Constipation

[gemlechner]

My now 2 year old has been constipated since she was 8 months old. After almost a year of her Dr. telling me this is normal I decided to do my own research..... She has chronic constipation, low Iron and horrible dental problems... In the past we cut out gluten for a week with a little result... Now we are going to try to cut it out for at least 1 month and see what happens I am afraid to take her to GI dr. because I know in order to test she would need gluten in her diet. I am so afraid of making hr constipated again. Anybody else going through a similar situation.... anybody else with constipation??

[nvsmom]

I had the big C from infant-hood (back when they introduced "solids' as a wheat based cereal at 1 month old) until I had been gluten-free for almost a year. "C" isn't as uncommon as doctors seem to think.

 

You might want to get her tested. The best tests for kids tend to be the DGP IgA and IgG as it detects celiac disease in earlier cases better. The tTG IgA and tTG IgG work for many kids too. EMA IgA is often not detectable in kids but worth trying. Don't forget the total serum IgA, which is a control test to rule out low IgA levels (found in 5% of celiacs).  There is also the endoscopic biopsy, which can work well for diagnosing kids when blood tests fail them.

 

She'll need to be eating gluten for accurate tests so don't go gluten-free yet.

 

If all tests are negative, she could have non-celiac gluten intolerance (NCGI) for which there are no accepted and very reliable tests yet. To diagnose NCGI she''ll need to go gluten-free for a minimum of 3 months, 6 is better as toilet issues are often slow to change.

 

Best wishes and welcome to the board!

[gemlechner]

My now 2 year old has been constipated since she was 8 months old. After almost a year of her Dr. telling me this is normal I decided to do my own research..... She has chronic constipation, low Iron and horrible dental problems... In the past we cut out gluten for a week with a little result... Now we are going to try to cut it out for at least 1 month and see what happens I am afraid to take her to GI dr. because I know in order to test she would need gluten in her diet. I am so afraid of making hr constipated again. Anybody else going through a similar situation.... anybody else with constipation??

 

I had the big C from infant-hood (back when they introduced "solids' as a wheat based cereal at 1 month old) until I had been gluten-free for almost a year. "C" isn't as uncommon as doctors seem to think.

 

You might want to get her tested. The best tests for kids tend to be the DGP IgA and IgG as it detects celiac disease in earlier cases better. The tTG IgA and tTG IgG work for many kids too. EMA IgA is often not detectable in kids but worth trying. Don't forget the total serum IgA, which is a control test to rule out low IgA levels (found in 5% of celiacs).  There is also the endoscopic biopsy, which can work well for diagnosing kids when blood tests fail them.

 

She'll need to be eating gluten for accurate tests so don't go gluten-free yet.

 

If all tests are negative, she could have non-celiac gluten intolerance (NCGI) for which there are no accepted and very reliable tests yet. To diagnose NCGI she''ll need to go gluten-free for a minimum of 3 months, 6 is better as toilet issues are often slow to change.

 

Best wishes and welcome to the board!

Thank You for the info...what is the difference between Celiac Disease and NCGI?

[nvsmom]

Thank You for the info...what is the difference between Celiac Disease and NCGI?

Celiac disease is rarer, about 1/133 I believe. It is an autoimmune disorder where your body attacks and destroys the intestinal villi as part of a crazy over reaction to any trace of gluten to your diet. NCGI does not involve the autoimmune villi attack but it has all the same possible gluten sensitivity symptoms like headaches, constipation or diarrhea, arthralgias, weight loss or gain, hair loss, cognitive problems, anxiety, etc. It is a much more common problem than celiac disease, with approximately 6-10% of the population having it.

Celiac tests only look for the antibodies that attack the villi, since those with NCGI do not have that issue, their celiac tests will be negative even if they do get deathly ill from gluten.

NCGI is a fairly newly recognized disorder. Not all doctors are up to date on it yet.

[scrcdawn]

Thank You for the info...what is the difference between Celiac Disease and NCGI?

While you are waiting for results have you tried prunes?  I work in pediatrics and it seems to work wonders for some kids, at least as a temporary measure for you.

I never had a problem until a few months ago until all the other nasty issues arose then I just could not go.  I started living on Miralax.  I drink tons of water, exercise, eat loads of fruits and veggies (  I don't eat most meat) and still issues.  I have been gluten-free about 3 weeks, and I am just able to go a little more, it is very slowly getting better.  I also supplement with dried prunes, probiotics and digestive enzymes.

Good luck, it is so hard to see little people suffer.