Do My Other Daughters Need To Be Tested?

[dandelionmom]

My 3 year old was just diagnosed with Celiac Disease. Her sisters (6 y/o and 11 m/o) don't seem to have any symptoms. Should I still have them tested?

[2Boys4Me]

Yes. It's customary to have all first degree relatives tested upon diagnosis of celiac. The only one in our family who is celiac didn't appear to have any symptoms. He was anemic and that ultimately led to his diagnosis.

[lovegrov]

All first degree relatives should be tested but the 11-month-old is too young now. Maybe when she's two. BTW, that means you and the dad should be tested.

richard

[happygirl]

Agree with Richard. All Celiac experts agree that all first degree relatives should be tested.

And to add to that, even if all family members test negative now, it doesn't mean that the negative test means they'll always be negative. You can "get" Celiac at any age, so it may be worth re-testing periodically, even without symptoms, and most certainly re-test if symptoms. Many Celiacs are "silent" Celiacs, meaning they are asymptomatic, and still have the Celiac autoimmune reaction.

[ptkds]

I agree w/ everyone else. When my toddler was diagnosed, I had my older 2 dd's tested. I was convinced that my oldest dd had Celiac and that DD#2 didn't, but it was the other way around. DD#1 was fine, DD#2 tested positive. But you may want to wait a while to test the 11 mo, and you and dh need to be tested. I tested positive after my dd's diagnosis.

ptkds

[Kibbie]

My 3 year old was just diagnosed with Celiac Disease. Her sisters (6 y/o and 11 m/o) don't seem to have any symptoms. Should I still have them tested?

Though we have no other children (as of yet) I have already spoken to my pediatrician about testing all future children. Because our insurance covers the genetic testing in full we are choosing to go that route initially. What we do from there will depend on what we find out. Either way our home is staying gluten free.

I also want to add that both my husband and I had our bloodwork done right after our daughter was diagnosed. Neither of us have symptoms and both tested negative (for now). Initially we were planning to have our blood work done each year but we are also going the genetic testing route.

I'm convinced I have both genes... because my grandfather was just diagnosed with Celiac Disease. We'll see in a few weeks

[chrissy]

we were suspecting celiac in one of our girls----i tested the family since we had met our 100% coverage and i knew it was genetic---and we discovered 3 of the girls had celiac. one of them did not have any obvious symptoms, but her Ttg levels were higher than the one that had the most "classic" symptoms---and we weren't suspecting celiac in the one with the classic symptoms!!

[mother2gf3]

I agree w/ everyone else. When my toddler was diagnosed, I had my older 2 dd's tested. I was convinced that my oldest dd had Celiac and that DD#2 didn't, but it was the other way around. DD#1 was fine, DD#2 tested positive. But you may want to wait a while to test the 11 mo, and you and dh need to be tested. I tested positive after my dd's diagnosis.

ptkds

[mother2gf3]

ooops on the Quote, I hit the wrong button, although I do agree. My son age 6 had very severe symptoms of celiac, He was confirmed pos for celiac disease. Dr. said all family should be tested. Found out 3 of my 4 kids have it ages 2,4 and 6 . All confirmed with biopsy and blood. Dad and I are neg. I would have never thought my 4 year old. She had none of the symptoms my other 2 had.