Celiac Mom Needs Help!

[Tasha2004]

We're having a problem and need some suggestions for it.

My Mom is 81, has had Celiac for 17 years. She has had about two episodes of apparently getting some gluten, one resulted in needing Steroids. The last one was maybe six months ago, and she recovered without help. We thought she was doing fine.

Lately she has been having diarrhea from many foods, and lots of pulling feelings or activity in her abdomen. She had a colonoscopy, endoscopy and biopsy. The only finding was minor gastritis. They also gave her an abdominal CT scan, which was clear. They very stupidly just now ordered a parasite test (obviously should have been done a long time back.)

I'm trying to figure out what to do next. I got her off a certain Rice milk which was not gluten free, and she has stopped nearly all dairy. She still has this problem, but only been off the Rice milk one week, and still has been eating some homemade gluten-free bread with cheese in it (therefore dairy).

We dont know what area to look at for possible causes of the tummy trouble, and she is running out of knowing what to eat as well. She is tiny enough as it is, and doesnt need to lose more weight or energy.

I'm seeing other Celiacs complaining of this same sort of thing (note most of the diarrhea is first thing in the morning.) I also have read a tiny bit on Casein, but have no clue on how an allergy is detected.

We really need some ideas to go on. Mom is upset, not feeling well and gets very confused if I throw too many ideas at her, but she really needs to focus on something in order to solve this. I guess we become our own detectives, because unless the parasite test is positive, the doctor doesnt even want to see her until February.

Thanks for any thoughts on this.

[Guest cassidy]

If she has only been off the rice milk for a week, it may be too soon to draw conclusions that something other than gluten is causing the problem. I often have D for a week if I was glutened by a cc amount once. If she was consistently drinking rice milk that contained gluten, then I would think it would take a while for her system to get better. I would give it another week before you change her diet because if you do change a bunch of things at once it is hard to tell what worked.

I think you posted about her problems before and I replied saying that for gastritis, aloe juice (not the plain) really helped me. Also, digestive enzymes and probiotics always make a difference for me.

If she is still bad in another few days, then I would ask her to eat basic foods - meat, veggies, fruits, rice and keep a food diary. If she does ok on those she can add things back in and you can see if that works, but I would give it another week to see if it was just the rice milk.

[Tasha2004]

If she has only been off the rice milk for a week, it may be too soon to draw conclusions that something other than gluten is causing the problem. I often have D for a week if I was glutened by a cc amount once. If she was consistently drinking rice milk that contained gluten, then I would think it would take a while for her system to get better. I would give it another week before you change her diet because if you do change a bunch of things at once it is hard to tell what worked.

I think you posted about her problems before and I replied saying that for gastritis, aloe juice (not the plain) really helped me. Also, digestive enzymes and probiotics always make a difference for me.

If she is still bad in another few days, then I would ask her to eat basic foods - meat, veggies, fruits, rice and keep a food diary. If she does ok on those she can add things back in and you can see if that works, but I would give it another week to see if it was just the rice milk.

Thanks Cassidy. The doctors didnt make any issue at all about the gastritis, so we pretty much forgot about it all together. I appreciate the thoughts on the Rice milk, and since Mom is just doing this one parasite test, she can probably work on just that angle for now. Problem is, she is having trouble eating many foods and I know she is getting worried.

Thanks again!

[marciab]

I have a post going about how I have had "D" for 9 months, but I would be willing to bet that I am just super sensitive to cross contamination. I keep eating crackers and chips that are the possible culprits.

And before that I was on the road and eating out for 2 months ...

I don't know where my brain is sometimes.

Perhaps your mother is super sensitive too and needs to go over her diet, etc again. That's my plan.

I understand how upset your mother will be, God help me when I am 81, so can you make it easy on her by helping her get what she needs and just having it in her house ?

Bless you for caring for her ... marcia