Flu Onset Celiac Symptoms?

[Guest Coopsmom]

Hi everyone,

I have a 2 year old diagnosed with celiac disease at 18mos. Until then, we have been very lucky with maintaining a gluten-free diet and Cooper has been doing great. About 10 days ago, he woke up during the night with horrible vomiting and diahrea and we were confident it was the flu, as I had the same thing the next day! However, since that night, he seems to be acting fine, but has had a few bouts of diahrea/loose stool, every few days. Today he has it pretty bad. Would the flu have onset any Celiac like symptoms in his intestines that take a while to heal? I am trying to get a hold of the nurse at his hospital, but will probably take a day or 2. We are so confident that he has not had gluten, but you can never be 100% sure, especially at his age. Is it hard to identify the difference in food poisoning/flu or gluten sickness? If not, can anyone give me tips to look for? Thank you so much in advance!

[TCA]

Whenever we go through this, I usually find womething that has been reformulated and now contains gluten. Log Cabin Syrup was the last one. We have a gluten-free house, so cc isn't a problem. My son't D when glutened is very pale and almost undigested. That's the biggest difference I see. I can't tell you about yout son, these are just my experiences. I hope he feels better soon.

[key]

It could be Rotavirus, which can have lingering diarhea in children. Just google Rotavirus and see if this sounds like him.

Monica

[wonkabar]

It could be Rotavirus, which can have lingering diarhea in children. Just google Rotavirus and see if this sounds like him.

Monica

Monica--It is sooooooooo weird that you said this!! That was the ONLY way I could explain my son's poops to the doctors. I constantly told them that Zachary was having 3-4 bm's a day that were pale and wet (like the consistency of applesauce) and had the god-awful stench of Rotavirus!!! My son's poops were like that for a year,with the blistering, bleeding diaper rash, and the ped gi told me he was "just fine"; he dismissed anything regarding Celiac Disease! My daughter was 6 months old at the time, consistenly had solid poops and no diaper rash, but at 2 1/2 my son was "just fine" even though he had all of these Celiac related symptoms!

All of the Celiac symptoms disappeared once we removed gluten from his diet. Since the begining of March we've had him on a gluten-free diet, and the dieatary response has been just amazing. Not only does his belly feel better, but his behavior is better, too. (His behav is just awful on gluten.)

Coopsmom--did your little guy have a fever, too? That typically comes with Rotavirus. They typically vomit for the first 24 hours and then it turns into explosive D. When my son had Rotavirus at a year-old he had D for about 10 days. He also had a high temp for about 3 days, too. (high 103's on Motrin) I hope he feels better soon.

--Kristy

[key]

I am glad your son is feeling better. My son was miserable on gluten. He slept all the time, fussed when awake and cried alot, bloated belly, diarhea-pale with undigested foods, etc. Even his pediatrician and the peds GI could tell he was better after removing gluten. We didn't need the biopsy to confirm he had celiac. We retested him after a week being gluten free and he was miserable for another two days, so my husband and I knew. Everyone knew him before and now and they all know he is a different child. He has been gluten free for a year now and is doing awesome!

Monica