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Has Anyone's Celiac Been Constantly Sick?

Nic

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Nic Collaborator
Nic
Posted

I am just curious. My Celiac son seems to always be the one to bring home "sickness" to our house. Whether it be a cold or a viral infection with high fever, he is always the one to get sick first (I am home from work today because he has fifths disease but his fever has been up aroung 104). I'm just curious, is there any corrilation to the Celiac? I am wondering if the immune system gets compromised due to all the malabsorption that occured while actively sick with Celiac. Just a thought. Anyone know for sure?

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Carriefaith Enthusiast
Carriefaith
Posted

He may be more susceptable to illness during the first year or so on the gluten-free diet. Garlic and onions can help fight bacteria and viruses. Maybe try putting those foods in some of his meals?

key Contributor
key
Posted

My celiac son had more ear infections and finally tubes in his ears, but since he hasn't been any sicker then the other kids. Actually I think this is a very bad year for illness. Someone has been sick in my house for almost two months now. I have had it!!! I am hoping we have had everything by now. I have three kids and stay home with them all the time. I don't even know where they get stuff. I guess parks or restaurants. Anyway, a ton of my friends kids have been the same way.

Is your son in daycare?

My kids all just had rotavirus and had diarhea for five days with no appetite. It is not fun at all.

Monica

mart Contributor
mart
Posted

My celiac son also had to have ear tubes put in when he was 2. He had 9 ear infections in 1 year...I kept telling his doctor that he needed to see a specialist and he thought he didnt, so he wouldn't refer him. Finally, he ended up in the ER with 105 degree fever. When I told the ENT specialist at the hospital he'd had 9 ear infections in one year, he asked "why didn't you take him to a specialist...you're supposed to after 4 or so." ??? Then I read in some celiac information site that celiac children are more susceptable to ear infections.

So don't feel bad. My kids, no matter how well I take care of them, always seem to have some cold, virus, etc. Of course, I was like that as a child too, and I don't have celiac. I don't know for sure if celiac suppresses the immune system, but I would tend to think that it must to some degree, because ear infections tend to be "secondary infections," meaning they started out as something like a cold and then moved into the ear . It's not the only cause of ear infection, but I think it's the primary one (i.e., child can also get ear infections from drinking from a bottle in the wrong position.)

2Boys4Me Enthusiast
2Boys4Me
Posted

No. We are a family that rarely (touch wood) gets sick. The occasional cold or sniffles. A 24 hour upset stomach/vomity kind of day - gone the next day only once in a while. Once every couple of years my husband gets a flu that morphs into bronchitis that lasts for a month or two, but it's a pretty mild bronchitis compared to my Mom.

It's peculiar to me, because I BF'd my boys for 8 months and then 5 months for the younger one, and my identical twin sister BF'd her older boy about 14 months or so and still is with her 6 month old, and those kids are sick all the time. Go figure.

No ear problems here either, other than not listening. We know they can HEAR, but they can't LISTEN. In fact, my younger son, the celiac, was part of a hearing study on newborns. They did three different kinds of tests and he passed with flying colours. I don't think he's ever had an ear infection either, although my older son has had 2 or 3.

Nic Collaborator
Nic
Posted
  • Author
My celiac son had more ear infections and finally tubes in his ears, but since he hasn't been any sicker then the other kids. Actually I think this is a very bad year for illness. Someone has been sick in my house for almost two months now. I have had it!!! I am hoping we have had everything by now. I have three kids and stay home with them all the time. I don't even know where they get stuff. I guess parks or restaurants. Anyway, a ton of my friends kids have been the same way.

Is your son in daycare?

My kids all just had rotavirus and had diarhea for five days with no appetite. It is not fun at all.

Monica

He actuallly goes to preschool. It has been one viral infection after the next.

rache Apprentice
rache
Posted

i had asked a similar question before about myself (although im an adult and not a child) and i think people had me feeling like i was nuts- saying that youre supposed to be healthier after going gluten free. unlike me who was more sick in the last year (my first gluten free year!). i just had a 5 weeks long sinus infection - w/ bronchitis. still not feeling too great after 3 antibiotics. im glad im not alone with this. i think b/c of this being an immune disorder and throws your body so out of whack, that until my body gets fully healed and back in order, that i am going to have a harder time fighting off illness. it seems to make sense to me. in the mean time, ive started taking vitamins and staying away from everyone else thats sick- although i always seem to watch something! hopefully this will get easier and us sick people can get through this!

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frenchiemama Collaborator
frenchiemama
Posted

I was like that when I was a kid. Strep throat a couple of times a year, bronchitis, tonsilitis, you name it. I was out sick so much that they once sent a social worker to talk to my mom because they thought she was doing something to me. I wasn't diagnosed until I was 27 though, so I don't know if it would be related.

Nic Collaborator
Nic
Posted
  • Author

Thanks for the replies. It very well could be a bad year for viruses. But like I have said, he is always the one that gets sick first (I have one other son and he spends his days with my sister who has 3 while I work). And not only does he get sick first, he always gets hit the hardest. For example, he is sick now and so is my nephew. My nephews temp. has been around 101., my son's on the other hand, was up over 104 yesterday. Everytime he gets sick, he gets these rediculously high fevers. When he was first diagnosed with Celiac, I was told that it takes about 1 year for a Celiac to fully recover from damages done. Wouldn't it make sense that during that year the immune system may be out of wack? Just a thought.

Niole

ladyx Newbie
ladyx
Posted
Thanks for the replies. It very well could be a bad year for viruses. But like I have said, he is always the one that gets sick first (I have one other son and he spends his days with my sister who has 3 while I work). And not only does he get sick first, he always gets hit the hardest. For example, he is sick now and so is my nephew. My nephews temp. has been around 101., my son's on the other hand, was up over 104 yesterday. Everytime he gets sick, he gets these rediculously high fevers. When he was first diagnosed with Celiac, I was told that it takes about 1 year for a Celiac to fully recover from damages done. Wouldn't it make sense that during that year the immune system may be out of wack? Just a thought.

Niole

One more possibility for you....my son was sick all the time before he was diagnosed with celiac disease...when we were trying to figure out what was wrong with him my family doctor sent him to an allergist and a GI the same week...The allergist found a cronic sinius infection.. my son wasn't stopped up and seemed to breath fine except for his asthma problem but he was sick constantly...even if my other two weren't. He had all that infection stuffed up in his head but you couldn't tell cause he didn't have a runny nose or anything. He had to be on antibotics for a month but until we got him off gluten and cleared up the sinus infection he didn't improve...sometimes being on gluten cause secondary problems that just getting off gluten won't fix...also your son just might be a kid who gets sick more or like with me....I was sick all the time as a kid and my brother never was. My mom couldn't figure it out. When we got older and I got in college I hardley ever got sick except of course for my so called IBS. Then when my brother got a bunch of tests before he went overseas he found out he was a germ carrier...he was not getting sick...he was just giving me all the germs and i was getting sick. It has been a really bad winter as well so maybe it is just that. My kids and I all had Phenomena at Christmas time for over a month. I thought maybe it was because of the celiac but when I went back to work (I worked in a portrait studio) I had a lot of parents coming in for Christmas pictures in January because there kids had Phenomena or some other bad flu through December. Anyway my point is something might be wrong...listen to your motherly gut and if it is telling you something is wrong...don't give up. My pediatrican gave up on figuring out what was wrong with my son and I had to take him to my family doctor who sent him to specialists until the problem was discovered. Sometimes pediatricans get lazy because they see so many new moms who worried about the littlest runny nose...find you a doctor that is not willing to give up until they figure out what is wrong. I have had more luck with interns, clinical doctors and family doctors cause they don't have a chip on there sholder and think they know it all...a lot of times they aren't afriad to say I don't know but we will figure it out together. I know it might sound a little crazy but I had a nefew that was sick constatly and the kid practically lived on over the counter meds. My sister-in-law finally took him to the ciropractor and found out he had pretty severe scoliosis and after only a few adjustments he begin to get better. Just some ideas for you. Good luck

  • 4 years later...
Mama Melissa Enthusiast
Mama Melissa
Posted

thats soo weird you guys are talking about sickness when i was little i always got ear infections,i had the fifth disease as well and i have had chicken pox 2 times... i am now 27 and just diagnosed celiac after stomach problems they seem to think i just developed it by my biopsy but i beg to differ:)

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      High DGP-A with normal IGA

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      Okay well the info about TTG-A actually makes a lot of sense and I wish the PA had explained that to me. But yes, I would assume I would have intestinal damage from eating a lot of gluten for 32 years while having all these symptoms. As far as avoiding gluten foods - I was definitely not doing that. Bread, pasta, quesadillas (with flour tortillas) and crackers are my 4 favorite foods and I ate at least one of those things multiple times a day e.g. breakfast with eggs and toast, a cheese quesadilla for lunch, and pasta for dinner, and crackers and cheese as a before bed snack. I'm not even kidding.  I'm not really big on sugar, so I don't really do sweets. I don't have any of those conditions.  I am not sure if I have the genes or not. When the geneticist did my genetic testing for EDS this year, I didn't think to ask for him to request the celiac genes so they didn't test for them, unfortunately.  I guess another expectation I had is  that if gluten was the issue, the gluten-free diet would make me feel better, and I'm 3 months in and that hasn't been the case. I am being very careful and reading every label because I didn't want to screw this up and have to do gluten-free for longer than necessary if I end up not having celiac. I'm literally checking everything, even tea and anything else prepacked like caramel dip. Honestly its making me anxious 😅
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      I was tested for celiac at the same time, so I wasn't taking naltrexone yet. I say that, because I don't. The endoscopy showed some mild inflammation but was inconclusive as to celiac disease. They took several biopsies and that's all that was shown. I was not given a Marsh score.
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