sunburst

Well, results of the panel were negative, but it looks like they only ran three tests? ttg antibodies (less than 1) iga serum (47) and gliadin (2). I guess even if it's celiac it's not surprising since she was only symptomatic for two months and she was off wheat for the week prior to the test. Have an appt with the pediatrician on Monday.

We experienced the exact same thing with our 18 month old; loose stools for two months. We could hear her mess a diaper and even if we got her out of it and cleaned off in 20 seconds, her bottom would already be red, like the stools were caustic. We just did the blood draw for the celiac panel over the holiday and are waiting on the results, but going gluten-free seems to have improved her symptoms.

My husband is celiac and a gluten-free diet doesn't need to be expensive, but it can take a little more effort. Just means you eat more whole foods instead of prepared stuff; I eat better now that I'm with him! More fruits and veggies! Because you're right- gluten-free ready-made food is super expensive and that's why we hardly buy any except for some breads and snacks.

Had the test over the Christmas holiday and it was 30 seconds of crying and yelling (her, not me) but only 30 seconds and she promptly forgot about it. Plebotomist was fantastic. Am thinking the ice cream dinner that followed might have been more for parents than her....

Don't have test results yet, but since eating gluten-free, her rash is gone, stools normalized and her mood seems a bit better. Just wanted to update and thank folks for the input. Even if test is inconclusive, we'll continue with the gluten-free diet and I'm sure as with most little kids, she will eventually get an inadvertent gluten-challenge at some point and we'll see how she reacts.

Yes, I had read that. She has been eating wheat since she was maybe eight months old, so @ 10 months. I guess I figured that first, the blood test is less invasive than the biopsy, and second, if the blood test was positive for celiac, we could forgo the biopsy. Are there reasons to go ahead and do a biopsy of you have a positive blood result?

We had scheduled the blood test for the same time as her next dr appt, but her symptoms weren't that bad at the time. I doubted it was gluten at first because the stool change happened SO suddenly, I figured it was a virus. When she got progressively worse, I called and asked to do the blood test immediately. I hear it only takes a couple of days to get the blood test results back so if we need to schedule a biopsy after that, hopefully they can get us in right away so we don't have to keep her on gluten.