My Tummy Hurts

[Dianamom3yr diabeti celiac]

My son was diagnosed with diabetes at 2 1/2 and celiac at 3 1/2. One of the side effects for high blood sugar is their tummy may hurt. Four months before he was diagnosed with Celiac he kept complaining that his tummy hurt 2 or 3 times a day. A lot of the time his blood sugar was fine.

He has been gluten free ( the best I know how at the moment) for a month and the tummy complaint is still the same. Many times he will say his tummy is on FIRE. I feel helpless. This week we are trying the lactose free items to see if that will help. I have given him Pepto Chewables, and the GI nurse said to try tums. I really haven't noticed that they help. I don't want him to say his tummy hurts, so he can have these items that taste yummy, and I don't know how many carbohydrates they have (which affects his diabetes). I need to call on that.

I hope someone has some suggestions.

Diana

[Lisa]

Diana:

I am sorry the he feels so bad. If I recall correctly, Tums are not gluten free. Perhaps Mylanta may help a little bit better. Hope he feels better soon.

Lisa

edit: Tums may contain trace amounts of gluten.

[2kids4me]

my son is 12 and has Type 1 plus celiac. He was having stomach aches in Dec and i finally brought him in - he was diagnosed with "duodenitis" and gioven acid reducers - instant relief!

The hallmark of duodenitis (from excess acid produced) is the pain occurs in the late evening or at night. Peak acid production occurs then.

If it happens after a recent meal, then the pain is more likely gastritis (stomach).

Over the counter meds like pepto bismol or antacids didnt help Matt - he got acid reducers - sounds similar to antacids but instead of just neutralizing the acid, it reduces the production in the first place.

***ask your doctor / nurse before giving him acid reducers, there is cautions about use in young children *****

Sandy

[Cam's Mom]

Hi! My daughter has both celiac disease and JD. She is 6 years old and was diagnosed almost a year ago. She complained for quite a while that her tummy hurt, even after going gluten free. My understanding is that it takes quite a while for the pain to go away (i.e. intestines to heal) after being truly, completely gluten free.

When her blood sugar is high she complains that her head, eyes and ears hurt and rarely suggests her stomach. The other thing we noticed is that she was really in the habit of saying her stomach hurt when she just felt crummy. We have talked alot about being specific and honest about her body (it is soooo important when dealing with diabetes that they are able to accurately recognize the symptoms). So we have taught her that when she feels crummy and/or overtired to say her "snickerdoodle" hurts. That way she isn't saying tummy unless it is truly tummy. You might try coming up with some code word and giving him some positive reinforcement for it (probably not tums). The other thing we are working on is describing the pain - like pinchy, pokey or throw-upy to see if we can figure out a difference between the causes of the different feelings.

I am sure you have also noticed that the gluten free substitutes are much higher in carb too - it is a lot to figure out, especially for such a little kid. I hope he feels better soon.

Best,

Barb

[kirbymom]

Thanks so much for your post. My 6 year old is gluten intolerant and while the aches settled down for a while, she otfen wakes up with her "tummy on fire". It is generally localized near her navel and now you have given me something to think about. We have also noted she is milk intolerant (we actually noticed before gluten that she can tolerate small amount). Now it looks like she has had too much milk and is back to the stomach complaints (and behavior issues again). Have you ever thought your child might have a milk issue?

[mouth]

My son was diagnosed with diabetes at 2 1/2 and celiac at 3 1/2. One of the side effects for high blood sugar is their tummy may hurt. Four months before he was diagnosed with Celiac he kept complaining that his tummy hurt 2 or 3 times a day. A lot of the time his blood sugar was fine.

He has been gluten free ( the best I know how at the moment) for a month and the tummy complaint is still the same. Many times he will say his tummy is on FIRE. I feel helpless. This week we are trying the lactose free items to see if that will help. I have given him Pepto Chewables, and the GI nurse said to try tums. I really haven't noticed that they help. I don't want him to say his tummy hurts, so he can have these items that taste yummy, and I don't know how many carbohydrates they have (which affects his diabetes). I need to call on that.

I hope someone has some suggestions.

Diana

Hi Diana,

I dont know if this will help, but when my daughter was 4 and had positive blood work, negative biopsy, she was stinky b.m.'s, not lactose intolerant, and would some times spit up milk in her sleep, CF definitely negative, they checked during endoscopy, and she had what they called peptic disease. They gave her liquid zantac, and it helped!!!!!! she also gained some weight too. Call your peds GI and talk to them.. Don't know if this will help, but it couldn't hurt to ask. Especially because of the diabetes. Good luck. Lynn