Ate Tests Accurate With Children?

[jmcbride4291]

My wife has atl east 10 symtoms. Night blindness, lumbar, skin, hair loss, vision, total loss of teeth emanmel, upset stomach, bathroom prob's.Her mother has Fiber Myasia, night blindness, diabetis, etc. Wifes sister, smae and colitis, ashma, weight problems, thyroid and her children have learnimg dis'a, orthopedic problems, and daughter only 18 cannot have children. All my children have skin probs.One of mine has had a fever 1 week of every month since 12/1/07. Her tonsils keep getting attacked but ENT said not problem. Other doctors do not know why. Could immune system be attacking her. Her liver came back with a high reading and she has pain on that side.. Had blood work for Celiac but no call from Dr. yet. How accurate are these tests with children? My other children have coordination prob's, one diagnosed with ADHD and as baby very colicy and vommited formula all the time and went through many brands and types. My wife refuses to pursue as if though this is the worst thing to have celiac disease and thinks their life would be no good. I feel if so will be much better. I am worried if test comes back negative will have a harder time getting this resolved. My wife will resist. How accurate can the blood work be and what else can I do besides diet change. And if diet change how long to see up swing in children?

[lizard00]

Hi

Sorry to hear about the difficulties with their children. I hope you get some answers soon.

From what I have read, test results are more likely to be inaccurate in children, especially if they are really young. The reason for this is that 3 of 4 of the Celiac tests are IgA based, and children have a tendency to produce low amount of IgA. So, someone with low amounts would likely produce a negative test. Even if he/she has celiac disease. Your 18 y/o probably has a pretty good chance of having an accurate result, but it is not uncommon to have a false negative.

If it's your 18 y/o, and her tests come back neg, why not just have her do a gluten-free trial? She is old enough to make that decision. Then if she improves, maybe it'll help your wife to see that 1: this is nowhere near the end of the world and the diet is NOT that hard and 2: maybe she would also benefit from being gluten-free. Really, I would suggest that with any of your children who are old enough to make that choice and stick with it. But do remember, if you want any of the others to be tested, don't start a gluten-free trial with them until after the tests. Once gluten is removed, the body immediately starts to heal and even a week can make the numbers go down and give a false negative.

Also, try to nicely educate your wife. I'm sure she doesn't want to see her children suffer, and if, in fact, they DO have Celiac, they will suffer far greater in the long run. I have a 2 y/o and can think of nothing worse than seeing him suffer. There is a lot of information out there, see if you can get her to read it.

Wishing you the best!!!

[kbtoyssni]

The worst thing in the world would be to have undiagnosed celiac disease. This will eventually lead to the kids getting sicker and sicker until they're too sick to get out of bed. Or it could lead to cancer and other lifelong irreversible health conditions. Or early death. Cutting gluten out of a diet isn't easy, but the alternative is much much worse. Maybe getting your wife some books that talk about the long-term health implications of undiagnosed celiac disease would help? And I'm completely blanking on the name of my favorite book right now...

You could try enterolab testing. It can detect gluten intolerance long before blood tests and scopes can.