Another Round Of Tests

[crittermom]

Michael saw the Allergist on Tuesday. He said it was possible that some allergies have developed or resurfaced. We are doing some skin testing on Dec 11th.

I hope we get some answers. He seems to be slightly less cranky on the Prevacid and I was hopeful, however he had pizza for dinner last night and in the middle of the night he had a BM which he hasn't done since he was an infant. 5 more followed through today and this evening. He had HUGE purple circles under his eyes and he was really cranky and all of a sudden he had a messy nose again today. He cried and was fighting with his sister a lot. He got a diaper rash just below his privates and today/tonight on his butt cheeks he has a rash that looks a lot like the one Katharine gets when she gets G. OK so all the tests were negative, his TgGs actually went from 15 to 10.5. So is this in my head? A lot of the things Michael eats are gluten-free simply because it is what I cook or it is what is in the house. For instance he eats gluten-free cookies, muffins, animal crackers and most of his meals. However he loves his cheerios, cereal bars, and crackers for snacks and breakfast.

OK now for my question... how much gluten does it take to trigger a positive if you have never been gluten free? If the gene was activated, if he is only eating crackers once a day (wheat thins) or maybe one cereal bar and the rest of the day is gluten-free would this cause the damage to come slower and therefore not create enough antibodies to give a positive result? Should I make sure he gets a certain amount of gluten each day for the next 2 months before the test or is this enough?

I am not trying to sound like I am "searching" for a celiac diagnosis, this could be the onset of a virus and it happens to coincide with the pizza. But in my gut, I just know that there is something fishy going on here! These same symptoms appeared when he ate pizza for dinner on Halloween, however let me clarify pizza for Michael, it is just the crust. He usually just has me cut off the crust for him, last night he scraped off the cheese and toppings and ate just a bit of the tomato sauce on the crust.

If anyone has any ideas, they would be greatly appreciated! Thanks

[ravenwoodglass]

Blood tests for celiac are not very accurate for children under 4. In countries that screen for celiac in all citizens they begin testing of non symptomatic folks at 4 and then test again when the child reaches puberty. Do not rely on blood or endoscopic testing on your 2 year old, the best test will be a challenge which is what you have done with the pizza. And he definately reacted. Gluten light may not be enough to have him show positive on blood tests, even a full gluten diet is not enough at his age for accurate blood diagnosis. Personally I would get him off of gluten and/or go with Enterolab to check for antibodies and perhaps even the gene test. If you do gene testing don't think he doesn't need the diet if the results are gluten intolerance genes and not 'celiac' ones. The gluten intolerant need a strict diet just as much as folks with a US recognized celiac gene.

[crittermom]

ravenwoodglass,

Thanks for the speedy reply. I appreciate it. We have been toying with the idea of just putting him gluten free since we did the DNA testing when Katharine was pos dx last year. Michael tested negative for celiac back then but the DNA test came back positive for the celiac gene...so we know it is there lurking! I am worried though that without the pos dx for him I won't be able to enforce things when he gets to school. Any thoughts on the whole school thing? Has anyone had problems enforcing the diet at school without the pos dx from a dr?