Jump to content
This site uses cookies. Continued use is acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. More Info... ×

  • Welcome to Celiac.com!

    You have found your celiac tribe! Join us and ask questions in our forum, share your story, and connect with others.



  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A1):

    Celiac.com Sponsor (A1-M):

  • Get Celiac.com Updates:
    Support Our Content
    eNewsletter
    Donate

Pediatric lactose intolerance and celiac

HMP
 Share

Recommended Posts

HMP Newbie
HMP
Posted

My 4 year old son has had loose mucous stools for almost three months (no abdominal pain or vomiting) along with weight deceleration (10 percent BMI). The doctor would like to rule out a lactose intolerance before running a celiac blood test.  It’s been a week and now instead of having loose mucous stools he has watery diarrhea at least one time a day. Would it be beneficial to move forward sooner with the celiac blood work( doctor advised we wait two months) or do you think the lactose is still working out of his system and causing the diarrhea? 

Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):
Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):

Celiac.com Sponsor (A8-M):


Scott Adams Grand Master
Scott Adams
Posted

I’m not sure why your doctor would not do a celiac blood test, as untreated CD can be dangerous in a toddler and can cause temporary lactose/casein intolerance. Has your son been on a gluten-free diet? If so, that could be the reason. He needs to eat gluten daily for several weeks before any tests  for CD can be done.

cyclinglady Grand Master
cyclinglady
Posted
(edited)

I agree, a blood draw is in order.  He should be screened for celiac disease and checked for anemia.  Ask for both the DGP and TTG tests.  Usually the TTG catches most celiacs, but kids that young often do better With the DGP.  Ask for both the IgA and IgG of both those tests to cover all bases.  You only need one positive on any of those four tests.   I did this with my kid.  No need to do unnecessary blood draws on a kid.  Do it right the first time.  
 

If your doctor balks, get a new one.  No child should have diarrhea for months like that!  
 

I was lactose intolerant, yet I still had celiac disease (which resolved once I went gluten free/treated celiac disease).  Symptoms from lactose intolerance usually resolves within a day or so.  Celiac disease, on he other hand is autoimmune.  Gluten just triggers the autoimmune response that causes small intestinal damage that can linger for weeks, months, or a year!  It is systemic (e.g. affect joints, make you cranky, anxious, rashes, etc).   

DO NOT put him on a gluten free diet, until you can get the blood test.  Be sure the phlebotomist uses a pediatric needle and get the best one on staff.  Then distract him, Mom!  This is when candy or a new toy is invaluable!  

Edited by cyclinglady
HMP Newbie
HMP
Posted
  • Author
2 hours ago, Scott Adams said:

I’m not sure why your doctor would not do a celiac blood test, as untreated celiac disease can be dangerous in a toddler and can cause temporary lactose/casein intolerance. Has your son been on a gluten-free diet? If so, that could be the reason. He needs to eat gluten daily for several weeks before any tests  for celiac disease can be done.

Thank you for responding.  No, he isn’t currently (and has never been) on a gluten free diet.  I think the doctor wanted to rule out lactose intolerance test, but the more that I’m reading, waiting 2 months seems like too long for the poor kid.  His bowel movements have changed from being off lactose but they are still not right (loose watery).  Sounds like I need to push the pediatrician or just go straight to a pediatric gastroenterologist. Thank you. 

HMP Newbie
HMP
Posted
  • Author
2 hours ago, cyclinglady said:

I agree, a blood draw is in order.  He should be screened for celiac disease and checked for anemia.  Ask for both the DGP and TTG tests.  Usually the TTG catches most celiacs, but kids that young often do better With the DGP.  Ask for both the IgA and IgG of both those tests to cover all bases.  You only need one positive on any of those four tests.   I did this with my kid.  No need to do unnecessary blood draws on a kid.  Do it right the first time.  
 

If your doctor balks, get a new one.  No child should have diarrhea for months like that!  
 

I was lactose intolerant, yet I still had celiac disease (which resolved once I went gluten free/treated celiac disease).  Symptoms from lactose intolerance usually resolves within a day or so.  Celiac disease, on he other hand is autoimmune.  Gluten just triggers the autoimmune response that causes small intestinal damage that can linger for weeks, months, or a year!  It is systemic (e.g. affect joints, make you cranky, anxious, rashes, etc).   

DO NOT put him on a gluten free diet, until you can get the blood test.  Be sure the phlebotomist uses a pediatric needle and get the best one on staff.  Then distract him, Mom!  This is when candy or a new toy is invaluable!  

Thank you so much for taking the time to read my post and answer some of my questions.  I really appreciate your advice on which tests to order (the less poking and prodding the better).  I just want an answer and to start working towards a solution so that my guy isn’t running to the bathroom and losing weight :( I’m a nurse, but still hate the idea of him having to deal with needles,  I’ll def bring him to the children’s blood draw with treats in hand! Thank you, esp for you personal experience with lactose and gluten, I just feel totally lost and am starting to get frustrated with the process of getting a diagnosis/solution. 

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A19):


  • Member Statistics

    • Total Members
      131,381
    • Most Online (within 30 mins)
      7,748
    AHD
    Newest Member
    AHD
    Joined
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A20):

  • Forum Statistics

    • Total Topics
      121.4k
    • Total Posts
      1m
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A22):



  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A21):


  • Upcoming Events

  • Posts

    • lauramac
      COVID19 and getting glutened

      By lauramac · Posted

      I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease abput 10 years ago. When I was initially diagnosed my only "symptom" was persistently low iron (that occasionally dipped into anemia). After diagnosis,  over time, I started to develop symptoms when exposed to gluten--they have been overall relatively minor, but have increased over time (and yes, I realize my guts are likely being wrecked regardless of the symptoms) on the rare occasions I've been exposed to gluten. I had COVID19 last week (now testing negative) and was glutened last night (never trust anything labeled gluten-free in a mixed environment). I had my traditional symptoms (sharp gas pains, burping, nausea, stomach ache) but they were accompanied by new, more intense symptoms (muscle cramps all over my body--feet, calves, biceps, neck, shoulders, jaw, abdomen, I'm still sore today and cold sweats). I spent about 6 hours writhing before I felt well enough to get up.  I have been told by my allergist that COVID19 can cause your immune system to hyper react. I'm wondering if that's what happened here.   Has anyone else had experience getting glutened post COVID19? Relatively shortly after recovering from COVID19? Was it a more extreme reaction or same? I can't seem to find any articles on this, so I thought I'd ask the community.  Thank you!
    • Rogol72
      Draft gluten-free ciders… can they be trusted ?

      By Rogol72 · Posted

      A friend of mine is in the bar trade most of his life and has never heard of lines being mixed for different type of beers and ciders. Better to stick with cans.
    • Rejoicephd
      Draft gluten-free ciders… can they be trusted ?

      By Rejoicephd · Posted

      Thanks very much for confirming my suspicion @Scott Adams! That helps a lot because I'm really trying to track down and get rid of these sources of cross-contact and so I'm going to just rule out the draft ciders and hope that helps. Also @Rogol72 its nice to hear you haven't had a problem on that side of the pond - draft cider lines being used for cider only certainly sounds like the right way to do it, but I think that must not always be practiced over here! 
    • Zuma888
      Gluten challenge and Hashimoto's Thyroiditis

      By Zuma888 · Posted

      I didn't ask a doctor about this actually. I did ask several doctors a long time ago and they told me gluten has nothing to do with hashimoto's. One of them told me to do a gluten challenge to test for celiac, but at the time I was in graduate school so couldn't afford to be even more ill than I was. If you have the symptoms, I really don't advise you to do a gluten challenge. It messed me up mentally and physically for months. At the same time, I benefitted from doing the challenge in the sense that it convinced me that all my symptoms were truly from gluten - even stuff like insomnia! So now I am terrified to eat gluten, whereas before I would have a little once in a while and not notice anything dramatic. 
    • Winnie-Ther-Pooh
      Gluten challenge and Hashimoto's Thyroiditis

      By Winnie-Ther-Pooh · Posted

      I am in a similar situation where I can't feasibly do a gluten challenge but have all the symptoms and I have 2 celiac genes. I'm curious if your doctor advised you to eat as if you had a diagnosis or if they were more dismissive about it. 
×
×
  • Create New...