Not Going For It

[JonesFamily]

My 11 year old son just got diagnosed with Celiacs 2 months ago. The entire family has gone gluten free and the other kids are doing great and don't complain or seem to even miss the gluten. My son however is going crazy. He is miserable without regular bread and he is making everyone else miserable too. The doc said to hold out and see if he accepts it after he starts feeling better. He is a super easy going sweet kid who never complains and usually goes with the flow so this angry kid is tough to deal with. I have found good substitutes for everything except bread. He suffers from stomach aches, anxiety and low energy. He is also not growing well. Since going gluten free he has not started feeling better, hopefully in a few more weeks we will see a difference. I would appreciate any advice if anyone else has experienced something similar. Thanks.

[1desperateladysaved]

Your son's body is likely working very hard to recover.  Can you bear with it a little?  He may have some withdrawal symptoms and it is difficult.  I remember myself being a crabby brat and overwhelmed.  An adult should be able to be nice, right?  Give him some time to turn the corner.  Maybe plan some favorite videos and stay home extra for rest.  How about forgoing replacement breads and eating more potatoes or wild rice?  After longer without bread some of the substitute breads may taste better.  I really like almond flour bread and so does my family.  I make it by grinding my own almonds.  I do believe once he realizes that he feels better, and any consequences if he cheats; he will get on board with following the diet.  Best of healing to your son.  You may want to keep track of symptoms that he experiences or improvements as he goes.  This will give him a record to gage progress more objectively.

 

Dee

[BlessedMommy]

Have you tried baking your own? My kids love bread made with Pamela's bread mix. I also have a favorite "from scratch" recipe that everybody enjoys.

 

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[nvsmom]

My 11 year old son just got diagnosed with Celiacs 2 months ago. The entire family has gone gluten free and the other kids are doing great and don't complain or seem to even miss the gluten. My son however is going crazy. He is miserable without regular bread and he is making everyone else miserable too. The doc said to hold out and see if he accepts it after he starts feeling better. He is a super easy going sweet kid who never complains and usually goes with the flow so this angry kid is tough to deal with. I have found good substitutes for everything except bread. He suffers from stomach aches, anxiety and low energy. He is also not growing well. Since going gluten free he has not started feeling better, hopefully in a few more weeks we will see a difference. I would appreciate any advice if anyone else has experienced something similar. Thanks.

 

Poor kid.  I agree that withdrawal could have been part of the problem.  After being gluten-free for a few days I hit withdrawal (from carbs or gluten or what I have no idea) and I felt even worse than before.  I had a horrendous migraine and fatigue, and my mood was really low - I was annoying myself already.  It lasted close to two weeks but for some it can last a good month.  

 

Then there was the fact that my stomach aches and bloating were not entirely gone until I finally realized that I could not consume dairy.  About 50% of celiacs are lactose intolerant when they are diagnosed.  Many regain the ability to consume dairy when their intestinal villi, which makes the lactase that digests lactose, but that usually takes a good 6 months.  Perhaps remove dairy from his diet and see if that helps.

 

I too would not try to use gluten-free substitutes for the foods he loves, like bread.  It's not the same and when it is not what you are used to the taste and texture can be quite disappointing.  My kids have been gluten-free for 2 years and they are just starting to eat gluten-free sandwiches again - for the longest time we would just eat it as toast so the texture matched up better to normal bread.  Try using other foods like make cracker sandwiches, or use flavoured rice cakes.  We made a LOT of muffins and loaves at first, and now have settles into heavy coconut and flax muffins for their heartiness and protein content - plus rice flour muffins go crumbly too fast, even when stored in the freezer. We added raisens, or chocolate chips, or a sugar dusting to the muffins to make them more enticing early on and then slowly reduced the extra sugary stuff until I was pretty sure that their food was superior to what the average kid was eating... but we did this over many many months so it was not too noticeable.

 

I also packed my kids tasty smoothies, fruits and other foods that where filling and yummy to them so they would fill up on other foods and not miss the sandwich too much. Nuts and seeds were used a lot when not around those with allergies. A big bag of popcorn is always a favourite too.

 

Have you had his nutrient levels checked?  Nutrient levels can stay lowered for months or years after going gluten-free so he may need extra vitamins or even vitamin shots to give him that extra boost.  Have the doctor check Mg, Ca, Fe, K, Cu, Zn, ferritin, D, B12, and A. About 10% of celiacs also have hypothyroidism so you may want to check that eventually too.  Ask for TSH (should be near a 1 regardless of the lab's normal range), free T4 and free T3 (both should be in the 50-75% range of your lab's normal reference range), and TPO Ab.

 

Hang in there.