Celiac Suspicion

[Carlinag123]

Hi!

I have suspected my daughter had celiac since she was very young. She would get frequent diarrhea around 1-2 years old so I put her on a gluten free diet ( I was already gluten free because my neurologist recommended it and it helped me enormously) I had my daughter tested for celiac and it came back negative so she went back to eating gluten. I did not know back then that being gluten free could skew the results. She is now 6 years old and has been complaining about nearly constant stomach pain for quite some time.  She also complains of itchy skin all the time and is constipated frequently. Has anyone else had a similar experience with a negative blood test but seemingly related symptoms?

 Thank you!

[cyclinglady]

She might have been gluten light or she might have been too young to have developed antibodies.  Testing kids under three is tricky.  Often the DGP tests are better compared to the TTG when dealing with kids.   Was her Immunoglobulin A results in the normal range?  If she is Immunoglobulin A (IgA) deficient, any IgA related celiac tests were be invalid.  

How much gluten does she consume daily now?  

I had my kid tested twice.  Each time it was after summer in order to insure she would have antibodies since our house is gluten free and less disruption to her school schedule (she was much older).   She consumed gluten daily for three months and I insisted on the complete panel as I test positive to only the DGP IgA.  I was also not going to make the effort and not get every single celiac blood test!  

Know that some celiacs do not test positive on the celiac blood panel.  If negative, your daughter should be evaluated by a GI.  I could have sworn my niece had celiac disease.  At age 17, she was diagnosed with Crohn’s.  Celiac disease was firmly rule out (blood tests and scopes).  

Learn about a gluten challenge: 

https://www.cureceliacdisease.org/faq/what-is-a-gluten-challenge/