Test Results For Daughter

[Ursa Major]

Well I got the results for Susie's blood tests. She is 14 and claims she is fine, and I had to force her to go, because she has a lot of gastro symptoms. Plus, all my kids should get tested anyway. I can't force the other four (they're 20, 22, 24 and 25), but I can force her.

The doctor's office called and said all her tests are in the low normal range (they weren't given the exact numbers, unfortunately, so can't give them to me, either, I was upset about that). She was tested for IfA EMA, IfG and IfA AGA, IgA tTg, and IfA deficiency.

She has a pretty severe dairy intolerance, which causes symptoms much like being glutened. Last Sunday we went to the store, and I allowed her to get some sorbet, and foolishly didn't read the ingredients list before taking it home. Susie ate some, and asked me if I wanted any, since limes are okay for me. I said that I needed to read the ingredients list first. She read it to me, and the fourth ingredient was 'milk ingredients'. And she said, "Oh, I didn't realize that sorbet can contain milk!"

She couldn't go to school the next day because of severe diarrhea (she had to run to the bathroom every half an hour all day), and she had a terrible stomach ache on Monday night. Sepia (a homeopathic remedy I take when my stomach aches) calmed that so she could sleep and go to school on Tuesday.

I am still not 100% convinced that she has no problem with gluten. But after the doctor called, she said, "Told ya, I definitely have no problem with gluten, you're just obsessed with it, thinking that everybody else has it, too!"

So, there is no way she'd even try the gluten free diet. And she loves bread, bagels, cake etc. and leaves crumbs EVERYWHERE! And so do my husband and the other daughter who still lives at home.

[RiceGuy]

Well, I'm sure you are aware of how often the results give a false negative. You know your daughter better than anyone here, but she really needs to take this seriously. As much as I loved the wheat products I had been eating, I wish I had known gluten was causing so much of my suffering.

All I can suggest is that you could point out how the intolerance is often passed on from one generation to the next. And that she owes it to herself, not to you, to be certain. As time went by, my symptoms grew worse and worse. No doctors ever got close to figuring out the problem. I discovered it for myself, but not until things got so bad I don't know what kept me alive. Even after a year or more gluten-free, my insides are just begining to recover, but the process is so slow I doubt a full recovery will ever happen.

Additionally, I just today found out that there is a virus known as the adenovirus. Apparently the gluten in modern-day wheat has an amino acid sequence which is similar to one in this virus. This may be why so many people cannot tolerate gluten, because the body thinks it is fighting this virus. The symptoms of infection include the gastro symptoms you describe, as well as many others. You should show your daughter Open Original Shared Link, which describes the adenovirus. She may identify with the symptoms more than she can ignore.

I now believe that once the immune system creates a defense against this virus, gluten can also be targeted, simply because of the similar amino acid sequence. If this is true, then perhaps anyone can become gluten intolerant. Your daughter doesn't have to believe what you think. She only has to look at the facts. Logic can do the rest.