Frustrated Mom

[Kelsey's Mom]

Hello,

I am new here and need some advice.

My daughter has had Type 1 Diabetes for 6 years. For the past 4 years, she has had trouble keeping her blood sugar under control. She has had all kinds of unexplained aches, pains, illnesses, stomach problems, behavior problems, depression and thats a short list. She has also had to be homeschooled because she missed so much school because of these problems.

In the past she has had really horrible smelling and looking bm's. I started investigating Celiac disease when they recently became more frequent. Last night, she ate a Crispy chicken sandwich from McDonalds and had diarrhea and severe cramps all night long. I checked with her endocrinologist and he said,"Yes, by all means call her pediatrician and ask her to do a screening." So I did. The pediatrician tells me that there are no specific tests used for screening for Celiacs and if the Endo wants her checked for it, have him send her a letter telling her what to order.

Am I confused or are there blood tests that could be ordered to screen for this? Or am I way off base thinking that Celiac disease may be whats causing these unexplained problems?

Thanks!

[txceliacmom]

You are NOT way off base. The doctor can order a celiac panel. The problem is so many doctors are misinformed about this disease. They think it is rare when it really isn't.

From what you have described your daughter has a lot of the symptoms. You might want to take her to a pedi gastro dr. who is knowledgable about celiac....otherwise they will probably say it is IBS or due to stress...(been there,

done that).

Good luck.

[MySuicidalTurtle]

There are lnks between Celiacs and Diabetes. She does sound like she could have Celiacs and if no than for sure some food allregy, and it's good for you to get her tested.

[flagbabyds]

There is sooo a link between celiac and type 1 diabetes ( that's actually what i'm doing for my science fair... another topic) But you are not at all off base, only most doctors think that it is rare and only 1 in 1000 have this and not 1-133. YOud ped should be able to order the tests, but if they can't then just have your endo do it, it should work fine, and you will get the results and the endo will know how to read them better anyway...

There are many blood tests that can be ordered for this, and they should because now it is not in the severe severe stages, and it could get a whole lot worse, and even if she comes back negative, keep testsing her periodicly because young girls w/ type 1 diabetes are more likely to develop Celiac

Also, don't take her off gluten until after all the test results have been run

[gf4life]

    * Celiac Disease Serology markers include:

          o Anti-Gliadin (AGA) IgA

          o Anti-Gliadin (AGA) IgG

          o Anti-Endomysial (EMA) IgA

          o Anti-Tissue Transglutaminase (tTG)

          o Total Serum IgA

These are the tests that need to be done, preferrably by a reliable lab like Prometheus (which is where I got this list). Open Original Shared Link

Please print out the list and take it to your doctor. They need to make sure that they order ALL of them, since most people are only positive on a few of the blood tests. Rarely is a person positive on all of them, so if they only run one type of test (like the tTG) then they might miss the diagnosis.

God bless,

Mariann