May My Son Have Celiac Disease?

[angayla17]

My 3.5yr old son has always had poop issues. He is tested + for 14 food allergies - not wheat. He still is having on & off diarreah, sometimes loose yellow stool, sometimes gray/clay colored, sometimes mucousy, sometimes tiny amounts of visible blood. Occasionally constipated, with watery/greasy stuff along with hard to pass stool - this is usually bright yellow or green. Sorry for the grossness, but I am wondering if this could be celiac? He also can be very grumpy, has always been a moody boy. He was badly colicy as an infant, had major stomach cramping up until about 2 yrs ols, when we discovered his allergies. Still gets gassy and bloated as well. He is only 28 lbs and has only gained 4 lbs in the last 2.5 years. He has always had trouble gaining weight - around 16 months he was even losing weight. We have a ped. appt in 1 month, so I will talk to him then about possible celiac. I know that testing is not great if on a gluten free diet already, so maybe I should wait for blood work before eliminating? Anyone know maybe about IBD-seems to have some of the same symptoms? Any help would be great!! If it matters, he also has outdoor/indoor allergies, asthma and a minor heart defect.

TIA

Ang

[Nic]

The symptoms sound like they could be from Celiac. Has he been tested? The negative wheat allergy doesn't matter as Celiac is not an allergy. My son was also negative for all food allergies but has Celiac and cannot tolerate milk. If he has been tested and comes up negative you could just try the diet.

Nicole

[vanillazeis]

hi just thought id throw in my experience... my little girl was diagnosed with 13 food allergies via skin testing Wheat was one of them, but oats, rye and barley were not. I decided to get a 2nd opinion, because her allergist put her on alot of different medications (she also has asthma and environmental allergies). The 2nd allergist i took her to decided to do a blood test, and i was shocked when he called to tell me that all of her food allergies came back negative, but her celiac test was positive. Anyway, i just thought id tell ya, if you havent already get the RAST (blood) test, because it is a ton more effective with food allergies. They can run the celiac blood test at the same time. Everyone with celiac is different, so it's hard for us to say "oh yeah thats celiac" but it does sound like that could possibly be. HTH good luck!!!

-Breanna

[angayla17]

hi just thought id throw in my experience... my little girl was diagnosed with 13 food allergies via skin testing Wheat was one of them, but oats, rye and barley were not. I decided to get a 2nd opinion, because her allergist put her on alot of different medications (she also has asthma and environmental allergies). The 2nd allergist i took her to decided to do a blood test, and i was shocked when he called to tell me that all of her food allergies came back negative, but her celiac test was positive. Anyway, i just thought id tell ya, if you havent already get the RAST (blood) test, because it is a ton more effective with food allergies. They can run the celiac blood test at the same time. Everyone with celiac is different, so it's hard for us to say "oh yeah thats celiac" but it does sound like that could possibly be. HTH good luck!!!

-Breanna

[angayla17]

Sorry - i didn't mean to quote - just figuring out how this board works!!

Anyway, thanks for your responses - I've actually always had celiac in the back of my mind his whole life - but he has not had any testing, I thought symptoms of celiac were always severe, so I hadn't pursued it, but I will ask his ped. next month to run the blood tests. I have not had a RAST blood test done, only skin. We see the allergist again in Nov. Thanks so much for your responses, hopefully i will get him figured out!!

[mftnchn]

According to my allergist (he is also a pediatrician) for foods the most accurate is an elimination diet followed by a challenge. Both skin tests and blood tests are indications but are not as accurate.

[vanillazeis]

hey ANG!!! i saw you on babycenter!!! just thought that was cool... i was reading your post and i kept thinking "i've talked to this person before, i replied to this message" but i couldnt find my reply... it took me a second to figure it out. i like to post here and there too... it's good to get as many opinions as you can! Good luck!!! im zeistea over there, i'll see ya around!

-breanna

[angayla17]

hey Breanna, i was trying to figure out if I had read your stuff before too!! Small world I guess!!How funny. Yes, I like to get opinions from a couple places to help sort things out.

[angayla17]

i just remembered about this, in case anyone ever wondered, I finally figured out that along with his many food allergies, his tummy cannot handle processed pork. That was the culprit. I have taken that out of his diet since just after christmas and he's actually having NORMAL BM's - unless i mess up with his foods of course! But now I know he usually has a normal poop, so if he doesn't i can figure out what I messed up on. This was the most exciting discovery in a long time as you can imagine, and I'd like to brag that i came up with the idea all on my own!