Liver Damage In Children

[bear6954]

My 3 year old son went for his 1 yr gluten free check up. At that appt, his liver was 13 cm - confirmed by ultrasound. His enzymes were 790 and 1420 (not sure which was alt/ast). We had a live biopsy done on April 3rd - biopsy shows scarring of liver not as a result of celiac disease or hepatitis. They think he has glycogen storage disease and we are going to Duke for an open liver biopsy.

Has anyone - adult or child - had this issue due to celiacs disease.

Also, my sons stomach is flat in the morning, but continues to grow and bloat during the day. Tonight his stomach just looked painful. He does very limited dairy (cheese slices or yogurt only and not every day) and limited soy. I do cook with Pamelas Mix and I use Soy milk. However today he did not have those. My son had whole grain rice pasta with gluten free chicken stock (about 1/4 cup); 8 oz bag of cool ranch doritos (snack); 1 1/2 ians chicken nugget for lunch; 8 oz bag of cool ranch doritos for snack; 1 pamelas pancake with syrup for dinner. He also had 5 Lays Pot chips with 1 slice of american cheese. My son drinks koolaide mixed with EO 28 splash or Neonate Jr. He was drinking crystal light but I though that the sweetner could becausing is bloating, but he has not had it for 3 days. My sons stomach measurement this morning was 21 1/2" and this evening is was 24 1/2".

Any ideas on the liver damage or bloating?

[ravenwoodglass]

My 3 year old son went for his 1 yr gluten free check up. At that appt, his liver was 13 cm - confirmed by ultrasound. His enzymes were 790 and 1420 (not sure which was alt/ast). We had a live biopsy done on April 3rd - biopsy shows scarring of liver not as a result of celiac disease or hepatitis. They think he has glycogen storage disease and we are going to Duke for an open liver biopsy.

Has anyone - adult or child - had this issue due to celiacs disease.

Also, my sons stomach is flat in the morning, but continues to grow and bloat during the day. Tonight his stomach just looked painful. He does very limited dairy (cheese slices or yogurt only and not every day) and limited soy. I do cook with Pamelas Mix and I use Soy milk. However today he did not have those. My son had whole grain rice pasta with gluten free chicken stock (about 1/4 cup); 8 oz bag of cool ranch doritos (snack); 1 1/2 ians chicken nugget for lunch; 8 oz bag of cool ranch doritos for snack; 1 pamelas pancake with syrup for dinner. He also had 5 Lays Pot chips with 1 slice of american cheese. My son drinks koolaide mixed with EO 28 splash or Neonate Jr. He was drinking crystal light but I though that the sweetner could becausing is bloating, but he has not had it for 3 days. My sons stomach measurement this morning was 21 1/2" and this evening is was 24 1/2".

Any ideas on the liver damage or bloating?

Celiac can cause autoimmune destruction of the liver. I don't think it is very common but having elevated liver enzymes is common and when celiac caused the enzyme levels to be elevated they will go down after we have been gluten free for a while.

If you are doing the gluten-free diet with him you need to be aware that Lay's products are not as gluten-free as they look like they are. Most of us avoid doritos because of the severe CC risk with their products. Also many of the syrup products are not safe, you are best going with pure maple syrup rather than the high fructose corn syrup with maple flavorings.

I hope they are able to figure out what is going on soon.

[Tim-n-VA]

My path to diagnosis was erratic liver function lab tests, ultrasound of the liver showing scarring, a battery of tests to eliminate stuff (one was for Celiac). I had mild digestive symptoms that in retrospect were gluten related but liver damage was the first thing actually found.

I was late 40s when that happened and almost a non-drinker (2-3 drinks per year).