Food Allergies And Celiacs

[Suprmom]

Just found this site and already it's so helpful. My son is 2 and might have celiacs and does have "true" food allergies: wheat, barley, eggs, sesame, fish, and peanuts. He has outgrown a few and there are a few that we suspect. Anyways he has the classic symptoms of food allergies to all of these. Wheat and barley is a little different in that he also has stomach pains, FOUL diarrhea (I'll save the details but its horrible) that lasts for days, behavioral issues -mostly extreme fussiness-, and his eczema reacts more severely to these. These could be FA reactions but our current allergist thinks that it's probably celiacs. He ordered a blood test that came back negative. I guess that doesn't mean much. By the time he was 1 I knew of most of his allergies and have kept him on a strict diet, although there has been occasional mistakes. The allergist recommended that we keep a gluten free diet which really isn't much different than what we were already doing since he's never had rye. Nobody in our families have diagnosed celiacs although I suspect a few might have "mild" cases based on what I've learned. They are not interested in finding out. There is a chance he will outgrow his allergies in which case we will have to decide whether to introduce gluten products.

So here are some of my questions.

I heard that there can be a connection between celiacs and FA but when researching it seems like everyone, including docs, treat it as an either/or scenario, not both. Does anyone know where I can find more info on this?

This question might be a little personal. Sorry. DS has been on a gluten free diet since before 1 he is now 2 1/2. Because it has been such a long time and because he only had gluten (directly) for a very brief period I assume his GI would have little damage. Would it still be normal with celiacs for him to have such severe diarrhea? Also does it typically last for days or is it more acute or does it depend on the individual?

I've gathered that the blood tests are not too acurate at this age. In the scenario that he's older and we have him tested will it be more acurate if he still isn't eating it? Does consuming it make a difference in the accuracy of the blood test?

Today is the first time I have heard of a connection between eczema and Celiacs. Is there anywhere I can get more info?

I have learned the most about FA's by a similar board and am really excited to find this board. Any information, personal experience or scientific, is helpful even if it's only for my peace of mind.

Thanks in advance

[Guest j_mommy]

Hello and welcome!

1) Blood tests aren't great on young kids, but on top of that if he has been mainly gluten-free he would not test accuratly anyway!

2)On the Diareha question: It does depend on the person but in my case the diarreha is worse now if I get CC'd or glutened than before I went gluten-free!

Hope that helps and others will be able to offer more advice!