Is There A Jra/celiac Connection?

[HeidiLeigh29]

Hi,

maybe someone out there has some answers, here it goes:

#1: keep this in mind, my middle child has JRA and is ANA +

#2: my youngest son (6 yo) has had a history of abdnormal bowel movements, severe constipation, needing prescription miralax to help him become more normal. Now he will usually have formed stool sometimes along with loose. (the formed stool is a pale green??) He will usually complain of lower back pain.

#3: my 6 yo also has not gained any weight in a long time. he use to be 75th precentile for his ht and 50th for his weight until this year now he is in 15th-30th precentile. (i think he is actually lower than that) he is 47inches and 42 pounds. This summer you can literally see ever rib and bone in his back. He has a small appetite and will eat very little at a time.

ok here is my question, at his physical the other day the doctor mentioned celiac disease to me, but felt like he hasn't had chronic diarrhea, so he feels like it is unlikely, and he wants to wait 6 months and re weigh him and see where he is at. I'm a little concerned because last summer he was thin, but this year he is so thin it is scaring me and i'm somewhat afraid of waiting another six months to see what happens.

my other thought was is there a connection between JRA and celiac disease? there is some sort of autoimmune thing going on with both and i know that usually JRA isn't common in siblings, but i'm wondering if the ANA+ trait is?

thanks for any input,

Heidi

[dkmb]

Constipation can be a symptom of celiac disease. The Medline Plus website which is from the NIH states that some have diarrhea, some constipation, some both and some neither. There are also posts to this website from people who have constipation.

I was just talking to a doctor yesterday about celiac disease and told him my granddaughter has it and constipation not diarrhea is a problem with her. He said he would have to do research because that was something he hadn't heard. While he isn't involved in her treatment I was glad he was willing to add to his knowledge.

I hope someone can answer your other questions.

DK

[lovegrov]

Your doctor needs more modern information. Less than 50 percent of people with celiac disease have diarrhea. I didn't have it but my blood tests were sky-high and all of my villi were completely flattened. Classic case of celiac without most of the classic symptoms. Failure to thrive and weight loss, however, are major symptoms in children.

What is JRA and ANA+?

richard

[GEF]

"ANA stands for Antinuclear Antibody. This literally means 'substance against the cell nucleus'. The nucleus is the 'headquarters' of the living cell, therefore the ANA can damage or destroy cells & tissues.

95%-98% of patients with SLE (lupus) will have a positive ANA test, but the majority of people with a positive ANA test do not have SLE. A positive ANA test can be found in many conditions, including Sjogren's Syndrome, scleroderma, rheumatoid arthritis, & mixed connective tissue disease. Many normal healthy people will also have a positive ANA test." Open Original Shared Link

[gf4life]

JRA is juvenile rheumatoid arthritis.

[ryebaby0]

Your post gave me chills. Here I go again --- my son was originally dx with jra, and rheumy said that she has patients with celiac and jra and it's certainly linked, but sometimes it turns out that the "jra" is actually untreated celiac disease that has progressed to the point that joints are inflamed. This is especially common in children.

My boy's hands was dx as polyarticulate jra and had hands, wrists, ankles, knees and hip involvement, a prounounced limp and inability to run. He was also ANA+. ALL of those symptoms have completely disappeared by now, his 6.5 month of gluten-free. His rheumy told him in May -- I love you, but go away and don't come back, you don't need me.

As for your youngest -- there is no good pediatrician in this world that can watch a child fall through that many percentiles and not be alarmed. If he had always been small, that would be one thing. We watched my son lose weight until you could see every bone in his vertebrae and his pelvis began to protrude. His arms were like matchsticks; it was the day I mailed a digital photo of him, without a shirt, to his rheumy (3 hours away) that our phone rang. She had called our pediatrician, who until then had said "it takes a while for a gluten-free diet to turn around". He was admitted to the hospital for 7 weeks, and is doing great today. Pale green, I believe, is a sign of malabsorption. Your instincts that something is wrong is probably correct, so stay on the doctors...

[HeidiLeigh29]

thank you ryebaby and everyone.

my middle son with JRA also had polyarticulate, a very rare case his rheumy said. He had only one wrist and one finger affected. He also has been in remission for years and she said he should never have a problem again, but because of the ANA+ trait must continue to have slit lamp eye exams every 3-4 months. but she loves him so much she wants to still follow him with yearly exams, we go to Shriners Hospital, they are wonderful!!

I had already decided this evening that tomorrow morning i'm walking into the doctors office and making them do testing or refer us to a pediatric gastroenterologist. After reading your response it makes me feel even stronger that I am right in doing this.

The other thing that I have been reading a little about is the rash you can sometimes get if you have this disease and it made me think about this past winter..any hand lotion that my son used caused his hands to break out in a very painful red rash immediately after applying....this may be unrelated but it has me wondering?

[Kim]

I would absolutely, positively get your children tested for celiac immediately. Why wait (and suffer) 6 months? Make sure your doctor runs all 5 bloodtests, not just 3. You may, or may not, know this, but you won't want to put your children on a gluten free diet until they're finished running diagnostic tests (blood and biopsy). If you post where you are, perhaps someone can recommend a knowledgable pediatric gastroenterologist in your area. Good luck. Kim.

[HeidiLeigh29]

I am in western Massachusetts. I have researched on internet for pediatric gastroenterologists and have found one at Baystate Medical Center named A. Angelides. I am going to doctors this morning to see if they will give me his heights and weights from his physicals, then i'm just going to refer myself to a specialist. (I have this info somewhere here at home, but right now I can't even think about where it may be).

[ryebaby0]

Good morning! The red rash with the use of lotions certainly sounds like dermatitis hepa-- hepa-- hepaform? It's a form of celiac; we don't deal with that here but if the lotion is not gluten-free (and it probably isn't) that would be consistent with celiac. There are lots of celiacs with a DH form. Good luck at the doctors! You sound like you are on the way to answers

[lovegrov]

I dealt with DH for more than 20 years and a painful rash on your hands with use of lotion does NOT sound like DH. DH is itchy but not painful (at least in my case), and the hands are not a place where you usually get it, except sometimes on the back of the fingers. Elbows, knees, buttocks and sometimes the scalp are the most commopn places for DH. Does he have blisters filled with clear fluid? That's DH.

In addition, I never got it from touching something with gluten. Most if not all experts agree that, just like with celiac, you have to swallow the gluten for a reaction. Your son might be allergic to gluten or some other ingredient, but it's probably not DH, at least it doesn't seem like it from the description you gave.

richard

[HeidiLeigh29]

OK,

I went to my son's pedi today and told them that I want him tested. His primary doc is on vaca for 1 1/2 weeks, they want me to wait until he comes back. I agreed to that. So we will have to wait and see. I also called the pedi GI in Springfield and they said that I would need a referral. So I guess I have no choice but to wait and see.

thank you all for your helpful input.

heidi

[gf4life]

Actually you can get DH on your hands. I had it on my palms very badly and it was extremely painful. I think because there are so many nerve endings on the hand that it was more painful, and it was extremely itchy as well. I also had it between my fingers and in places running up my arms and on my scalp and neck. I only had a few on my back and none ever on my legs or belly. The palms of your hands is not the most common place to get DH, but it can happen. Once I was able to be completely gluten-free, it took over a month before the pain went away, and then for month or so after that I would occasionally have shooting pain where the DH blisters used to be on my palms.

But if this is what your son had it would not just happen from the lotion, it would be the entire time he was consuming gluten. He may have just been allergic to something in the lotion.

God bless,

Mariann

[Niteyx13]

I always have to say first that I am undiagnosed, because I do not want to mis-lead anyone. Although, I am absolutely positive that I have celiac disease.

I was diagnosed with JRA at age two. I grew slowly...I was still under 5 foot, around 90 pounds, and without a period until 15 years old. Constipation started for me in highschool, getting progressively worse. I have two children now, and my major symptoms started when I was pregnant with my first, that was when i was diagnosed hypo-thyroid.

The more I am on this board the more sure I am about this whole thing. Definately insist on your son being tested. I am going to have to do the same fo rmy daughter, because she is showing some of the same signs.

[debmidge]

Please let us know what the results of the tests are...

Not only can children get skeletal, but my husband is too due to 25 yeas of mis diagnosed celiac. Since he started gluten-free diet in Oct 03 he has only gained back 1.5 lbs. I can do that in a day!

His sister refuses to get tested, yet she too is painfully thin and has had RA for years. I tried to explain the RA=celiac connection, but she doesn't believe me.

[LUAP]

ACCORDING TO RESEARCH I DID, THERE WOULD NOT BE LINK BETWEEN RA AND COELIAC DISEASE. THERE IS A COMMON FACTOR : BOTH ARE AUTO-IMMUNE DISEASE AND BOTH WOULD CONTAIN FOOD ALLERGY. THE VIRUS WOULDN'T BE THE SAME.

Open Original Shared Link

IT'S IMPORTANT TO CONSIDER IT BECAUSE THE REMEDYS THAN, ARE NOT THE SAME.

PAUL

[kapoorpriya]

Heidi

My 3 yr old son was recently diagonsed with polyarticular JRA. He is 9 joints affected. He also suffers from severe constipation. Now the doctors are rethinking the diagnoses and would like to confirm he is indeed has an inflamatory bowel disease. I was wondering what ended up being the case with your yonger son.

Thanks

Priya

[kapoorpriya]

Hi - my son was recently diagnosed with polyarticular JRA. He has 9 joings in his body completely inflammed at the moment. Doctors now want to check him for any inflammatory bowel disease. I have decided to put him on a gluten free/diary free diet before doing any more invasive procedures on him. I was wondering why your son lost so much weight when he started on the gluten free diet. Or maybe I misunderstood why your son lost so much weight.

Any guidance on that front would be appreciated. Was your son diagonsed with celiac or JRA?

Thanks

Priya