I Think My Grandson Has It Too.

[silk]

I have been self-diagnosised for a little over two weeks and in that time I have gleaned a lot of useful information from this board. I have also discovered that my Father, Grandfather, and most possibly my middle daughter all have this too.

I have a 3 year old grandson who over the past 4 months has had sores primarily on is legs, forearms and some on his torso and neck. They itch and they do not go away. Some fade and others pop up. My daughter thought that it was flea bites because they have an indoor dog who was infested. They treated the dog. Bought a new mattress for my grandson and washed everything and he still has the "bites". He has a baby brother who sleeps in the same room. No bites. He has and older brother and sister who again have no bites. Mom and Dad have no bites. He also complains that his tummy hurts frequently and that it hurts when he tries to poop. He is potty training and gets very frightened and cries when he tries to have a BM because he says it really hurts and he appears to be constipated. He has never like bread. I not a fan of pastas. Is small and underweight for his age. He is also very prone to 'moods' and will have ocassional meltdowns and would often hold his breath until he passed out when he was smaller.

I did not put all of this together until this past weekend when I was at my daughter's house this weekend. We were talking about his 'bites' and I remembered seeing someone mention a rash on their child that looked like bug bites but was dematitis hep????? so I had my daughter get on the computer and look up that name and it brought up pictures that look just like my grandson's legs and arms. She was stunned and started reading information and said herself that she thinks he has it. She planned to take him off of gluten for a while but her husband resisted and I think talked her out of it because now she say that she still thinks it flea bites and that they are not going to remove gluten from the little boys diet or have him tested.

I feel so bad for him. They may be absolutely right but what if they are not? He is going to continue to suffer because they don't want to have him tested or try the gluten-free diet. There is really nothing I can do that I have not already done by giving them the information. I can't force them and I feel so sorry for him thinking that he might be continuing to suffer through what all of us have and it's not going to change for him anytime soon.

Has anyone else faced this and what did you do?

[Offthegrid]

A dermatologist can test the rash for dermatitis herpetiformis.

I believe my niece and sister-in-law have it, and possibly my own hubby, but none of them will try gluten-free. You can't make someone do it.

Maybe you can find out their objections. Are they worried about having to give up foods? Virtually anything can be made gluten-free and still taste good. As you learn more about it, you can have them over for gluten-free dinners and then they can see they can still enjoy foods.

It was tough for me to accept, too. But hopefully they can see they are making their son suffer needlessly.

[Ursa Major]

My kids were resistant at first, too. It took nearly two years after I self-diagnosed before at least my two oldest daughters saw the light.

Now my oldest daughter and her five kids are gluten-free (her husband will eat gluten at work, he refuses to be 100% gluten-free), and my second-oldest daughter and her babies (19 months and 6 months) are gluten-free as well. Her mother-in-law has officially diagnosed celiac disease, but her hubby refuses to consider he may have it, too (he is very skinny, and not very tall).

My one grandson was an emotional wreck for years. Even if he wasn't really hurt (just a little bump) or somebody looked at him the wrong way, he would just cry for hours. His parents thought he was a wimp, and tried toughening him up, ignoring him when he was upset. He also was frighteningly skinny, and would cry after supper, because he was still hungry, but my daughter wouldn't give him more to eat.

Within a week of being gluten-free he stopped being so emotional. Now when he hurts himself he may cry for a minute and then be happy again. He also has gained quite a bit of weight.

Seeing Ethan (who is now five and a half) suffering for years was almost unbearable to me. But I couldn't force my daughter to put him on a gluten-free diet. Now she is feeling much better, too, and so do three of the other kids. Just one of the five children is as he always was, no difference. A happy, healthy kid, apparently no gluten intolerance.

My other daughter's oldest baby started having terrible temper tantrums many times a day after starting solids (my daughter refused to look at the evidence for nearly a year), as well as having rashes and diarrhea (real blow-outs five times a day).

When she was put on the gluten-free diet her temper tantrums almost went away (to be normal for her age, because she gets frustrated when she can't communicate). Her diarrhea is much better, too. She was also diagnosed with some bad intestinal bacteria, which is still being looked after.

In young kids the emotional damage from gluten is often strikingly obvious, especially when compared to the difference on a gluten-free diet.