19 Month Old Being Tested For Celiacs Disease

[sparklette]

These are my DD's symptoms:

Becomes constipated when she consumes full cream cows milk (large bulky, slime covered poos),

Very windy and unsettled after weetbix,

Windy and colicky in general - she often wakes up at night and cries until she belches up wind.

When she is on NanHA formula her poos and really soft (almost like diahorrea) and full of mucous, and seem to cause her discomfort for 10 minuted prior to passing them.

I suspected a cows milk protein intollerance, but the GP suggested celiacs or gluten intolerance.

Do these symptoms sound like celiac / gluten sensitivity symptoms?

We had a blood test yesterday (RAST allergies and celiacs) and will get the results on Friday. I was just wondering whether these symptoms seemed to indicate possible celiacs to you? Can celiac disease sometimes show as a cows milk protein problem?

[Lisa]

Celiac Disease is developed through an autoimmune reaction to the proteins found in wheat, barley, malt and rye.

Due to the damage caused by this autoimmune reaction, dairy often can be problematic. It may resolve with the removal of gluten from your daughters diet after some time, if in fact she has Celiac Disease.

How much wheat and/or gluten is in her diet currently?

[Mother of Jibril]

Welcome to the group!

I found this website to be helpful:

Open Original Shared Link

It has lots of links to other articles... very thorough and scientific. My son is intolerant to casein (the protein in cow's milk), not just lactose. It's possible that your daughter could have celiac disease... or cow's milk intolerance... or both! You'll figure it out eventually. Hopefully the RAST testing will point you in the right direction.

ps - If your GP suspects celiac then it would be good to run those tests. RAST is not the same thing. However... testing is unreliable in small children, so even if the test comes back negative, don't be afraid to experiment with the gluten-free diet.

[sparklette]

My DD does have some grains in her diet. She nearly always has porridge and toast with vegemite for breakfast, approx. 1 slice of white bread a day and occassionally a savoy or teddy bear biscuit. Would this put enough gluten in her system for the blood test to be accurate?

It is very reassuring to know that the dairy problems may cure themselves if she is celiac and has a gluten free diet.

Thanks also for the weblink - I will check it out.

[B'sgirl]

If you are doing a blood test or a biopsy there is no guarantee that the test will come up positive no matter how much gluten in in the diet. My son's tests came up negative but he is most definitely sensitive to gluten as well as casein and soy. We eventually had him tested through Enterolab and although he had not had milk or gluten for almost a year his test still showed a very high count of antibodies against casein and gluten--their tests are much more sensitive. Insurance doesn't cover them though.

I guess what I should really say is don't rely too much on the blood tests, especially if they come up negative. Just try removing gluten from the diet and see what happens. Who cares what the test says if your child improves with a removal of gluten from the diet? It's the child's health that is important, not on official diagnosis.