Strange Symptoms - Celiac?

[SilverSlipper]

My daughter is 7 yrs old and has Celiac Disease. She does very well with her diet and isn't tempted to cheat. The school is on board and serves a gluten free lunch to her daily. Her teacher calls with any questionable items and other parents in the class are sensitive to her diet and call me for suggestions on party foods.

All that said...today she came home feeling fine. She ate popcorn and gluten free cookies (I made them myself and have made them before) for a snack. We had a playdate over and after dropping her off, my daughter suddenly realized that she had lost control of her bowels due to diarrhea. (She has never been unable to control diarrhea before). She was understandably upset, but I had extra clothes in the car and tissues - so we cleaned her up and went home. Her stomach was hurting, but she was hungry, so I made mac n cheese (gluten free, but I forget the brand). What was strange was that she kept saying that she was fine one minute and the next minute it was just there - she had no memory of soiling herself until after it had happened.

As dinner was cooking, our therapist left (my oldest has autism and we have a therapist over once a week to work on IEP goals). The therapist and I had been talking with the door open (cold air) while my daughter was on the couch and the therapist spoke to her and said she hoped she was feeling better. My daughter didn't answer, just laid there with her eyes open, looking sad. Thirty minutes later, dinner was finished and I told her to come eat. She asked me if the therapist was still there and I told her that she had left. She didn't recall hearing her say goodbye or seeing her leave. She didn't even notice her sister sitting on the couch opposite her because she asked where she was.

She ate a few bites and was really pale, but also really flushed. She told me she was simply too tired to even eat and that she had to lay down. I told her to go take a nap on the couch (which is where I park sick kids so I can watch them and still get things done). Ten minutes later, she was fine.

She has never had disorientation like this before. Is this part of Celiac or was something else going on? (I have no idea what glutened her by the way or even if this is a gluten reaction).

[I hate gluten]

When I eat gluten I get disorented also. But I do not know the extent, my husband tells me. But with a child I would call the ped. This could also be a virus on top of being glutend or just a virus. If it was my child I would treat them as sick, BRATY diet for a day or so(Banana, rice, apples, Toast, yogurt) and if no improvement take her in. But would defineatly give the ped a heads up on the disorentation. Good luck on this I know it has to be frustrating not knowing what is going on.

[climbmtwhitney]

SilverSlipper,

I'm sorry your daughter was having such a hard time. I do hope she's feeling better now.

Yes, in my experience, this can be a gluten reaction. My daughter, 10, has also had a disoriented, confused reaction to gluten. It can be very worrisome for mom, huh? In my daughter's case she had been Gluten-free Casein-free for about 2 1/2 months when I made french toast with Rice Dream rice milk. Being newbies at the time I didn't know it was processed with barley. Later that day she had a tummy ache and was extra tired. No big deal--in fact, I didn't yet realize she was glutened. But, the next morning she didn't eat much and went to school. Then her teacher emailed me. This is her email labeled "Today is Different".....

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It seems like today is different for Jenna. She seems to be more confused

than I've been seeing. She become upset during math today when her

scantron wouldn't scan. Even cried some. She didn't recognize the

spelling words when I started the spelling test but after word #4 she was

okay. (She spelled 19 out of the 20 words correctly even though she didn't

think they were the right words.) The class went to music right after

recess and she stood outside at our classroom door until a teacher saw her

and redirected her. She didn't seem to know what to do to solve her

problem. (I was inside and she didn't even knock.) Jenna thinks she left

her spelling book in the computer lab but we can't find it there.

Any how, I just thought you might like to know...

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I talked to her teacher on the phone later and she reiterated how confused & disoriented Jenna was. She said she was literally standing outside their classroom door in the courtyard when everyone else had gone to music. She didn't know why she was there or where she should be. Her teacher from last year was the one who discovered her. Very scary. After running to this forum to check what she had eaten I figured out I had glutened her from the Rice Dream. (Incidentally, I had glutened myself as well. I couldn't figure out why I went to bed and woke up with a migraine and literally felt like I had been run over by a truck.)

Later on, we did discover, that milk casein can cause similar, less pronounced, symptoms like this too. This disorientation stuff is very scary. Who knows what could happen? Anyway, please triple check what she ate not only on her bad day, but several days prior as well. She may have also been cross-contaminated somewhere too. Looking back on things now, we realize that gluten (& casein) lead to ADD-like symptoms for Jenna (as well as gastrointestinal). Only now the symptoms are hugely exaggerated to the point of disorientation.

Good luck with figuring it out.

Best,

Jillian

[SilverSlipper]

Jillian, that is almost exactly the level of confusion that my daughter had. Thank you for posting. Interestingly, my daughter did have rice dream that morning. My other daughter is allergic to dairy and drinks Rice Dream. I had poured it in the wrong cup and poured it into the other, filling the original cup with regular milk. I didn't realize Rice Dream had gluten in it or I wouldn't have made such a foolish mistake.