Eczema

[BabsCanada]

New to the board and not as well-educated as I should be!!

I saw a post where the writer referred to eczema as one of the reasons she suspected a child/family was suffering with celiac.

Is eczema related to celiac disease?

I've been tested for celiac (in about 1995) and got a negative result.

I do have some moderate stomach / bowel troubles, I am insulin-dependant diabetic, and I am at present covered head to toe with eczema. I've been treating it for about 6 months with various prescription creams, all hydrocortizone. It is only getting worse (although eczema has always been a problem for me in winter)

My dad is celiac, since 1995 (which was why I got tested). My mom and only sibling are also celiac. I was quite pleased in 1995! when I escaped the diagnosis (figuring being diabetic was enough), but now when I see eczema mentioned, I wonder.

Any input?

[seeking-wholeness]

Babs,

Have you had your eczema biopsied to make sure it isn't dermatitis herpetiformis? I have read that it CAN look similar to eczema in some cases. I have an 18-month-old baby who has trouble with eczema caused by gluten, and now that he has been gluten-free for a little over three months it is almost gone! He also had some eczema during his first year that was caused by dairy, but that quickly cleared up after I removed all dairy from his (and my) diet. Now, he can tolerate ghee (clarified butter) with no obvious difficulty, but I won't be reintroducing any other dairy products into his diet because I have a hunch that he and I are casein-sensitive as well as gluten intolerant.

Regarding having "dodged the bullet," so to speak, I wonder if Open Original Shared Link could ship a stool test kit internationally. Alternatively, you might want to pester your doctor to test you again (and make SURE he or she orders a test for TOTAL serum IgA as well, as a control test). With the strong family history and your own suspicious symptoms, it really does seem prudent to pursue a concrete diagnosis!

Good luck, and welcome to the board!

[gf4life]

Babs,

One negative test result almost 10 years ago is not enough to rule out gluten intolerance. You may not have benn producing enough antibodies then, but may be having a worse reaction now. You should be tested again. With the strong family history your doctors shouldn't give you a hard time. Celiac can start at any age, and please do not let them brush you off simple becasue of the one negative test in 1995.

Your diabetes and eczema could both be caused by gluten intolerance, and although the diabetes may not go completely away it could be made less severe by following the gluten free diet.

Looking forward to hearing what the tests show after you have them repeated.

The tests should include the following:

*IgA Gliadin

*IgG Gliadin

*IgA Endomysial and/or IgA Tissue Transglutaminase

*Total Serum IgA

And I do believe Enterolab can ship to Canada. You can find out more aobut their tests at Open Original Shared Link .

God bless,

Mariann