6 Year Old Son And Doctor

[NoSugarShell]

I am in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and would like to take my 6 year old son to get allergy testing done. Does anyone have someone they can refer in this area? Do I take him to a pediactric allergist or is it another type of doctor that would do the testing for gluten intolerance?

I am new to all this but Celiac runs in my family and I believe my son could have problems with gluten as well but have not started any testing process at all. He is complaining of stomach pains alot lately and thinking this might be the time to go to a doctor. I don't think a PCP will be of any help at all although I could be wrong.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Sincerely,

Michelle

[Ursa Major]

Since celiac disease is not an allergy, allergy testing would be quite useless if you want to find out if your son has celiac disease. To start out with, your regular family doctor or pediatrician can order the celiac blood panel. If that comes back positive, he should be seen by a GI.

Just be aware that at his age those tests are very unreliable. The only truly reliable tests are a gluten-free diet trial, and Enterolab testing.

So, even if the blood work and biopsy would be negative, you still ought to try him on the gluten-free diet, to see if it makes him feel better (after testing is done, because if he is on the gluten-free diet before the tests, they will invariably come back negative, because kids heal very quickly).

[NoSugarShell]

Thank you. If he just has a gluten intolerance and not celiac could that be tested by an allergist?

Can someone refer me to a pediatrition in the Dallas-Fort Worth area that would be knowledgable about Celiac?

[kpyoung24]

hi! i am new to here as well and also live in the DFW area.....arlington to be exact. i recently took my 7 year old daughter to her pcp after a long history of gi problems. the symptoms were very similar to my IBS symptoms, i was diagnosed with IBS about 4 years ago, with no celiac test done. the pcp ran two celiac disease tests on her, the gliadin and endomysial(ema) test. the EMA test is very specific to celiac disease. both came back positive :-( she has referred us to a gi specialist who we will see in a few days. now my new doc is testing me for celiac disease as well given my daughters results. her pcp's name is dr. mary carol brennan, she is a very knowledgeable and open minded doctor. she is part of the cook childrens hosp. network of doctors...located off of I-20 west in the city view area of fort worth. i hope this helps! let me know if there is anything else i can help with! good luck :-)

[Darn210]

Thank you. If he just has a gluten intolerance and not celiac could that be tested by an allergist?

Sorry, gluten intolerance will not be determined by an allergist either. Only a wheat allergy would be determined. And if you were to ask, I would say that most people who are gluten intolerant or celiac do NOT actually have an allergy to wheat. Allergies are an IgE response by the body. Celiacs have an IgA response. I'm not sure if there is something measureable for intolerance other than a decrease or elimination of symptoms. My daughter is a celiac; her IgA levels were too high in her blood test (celiac blood panel requested by GI). She also has a blue dye intolerance. The allergist said there is no way to test for that, but I know that when she has something with a lot of blue dye she throws up within about 30 minutes . . . only had to do that a couple of times to learn not to do it again despite not being able to test for it!