Lost

[Parker's mom]

Hi there,

I have been to this site before and found a lot of great information. Here is the short version of our story. My 8 year old son Parker has had stomach issues for as long as I can remember. I actually call him stinky because he has so much gas, of course as an 8 year old boy he is proud of it. He has some food allergies and his stomach is always on the fence. Sometimes he cannot finish a meal because it hurts so much. But other times he feels great and he eats more than my husband. When he was 5 his pediatrician put him on a gluten free diet trial for a month, but we were in the middle of moving and it seemed impossible. We are a military family and we have moved 6 times in 10 years so we hardly ever get to see the same doctor more than once. Finally last October we saw a doctor that wanted to run some blood tests on Parker and at the end of February he received the results. He sent me an email saying that his anti-gliaden antibodies were elevated and he is sending us to a GI doc for further evaluation. I am really not sure what to think of all of this. My son is a very athletic, energetic boy. His weight and height is around 50 to 75 percentile for his age. He has gas, stomach bloating, intermittent stomach pain. he gets a red raised rash on his cheeks when he eats, and some foods make him act a little out of control. Since I have to wait until the end of April to see the other doctor I am wondering if there is anything else that can elevate his antibodies.

Thank you,

Sarah

[ravenwoodglass]

He sounds very clearly celiac. To really get an answer to your question though you need to post the tests names, their normal values and his results. If you are going to put him through an endo please make sure you keep giving him gluten until after they do the endo. I am celiac and after testing my kids I only put one of them through it. The rest of the family was content with positive blood work and the amazing changes we saw gluten free. The diet seems tough in the beginning because most of us have gotten so used to eating the processed 'food' that abounds but the reality is it isn't all that hard once you get used to it. Remember also that with his positive blood test, and the celiac tests are pretty specific, everyone in your family needs to be tested and/or just go gluten free.

[Nantzie]

Yep. Sounds like celiac. The gluten-free diet sounds overwhelming when you're on the outside looking in, but once you know what you're doing it's totally easy. There are lots of mainstream goodies that are gluten-free too, which is a good way to show kids that going gluten-free may not be as limiting as they may think. It's always nice to be able to have a treat here and there.

My two kids are on the gluten-free diet and their favorite mainstream treats are

M&M's (all but the crispy I believe)

Reese's PB cups

Cool Ranch Doritos (the nacho kind has wheat)

Cheetoes

Ore Ida french fries (I think most of them are gluten-free)

Ice cream (read the labels - some has gluten)

Jello

Juice boxes

Easy Cheese - not the bacon kind (the spray cheese - good on gluten-free crackers or celery)

Peanut butter

There are a lot of other mainstream products that are gluten-free, but these are the ones my kids like most.

Welcome to the board. Just read all you can here and you'll be an expert in no time.

Nancy

[Parker's mom]

I have not seen the test results, but I guess I will find out for sure in about a month. The one he mentioned he said was slightly elevated at 21, he said anything over 11 was elevated. I am not scared of the diet but my two major obstacles are first he has some food allergies one being peanut butter and the other is we live in Belgium and I don't speak or read French or Dutch. The good news is the gi doc is at a children