Improvement, But Still Have A Question!

[I hate gluten]

So we have been gluten free for a little over a week. My sons fine motor skills are improving drastically. I am so happy I could cry. He also is startiing to not feel like sand paper all over his skin. To beleive I struggled and fought for close to 6 years and all it took was a diet change. Do not get me wrong the road is long, but to see soooo much improvement in such a little time is unbeleivable to me. Thanks for all the support the last few weeks it has helped me get past alot of my anger. now for my question, after starting your child on the celiac diet, did the D get worse before it got better. He never had GI signs before, but the last couple days off and on he has had D. Any thoughts.

[Juliet]

Everyone's experience with that varies. If a child has celiac disease, once going gluten free you may see almost immediate results in some areas, but the intestines take about 6 months to heal (quite a bit longer than that even if you're an adult). So, intestinal issues often become sporadic at the beginning, even if you never had to deal with them before. Plus, even if you don't have gluten problems, gluten free food is quite a bit easier to digest so it passes through more easily.

If no one has told you, dairy is difficult for most when you're first going gluten free because the enzyme that breaks down lactose is the first to go when someone has celiac. We didn't go dairy free (at the time, it was overwhelming enough to deal with telling him he couldn't have goldfish crackers anymore) so we gave him Lactaid before having any dairy. At least for him, within a month it wasn't needed. I know that for others who've been sicker longer, they've had to avoid dairy quite a bit longer or no more altogether.

F.Y.I. My son was diagnosed soon after turning 2, but was severely ill before diagnosis. If he hadn't been diagnosed in the hospital, he would not be around today. And the reason he was hospitalized and honestly dying was all because he was eating gluten. And 9 days after going gluten free he went from one day being awake a total of 3 hours to the next day walking until he was stumbling, refusing to take a nap, all because he could move again. I cried a lot that day, but at least it wasn't from depression anymore!

[Amyleigh0007]

My son was always constipated. But, the first week of going gluten free he had terrible diarrhea. Everyone told me it was his body cleaning itself out and getting rid of toxins. I don't know if there is any truth to that but it makes sense.

[I hate gluten]

That makes complete sense. Has anyone ever gone from eating horrible, to healthy. Its not fun the first week. (Like a new years resolution. ) He is starting to form up finally. I was actually impressed, my son and I catch every little cold that is going around the preschool and for some reason everyone but him caught it this time. May be a sign his system is healing. I hope at least. I was also talking to a few people that told me, since he is feeling better they would not doubt that he is acting out alittle more. at first it did not make sense to me. but now it does. He doesnt want to go to bed. I would not either if I did not know how i was going to feel in the morning. He wants to play non stop, he use to go from thing to thing to thing. Now he is one or two things but more into each of them if that makes any sense. His body is catching up for lost time I guess you can say. I guess over all, I am happy with his progress and can not wait to see what the future holds for him instead of worring about it now.