Swollen Joints?

[Jentu]

My 4 year old has a joint in her toe that's swollen and red. It doesn't have a splinter and it's not anywhere that her shoe could really be rubbing up against. She says it doesn't hurt but she tells me not to squeeze it...

I had her checked maybe 3 months ago for celiac disease and it came back a weak and unreliable positive. He ran 4 different tests and only one came back positive... I think it was the IgA one? Doc said she may have a borderline case and a gluten free diet may or may not be worth the effort. We waited until after Christmas to do a gluten free trial so she could have her Christmas goodies and because my husband would be gone and I wouldn't have to worry about him. December though we were about 90-95% gluten free.

Just before we went on our gluten free trial I let the girls have Mcdonald's-twice in one day- kind of as a last hoorah before I got rid of the wheat. (This was after we had been mostly wheat free) Daisy had a cheeseburger and chicken nuggets. She threw up several times in the middle of the night. Next day she was fine. (We don't do fast food that often so it may have been a quirk?)

So we do the gluten free trial during the month of January and the results were kind of disappointing. There was less diarrhea but it wasn't completely gone. She actually seemed to lose a little weight too. (That might have been due to a far smaller selection of food.) Anyway I added the wheat back in about a week ago but it was slower than the last re-introduction of wheat. Now this swollen toe turns up just a few days ago.

So should I wait and see what it does or is this something the doctor should see? I really have no idea and I feel like I'm in there too much anyway.

[Mother of Jibril]

Even if your daughter doesn't have celiac disease, the less gluten the better! Depending on factors like genetics, it's possible for intolerance(s) to trigger all kinds of disorders... celiac, type I diabetes, thyroid disorders, cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, etc... (and many, many more). It might be helpful if you could get a copy of your daughter's test results and post them here. Some antibodies are more specific for celiac disease than others. However, a positive result on any of the standard celiac tests indicates some kind of problem with gluten. Some doctors hesitate to tell patients about the gluten-free diet because they think it will be a huge burden, but... it could really do your daughter a lot of good over the long run.

As far as the toe goes... it could be related, or maybe not. When my kids have a problem I like to call the pediatrician's office first and speak with a nurse. They might be able to help you figure out if it's a "wait and see" or something the doctor should take a look at.