's did but I have been noticing that his food is coming through more and more undigested! He had French Fries today and at just over 1 hour he had bm and the french fries came out exactly how they went in. There was even one that he swallowed half of whole and the reason I know this is because there it was the same on the other end! (sorry to be gross) He is not potty trained yet which in a way I guess is good because I can see the bm up close and personal. I have noticed lately that his blueberries, crackers, carrots, potatoes, amonst others, even banana is coming out undigested. Along with the fecal matter there are extremely large recognizable chucks of food in there. I am taking him for his second blood panel that the doctor ordered tomorrow and I have a call into the GI. If these tests come back negative and they "just want to wait to do another test" I think I am going to just take him gluten free and I will deal with the schools and his questions when the time comes. There is just something not right. Oh and he is still pooping 4-6 times per day with eating very little and they are still green! I can't believe any of this is normal, Any thoughts?.....

[Ursa Major]

From what you are saying, you really know, deep down, that Michael has celiac disease as well. Infant reflux is a common symptom of celiac disease, too.

I would take him off gluten as soon as his blood has been taken and forget about the GI. You really don't want to wait until he gets really ill and stops growing! And with his food not digesting, it is just a matter of time until that happens.

[Owen'sMom]

When my son was eating gluten he had lots of undigested foods in his diaper. Sometimes it was nothing but undigested food and some mucous.

Now that he is gluten free again, his stools don't have nearly as much undigested foods in them as before.

He also has other food intolerances and whenever he eats something that doesn't agree with him, he gets loads of undigested foods not even an hour later in his stools.

I agree after the blood panel to go gluten free and see if it helps. My son had the bloodwork and biopsy done and both came back negative. His gene testing results are in my sigline, and we have him gluten free and he has been doing so much better.

[todzwife]

This is VERY interesting to me because DD has the SAME Thing. She was recently diagnosed as having a sever wheat allergy (via the RAST test) but I have not had her tested for celiac. I'm really wondering if I should.

I see a LOT of food come through completely intact (including french fries as mentioned above) carrots, beans, and even wild rice.

She is a very predictable pooper (usually twice a day, once in the AM and once before bed after her bath LOL!) and is not potty trained so I too get a birds eye view of her lovelies.

After reading here for awhile, I am becoming more and more concerned that it is not just a wheat allergy but is actually celiac. She has SO many symptoms that have been noted here including dry patchy skin, undigested and unformed bowel movements, irritability, infant reflux, poor sleep habits...the list goes on.

Is the enterolab (I know I'm spelling that wrong) gluten sensitivity test enough to "diagnose" her?

[Gilli's mother]

After I found out that my daughter had Celiac (age 2) I started giving her probiotics and enzymes and saw a huge difference in her bowel movements. I opened a capsule, mixed it in juice or goat's milk (she can't tolerate cow's milk) in a shot glass to be sure she finished it all. Do this before any meal and you will notice a big difference in days. I give her the probiotics at bedtime in the same manner. Be sure it is in a capsule - powder form so that you can mix it with a beverage or mix in a goat yogurt. After you start this and the bm's become more formed it should be easier for you to find out what other foods your son might be sesitive to. If it was only celiac like I believed early on it would have been so simple but we found out that pastuerized cow's dairy, soy, nuts, dyes, nitrates, too much rice and many oils also caused my daughter to react and the bowel movements always confirmed it. We also healed her esophagus by giving her the probiotics, enzymes, primrose oil and capsules of colostrum. I know this because she had a scope a year after her first (scope) and her GI was completely amazed. The celiac diet is exhausting at first (and in the winter) but you will get the hang of it and it only gets easier - especially if you have a good health food store in town! I believe it is better to assume that your child has celiac and feed accordingly than to drive yourself crazy with the testing! It can't hurt to be on a gluten free diet and you can get your answer quickly by the change in behavior, bowel movements and their quality of sleep. Sorry so long!