When A Friend Is In Denial About Her Child's Symptoms

[callalily]

I have a friend whose 5-yr-old daughter is showing what seem to be red flags of possible celiac disease:

- she has bowel movements frequently, sometimes immediately after every meal, some are diarrhea

- passes gas frequently

- eats large amounts for her age/size; often hungry soon after eating big meals

- also has other food allergies, eczema, asthma

I have also witnessed a few bad tantrums, worse than I've seen with other kids her age. They seem to be sudden, irrational, and uncontrollable, similar to what I've seen described on this board and others. Otherwise, she is a sweet kid.

I suggested possible gluten intolerance to my friend, and she did not respond to the suggestion at all. Is there anything else I should say or so? I don't want to push it, but it seems crazy to ignore these symptoms and let her child continue to suffer from the side effects if she possibly has celiac. Any advice?

[Amyleigh0007]

If you or any of your family have Celiac or gluten intolerance use your/their experience to help your friend. Tell her your/their symptoms and what the gluten free diet did for you/them. People are so closed minded when it comes to Celiac and getting tested. I think it's because of the huge lifestyle change and they are scared. When people hear success stories they might be more open to testing or at least becoming educated about Celiac. You are a good friend!

[Juliebove]

Food allergies can also cause these same problems.

[pele]

I have a friend whose 5-yr-old daughter is showing what seem to be red flags of possible celiac disease:

- she has bowel movements frequently, sometimes immediately after every meal, some are diarrhea

- passes gas frequently

- eats large amounts for her age/size; often hungry soon after eating big meals

- also has other food allergies, eczema, asthma

I have also witnessed a few bad tantrums, worse than I've seen with other kids her age. They seem to be sudden, irrational, and uncontrollable, similar to what I've seen described on this board and others. Otherwise, she is a sweet kid.

I suggested possible gluten intolerance to my friend, and she did not respond to the suggestion at all. Is there anything else I should say or so? I don't want to push it, but it seems crazy to ignore these symptoms and let her child continue to suffer from the side effects if she possibly has celiac. Any advice?

This is a tough one. I see celiac symptoms in many people, and usually they don't want to hear about it! Worse yet, the grandaughter of a friend had multiple symptoms and her mother did take her to the doc who ordered a blood panel. Apparently some of the blood work was positive, but the doc said it was a false positive and meaningless. So the child is still on gluten and still has multple symptoms.

I think you can only suggest gluten intolerance to someone once. Then they know about it and it's up to them to do something about it. I'm curious to see if anyone else has a better idea!

[callalily]

Yes, but they are VERY careful about the food allergies and she has had extensive allergy testing done so they know exactly what to avoid.

[curlyfries]

Apparently some of the blood work was positive, but the doc said it was a false positive and meaningless.

I didn't think there could be false positives....only false negatives

[fierce-mink-2000]

I have a friend whose 5-yr-old daughter is showing what seem to be red flags of possible celiac disease:

- she has bowel movements frequently, sometimes immediately after every meal, some are diarrhea

- passes gas frequently

- eats large amounts for her age/size; often hungry soon after eating big meals

- also has other food allergies, eczema, asthma

I have also witnessed a few bad tantrums, worse than I've seen with other kids her age. They seem to be sudden, irrational, and uncontrollable, similar to what I've seen described on this board and others. Otherwise, she is a sweet kid.

I suggested possible gluten intolerance to my friend, and she did not respond to the suggestion at all. Is there anything else I should say or so? I don't want to push it, but it seems crazy to ignore these symptoms and let her child continue to suffer from the side effects if she possibly has celiac. Any advice?

Hey. I'm Holli, and new here. My ds is 4.5 and has pretty much all those symptoms, including the temper tantrums. I don't have insurance and can't afford to get him tested. Because he has these symptoms, I suspected celiac, and have taken him off gluten and milk (plus he's allergic to milk!) in an attempt to see if these things improve. It's been almost three months. His behavior has improved quite noticeably, but the bm's, gas and eating more than may be normal hasn't really changed. In fact, in spite of the fact that he's an enthusiastic eater, his height and weight are dropping slowly down the percentiles. Now, he started out well above normal (90% for height/ 70% for weight, now more like 80/55) so he still seems big, but to me, that's a pretty big drop. I've started adding a little oil to his foods to get his calorie intake up.

Ok, after all that...the question is, how long can I expect it to take to start seeing improvements if Celiac is really the problem? I had heard it takes up to 6 months for your bowels to repair themselves...so I've given us that long to see what happens.

TIA

Holli

[pele]

I didn't think there could be false positives....only false negatives

Maybe we should put this one into the stupid doctor thread. But seriously, who is Mom going to believe? The doctor or the nosy friend of a relative?