Questioning My Daughter.

[janpell]

I have gluten intolerance as do my two boys. I didn't think my daughter was affected by it so I let her consume it when she goes out places, which is often enough. I notice lately she is getting weird behaviour afterwards, some sores on face and arms, rash around her mouth (almost like a beard), has many stomach aches. I brought her to the doctor for the stomach pains and he assured me it was constipation even though she has 1 or 2 BM a day and it is usually typical in texture and not hard. At times I notice there is even some blood stains on her underwear (at the back end). She is 7 years old. She has been to a party or sleepover almost every weekend, so consuming hot dogs, pizza, cake, pancakes, toast, etc. and I notice that she is getting, not quite pimples, but more open sore like markings on her face and arms (DH, I'm thinking). Plus she has been getting an eczema like rash around her mouth here and there - not necessarily if she had gluten but with foods that she normally is okay with.  I rarely have to bring my kids to the dr. I'm thinking of insisting on some bloodwork just to see if there is something I have look into. We are gluten free at home so she isn't getting constant exposure and I wonder if this is a sign that gluten is a problem for her?

[1desperateladysaved]

As a mother I would say you better have it checked!  If you test for celiac it might be better to have a few gluten items at the house for her to snack on to prepare for testing.  I would do both blood tests and have a dermatologist check the rash.

 

Dee

[janpell]

I guess so. I will bring her in to address the sores on her arms along with prolonged stomach aches and I will up the gluten for the next couple of weeks.

[Cara in Boston]

She has symptoms, so she should be checked.

 

First degree relatives of people diagnosed with Celiac Disease should be tested every three years - regardless of symptoms - and sooner if symptoms present.  

 

My "regular" kid gets tested every couple of years, but every I admit, I tend to think "CELIAC!" every time he has a bad day . . . he is getting tired of it.

[janpell]

I have never been tested for Celiac because I didn't present classicly. I went gluten free years ago because my other autoimmune conditions weren't being helped with medication so I tried alternative therapy and wow, the diet change changed my life and I will never go back to eating to the traditional low fat, high grain diet again and we ate healthy then.

My problem is the doctor doesn't want to test her for Celiac. He says the stomach aches are from constipation and we got a prescription to address that. We eat properly - plenty of veg, only 1.5 fruit per day but definitely 4-5 servings of veg a day which is pretty high. She drinks water regularly. He hasn't seen the sores on her yet so I should get her in before they heal. Not sure exactly how DH presents itself because hers are individual dots which never appeared as pimples or anything but just like open sores. Part of me thinks bug bites but it's winter and no one else in the family has them. She has 7 on her forehead (between her eyes and just above) and 10 on her right arm. They are all concentrated in the same area. DH looks more like a rash to me but she gets that occasionally encircling her mouth which disappears the next day if we put zinc cream on it the night before.

A couple of other things I have noticed are her paper thin finger nails. I trimmed them yesterday and they seem to be peeling off in layers at the top. She has very fine, thin,dry hair almost like she is malnourished I find. It comes out quite easily too (for a 7 yr old, anyways). No one else in the family presents like this and we all eat the same diet except she gets gluten still but not at home but weekends at friends homes. I guess I just buy some gluten products and get her started for a challenge.