New To Board- Need Some Support

[Amandab29]

Hi everyone!

To make a very long story as short as possible, I have a 2yr. old daughter with SEVERE constipation, extremely irritable, enamel problems on her teeth, severe exzema, etc..... We went to a family reunion on Saturday and I got talking with relatives. I guess Celiacs Disease is VERY common in the family. (I had NO clue as most of the family is here from Ireland visiting) I came home and looked it up on the internet and it looks as though Maddy may be a candidate. I called the pediatrician yesterday and he was extremely supportive and wouldn't rule it out as nothing that we have tried has helped her. He is going to talk to a GI doctor and get back to me. Do any of you have children with similar symptoms? How did you get the ball rolling? Is it worth trying a gluten-free diet for a while and seeing if there is a difference? I'm so confused because she has been to an allergist but the skin test for wheat didn't come back positive....wouldn't they be related? PLEASE HELP.....I feel like I'm losing it...lol Sorry for all of the questions.....I look forward to hearing from you.

Amanda

[flagbabyds]

hi and welcom!

If you want to get an accurate test and get a confirmed diagnosis then you should wait to put her on the gluten-free diet cause taht will cause false negatives if she is a celaic, she needs to be on gluten for the tests to come back positive, and i would wait until you talk to the GI doc, your doctor can also order the blood tests himeslf, not sure what exactly they are but someone else here will.

I was diagnosed when I was a little under 2, and I was constipated, and that is why my GI doc said that i couldn't have celiac, but it came back positive and i got better soon, i ghad been in the hospital for 3 months dying of malnutrition, so they finally decided to test for celiac even though they thought i couldn't have it. don't give up on this, she sounds like she could have celiac, and she needs to be tested!

~molly

[imsohungry]

Hi and welcome!

An allergy test for wheat may come back negative. This is because celiac is not an allergy to wheat; Wheat, rye, oats, and barley (gluten) trigger an autoimmune reaction in the body of people with celiac disease. In other words, our body is intolerant to gluten. A simple way to say it: For people with celiac disease, gluten is perceived by our body as "the enemy." Our system short-circuits and causes havoc throughout our body damaging the villi of the intestines (along with other symptoms).

I hope this helps a little. Good luck with everything and keep us posted! -Julie

[azmom3]

My son is always extremely constipated as well...sometimes going up to 5 days without having a bowel movement, then going 4-5 times in a row, stopping whatever he's doing to hold onto the couch or me and crying (a very high-pitch cry, different from his regular crying). He tested positive on his blood test. The blood test would probably be the quickest way to get an idea if it's celiac. We are still waiting to get into the GI doctor (it'll be 3 1/2 months after the blood showed positive). Hopefully, you don't have to wait this long. Even without symptoms, due to family history I'd have her tested. After my son was positive, I just asked my doctor for the paperwork for the bloodtest, explaining we have a family history, and he gave it to me without questions. Good luck!

[Luvs to Scrap]

Hi! Welcome to the forum. I just got done testing my 18 month DD. She is ok so far but DS and DH both have it. The celiac panel is

Anti-gliadin (AGA) IgA

Anti-gliadin (AGA) IgG

Anti-Tissue Transglutamise (tTg) IgA

Total Serum IgA

Anti-Tissue Transglutamise (tTg) IgG

Endomesial Antibody (EMA) IgA

It is quite a lot of blood to draw for a small child so you might want to take another adult along for support. Make sure they do the whole panel. Our general practice doctor diagnosed both of my guys with just the IGA and IGG panels because he didn't know what he was doing. When we took DD to a pediatrician he said we needed to run all the tests because just running one might hide something else. So now we are taking Luke in Friday for more testing. Don't want to put him on gluten after 2 months so I am not sure what the purpose is.

Hoping that you get some answers soon. Kendra

[KaitiUSA]

Welcome to the board. If you ever have any questions feel free to ask anyone. Everyone here is so friendly. No question is too stupid on here so don't ever be afraid to ask something.

[Nikki2003]

My 2 yr old was just diagnosed in july of this year and her symptoms were the constipation,not eating bloated belly weight loss,the tooth enamel thing also,some diahrrea after constipation, the Gi we saw basically just asked about her medical history and family history of different things. They also did a rast wheat test which hers was neg also,But her TTg (which is the celiac test,one of them) hers was 80 and the norm is under 20. Her IgE is very high also but the dr's said it wasn't related to the celiac that is the next thing to figure out. The norm on that is 0-30 hers is 272.

I hope you get some answers soon.

Celina & Nikki

[Guest nini]

keep her on gluten until all testing is done, but then regardless of the test results try the diet anyway. Even if the tests are negative (which only means Not Positive) she may still respond well to the gluten-free diet. My daughter did. Her test results were neg. but her response to the diet was nothing short of a miracle.

[TCA]

Hi! Welcome to the forum. I just got done testing my 18 month DD. She is ok so far but DS and DH both have it. The celiac panel is

Anti-gliadin (AGA) IgA

Anti-gliadin (AGA) IgG

Anti-Tissue Transglutamise (tTg) IgA

Total Serum IgA

Anti-Tissue Transglutamise (tTg) IgG

Endomesial Antibody (EMA) IgA

It is quite a lot of blood to draw for a small child so you might want to take another adult along for support. Make sure they do the whole panel. Our general practice doctor diagnosed both of my guys with just the IGA and IGG panels because he didn't know what he was doing. When we took DD to a pediatrician he said we needed to run all the tests because just running one might hide something else. So now we are taking Luke in Friday for more testing. Don't want to put him on gluten after 2 months so I am not sure what the purpose is.

Hoping that you get some answers soon. Kendra

This is a great list of the celiac panel, but I wanted to add that you might want to get them to do a CBC to check for anemia too because this can be another symptom. Just remember that the tests can often be inconclusive for kids under 5. After 2 years of testing, we just tried the diet with miraculous results. good luck!