Mikey's Enterolab Is Positive

[Nantzie]

Mikey's Fecal Antigliadin IgA from Enterolab is 41. Jenny's was 15. That's over twice her score.

I had actually gotten myself expecting that his was going to come back either completely negative or below 10. He has been gluten free along with the rest of us for a few weeks now, and the other day at our family BBQ my husband's cousin gave him cake by accident. She didn't know we were getting Mikey tested. I figured we'd just call that his gluten challenge. He didn't have any problems afterward. No tummy aches. No mood changes. I wasn't sure about diarrhea because he was already having that from too much juice the day before. But since he seemed to be feeling fine, I figured we might just be in the clear for him. I was even planning on if it came back as a 7 or 8 we would retest him in a year or so and then go from there.

But 41??? That's nowhere near borderline. That's positive.

We're all already gluten-free, so eating at home isn't a problem. The only problem I have with him is that he likes cake and stuff like that. He'll go straight for it at parties and BBQs. Jenny is four, and she had tummy aches a lot before her diagnosis. Plus, she never liked cake or pastries. With her, all I have to do is tell her that something has gluten in it and that it will make her tummy hurt and she won't go anywhere near it. With Mikey, it's going to be harder for a while. I'll have to make sure I bring gluten-free cupcakes and stuff to family events just in case someone brings a cake.

Just kind of numb right now. All I have to do is get my husband tested and we'll be 4 for 4.

Nancy

[Ursa Major]

Nancy, the good thing is that he is only 2, so you have time to condition him to not eat gluten before he starts school. And always having treats with you in case somebody brings something he likes is a good idea. Because he is really too little to understand why he can't have something yummy too, when everybody else has it. It's almost too bad that he doesn't feel terrible after eating gluten! Because a few reactions would make him understand much faster.

All the best to you in figuring it all out. You probably need to tell everybody at an event that he is not to have cake or bread or cookies, so you don't have to shadow him every minute yourself. Or let his big sister watch over him sometimes. Four-year-olds can be pretty fierce 'little mothers' when it comes to their smaller sibling's welfare.

[Nantzie]

That's very true. Sometimes Jenny is more strict with her little brother than I am. I agree too that it would be a little easier if he did have more symptoms. I always feel lucky in a way that my reaction to gluten is so quick because I'm always pretty sure about what glutened me when it happens. It must be a lot more difficult for people with delayed symptoms or minor symptoms to figure things out.

Once he gets even just a little older, he'll be able to understand. But for right now I'm in charge of what he eats. The slip-up at the BBQ was just because our cousin didn't know he was being tested. She never would have given Jenny cake. My family has been really good about all of it. My MIL even agreed to babysit both of my gluten-free kids while my husband and I go to a business conference in Vegas for three nights. I told her I'd make everything ahead of time and she said no problem.

We have a drop-in daycare in town here where I take them to when I need to go to an appt or whatever. I took them there today. When I told them that the kids have celiac now and have to be gluten-free, they knew exactly what I was talking about. I was almost afraid that they'd say that they couldn't accomodate them at all since it's just a drop-in place. But it was even less of a problem than their preschool.

So things are going really good.

Nancy

[AndreaB]

Isn't it interesting the way these tests work out. The one with obvious symptoms having such a lower number. My family is 3 for 5 right now since I haven't had the baby tested yet. Next year we hope to have him tested although he is gluten free now. I gave him oatmeal baby cereal for a week and he was crabby the whole week. Got better after I put him back on rice cereal. Our whole household is gluten free.

Now if we could just get grandma (my mom) to take it more seriously.....