Could This Be Celiac?

[trishbella]

My daughter just turned 4 and has been diagnosed with abdominal migrains and gastritis. She takes periactin for her stomach. She is also allergic to wheat, egg and soybean. She tested negative for celiac during an endoscopy at the GI. She also tested negative at the pediatrician. Her stomach hurts everyday and she gets pins and needles in her feet everyday.

Long Story!

At about 1 1/2 she began getting eczema, weird rashes and hives. This is also when she stoped breast feeding and started a normal diet. She would be just covered in red welts. I took pictures and we went to the pediatrician. She said Molly had atypical dermatitis. She scratched her fingernail down Molly's back and watched it swell up. She also recommended the allergist. The allergist did a prick test and told us Molly was allergic to dust mites and some other things that really werent that bad. They also said she would probably have ashma by the time she was 3. We were buliding a new house so we decided to do mainly wood floors for Molly. We also eliminated all fragrance from the laundry and soaps.

We moved into the new house just after Molly turned 2 and just as I had another baby. Her eczema seemed to dissapear! She started having terrible behavior. Maybe the terrible twos? Hives would come and go. She always looks tired. The allergist put her on Zyrtec, and we used it as needed for itching. Usually, pretty healthy though. She started eating dirt and sand. Her fingernails were brittle. The pediatrician tested her for anemia, lead poisoning and iron deficiency. All negative. People suggested pica but the pediatrician said it was just curiosity.

By 3 her behavior is even worse. She is so irritable. She crys and whines all day long. She is having tantrums and I cant figure out why.

Then I begin to notice her having spasms while she sleeps. They are not the spasms your child has as they are just falling asleep. They last for hours. Her legs, feet, arms and hands twitch and sometimes jerk her awake. So, now she is not sleeping well either. At her 3 year check up I burst into tears talking to the pediatrician. Something is not right. She said it is time to see a neurologist.

We see the neurologist. He is very unfriendly and we dont even talk much he schedules an ECG. This ruled out seizures. He puts her on a ridiculous amount of Klonopin to help her sleep. We tried it and then I decide there is no way Im giving my baby that drug. We dont see him again.

As we approach Molly's 4th birthday some new problems begin. She starts throwing up in the car. She also throws up in 3-D movies. She must have motion sickness, But, her stomach is hurting all the time. She lays on her stomach crying in pain. She wants out of her car seat to lay on the floor. I usually let her in the carpool lane picking up my daughter. Now she is crying that her feet hurt. It feels like pins and needles. I rub them as we drive. This is happening everyday. We see the pediatrician. She runs all kinds of tests and does an x-ray. Blood cells were high, she tested positive for H. Pylori, She is full of poop. We go on antibiotics, do an enema and start all kinds of fiber products. 2 weeks later and she is not better. Now she is also complaing that her joints hurt and she is pushing on her eyes! We go back to the Dr. She checks her eyes and says they are fine. She recommends a GI Dr.

The GI does an x-ray, ultrasound and an endoscopy with blood tests. She is still full of poop, more fiber. She does not nor does he think she ever had H.Pylori. He tells me there can be false negatives. Great. At the endoscopy he asks me if she has a bleeding problem because they couldnt get her to stop bleeding. No she dosent. Her endoscopy looked good. She has gastritis and he believes it is because she is allergic to egg.

Finally, an answer. Allergic to egg. But, he says it could have been a false positive. Great. He diagnoses her with abdominal migranes and puts her on periactin every night before bed.

We stop eating eggs and start the medicine. Wow, what a difference. She sleeps through the night and her behavior is improving. She is like a different child!

She is 4 years old now. Suddenly, the eczema is back. We see the allergist. We have to go off the periactin for 5 days to do a skin prick. She is now devil child again! The test shows that she is allergic to egg, wheat, soybean and pork. We go back on periactin and have to try eliminating and reintroducing these foods. All the while her stomach is hurting again and she is still complaining about the pins and needles in her feet.

OK, my question is should I just leave it as this or get more tests done? The allergist wants to start shot therapy. I am so confused.

[The Fluffy Assassin]

My daughter just turned 4 and has been diagnosed with abdominal migrains and gastritis. She takes periactin for her stomach. She is also allergic to wheat, egg and soybean. She tested negative for celiac during an endoscopy at the GI. She also tested negative at the pediatrician. Her stomach hurts everyday and she gets pins and needles in her feet everyday.

Long Story!

At about 1 1/2 she began getting eczema, weird rashes and hives. This is also when she stoped breast feeding and started a normal diet. She would be just covered in red welts. I took pictures and we went to the pediatrician. She said Molly had atypical dermatitis. She scratched her fingernail down Molly's back and watched it swell up. She also recommended the allergist. The allergist did a prick test and told us Molly was allergic to dust mites and some other things that really werent that bad. They also said she would probably have ashma by the time she was 3. We were buliding a new house so we decided to do mainly wood floors for Molly. We also eliminated all fragrance from the laundry and soaps.

We moved into the new house just after Molly turned 2 and just as I had another baby. Her eczema seemed to dissapear! She started having terrible behavior. Maybe the terrible twos? Hives would come and go. She always looks tired. The allergist put her on Zyrtec, and we used it as needed for itching. Usually, pretty healthy though. She started eating dirt and sand. Her fingernails were brittle. The pediatrician tested her for anemia, lead poisoning and iron deficiency. All negative. People suggested pica but the pediatrician said it was just curiosity.

By 3 her behavior is even worse. She is so irritable. She crys and whines all day long. She is having tantrums and I cant figure out why.

Then I begin to notice her having spasms while she sleeps. They are not the spasms your child has as they are just falling asleep. They last for hours. Her legs, feet, arms and hands twitch and sometimes jerk her awake. So, now she is not sleeping well either. At her 3 year check up I burst into tears talking to the pediatrician. Something is not right. She said it is time to see a neurologist.

We see the neurologist. He is very unfriendly and we dont even talk much he schedules an ECG. This ruled out seizures. He puts her on a ridiculous amount of Klonopin to help her sleep. We tried it and then I decide there is no way Im giving my baby that drug. We dont see him again.

As we approach Molly's 4th birthday some new problems begin. She starts throwing up in the car. She also throws up in 3-D movies. She must have motion sickness, But, her stomach is hurting all the time. She lays on her stomach crying in pain. She wants out of her car seat to lay on the floor. I usually let her in the carpool lane picking up my daughter. Now she is crying that her feet hurt. It feels like pins and needles. I rub them as we drive. This is happening everyday. We see the pediatrician. She runs all kinds of tests and does an x-ray. Blood cells were high, she tested positive for H. Pylori, She is full of poop. We go on antibiotics, do an enema and start all kinds of fiber products. 2 weeks later and she is not better. Now she is also complaing that her joints hurt and she is pushing on her eyes! We go back to the Dr. She checks her eyes and says they are fine. She recommends a GI Dr.

The GI does an x-ray, ultrasound and an endoscopy with blood tests. She is still full of poop, more fiber. She does not nor does he think she ever had H.Pylori. He tells me there can be false negatives. Great. At the endoscopy he asks me if she has a bleeding problem because they couldnt get her to stop bleeding. No she dosent. Her endoscopy looked good. She has gastritis and he believes it is because she is allergic to egg.

Finally, an answer. Allergic to egg. But, he says it could have been a false positive. Great. He diagnoses her with abdominal migranes and puts her on periactin every night before bed.

We stop eating eggs and start the medicine. Wow, what a difference. She sleeps through the night and her behavior is improving. She is like a different child!

She is 4 years old now. Suddenly, the eczema is back. We see the allergist. We have to go off the periactin for 5 days to do a skin prick. She is now devil child again! The test shows that she is allergic to egg, wheat, soybean and pork. We go back on periactin and have to try eliminating and reintroducing these foods. All the while her stomach is hurting again and she is still complaining about the pins and needles in her feet.

OK, my question is should I just leave it as this or get more tests done? The allergist wants to start shot therapy. I am so confused.

At this stage, it might be better to continue trying to figure what might be the problem using a series of elimination diets. As you've already eliminated wheat, it would be comparatively easy to eliminate the other gluten sources (barley, barley malt, rye, possibly oats) and thus either rule in or rule out celiac disease. Further testing isn't likely to be accurate since without wheat, she probably is already getting very little gluten (hopefully).

I'm also assuming that the doctors have checked the excema to rule out dermatitis herpetiforma (skin form of celiac sprue). If they haven't, they should.

Sorry that you're going through this and best of luck to you and to your family.