Gluten... Or Something More?

[Mother of Jibril]

I have a three-year-old with a very intense personality She's been like that since day one... she can be SO happy and silly (her teachers love her), but she can also throw some spectacular tantrums. If it wasn't for our other child... who's Mr. Mellow ... I might have thought there was something wrong with our parenting style. We had a battle this morning over getting dressed and getting in the car to go to preschool.

Here's my question... she's definitely sensitive to gluten (it makes her constipated) and I suspect it could be behind her behavior issues. Based on my genetic test, I know she either has DQ7 or DQ8. She also had eczema as a baby and I'm starting to wonder if she has asthma (based on a cough that hasn't gone away for several weeks). Our daughter is very tall for her age and has always been in good health, but the cough is even starting to make my husband nervous. Our pediatrician will run tests if I ask for them... otherwise she's pretty useless about offering suggestions.

So... any ideas? I could get the celiac panel, but based on her age and gluten-light diet, I doubt we would get a positive result. She has one true allergy (to pumpkin seeds)... I don't even know what else the problem could be.

[lizard00]

You're right, she probably would not test positive on a celiac panel. But they can test for asthma. I can remember as far back as kindergarten not being able to run and play like the other kids because my chest hurt. And the cough is definitely a sign of exacerbation.

As for the personality, I have a 3 1/2 yr old boy, and at times I have to remind myself that part of his normal development is to test his limits as he becomes more independent. Children also learn behavior from other children. So, if some of her preschool mates try pitch a fit, she may try it to see if it works. We've had some of this as we recently put our son in a day program. The fits are winding down though, as they simply aren't tolerated in our house.

3 has definitely been much harder than 2.

[Mother of Jibril]

My grandfather had to stop farming because of asthma, but otherwise I don't know much about it. Is there a specific test to ask for?

You could be right about the influence of her classmates. One of them (who my daughter often mentions) is a tantrum MASTER. She's the youngest of three kids.

[lizard00]

My grandfather had to stop farming because of asthma, but otherwise I don't know much about it. Is there a specific test to ask for?

As far as I know, there's no blood testing involved. They listen to the lungs, and there's a test where you blow into a tube that measures the airflow and pressure...along those lines. Oddly enough, I never had that test done. I just told the doctors that I was having a hard time breathing and they prescribed me albuterol, and my new GP refills that and had me try Serevent.