2 Yr. Old Undiagnosed

[Lori and Kieran]

Hi,

My two year old son has been having diarrhea since before last Christmas. I tried taking him off of dairy and juice with no improvement. We also gave him probiotics. My husband thinks it's just toddler diarrhea. He has not had a normal poop for months. My doctor gave me a referral to a GI specialist but said that my husband is most likely correct since my son is gaining weight and healthy. My husband is apposed to taking him to the GI specialist. Today I took him to the allergist regarding his egg allergy. While I was there I told her that I was suspicious of Celiac. Since she had to do bloodwork anyway, I asked her to test for Celiac. It wasn't until I got home that I remembered he should be on gluten prior to the test. I had taken him off of gluten about five days ago. Will this mess up the results? Thanks for your response.

[Darn210]

It would have been better if he had stayed on it for the blood test . . . but my guess is that you still have a chance of a positive test.

Probably a bigger issue than the five days off gluten is that it can be hard to get a positive blood test for toddlers . . . the info that floats around this board a lot is that kids under the age of three have a pretty high chance of a false negative.

Here's my question back at you . . . have you seen any improvements since you've removed the gluten? Seems like most kids start responding pretty quickly (can't say "all" . . . I don't say "all" or "never" . . . somebody always has an exception)

Editted to add: I did a quick google search to see if I could quickly find an outside source that discusses the reliability of testing toddlers. I did not find anything in my quick search. So the info above about diagnosing a toddler should be considered anecdotal unless someone else can add an actual study/source.

[Lori and Kieran]

The first two days he had the first semi-formed poop that I had seen in months. Then back to the usual. He has been upset when he has to poop but that could be attributed to our recent attempts at potty training (which I have decided to give up on for the time being). Today he had a less watery poop but I wouldn't call it formed. I hope you don't mind all this poop talk. I wasn't sure how fast I should see results. Thanks for all your help.

[mommida]

I have found research on-line and was told by the ped. gastro. about the testing not being as reliable in a child under 24 months. This on-line research and testing was done almost 5 years ago ~ I never heard if newer testing was any more reliable. The reason for the unreliable results in that age group is based on the belief of a child's untried/developing immune system. My daughter had abnormal BM's during breastfeeding. I was undiagnosed at the time and still eating gluten. By the time she was trying her first "solids" she was having major problems. We were brushed off with the toddler "D" theory for too long.

[LDJofDenver]

One thing you might consider is genetic testing (now or a couple years down the road), given the number of false negatives that occur with the blood test on small children.

It would show whether or not the gene for it is present.

Here's a link to 2 articles about Genetic Testing:

Open Original Shared Link disease...cScreening4.pdf

and 10 Facts About Genetic Testing:

https://www.celiac.com/articles/21567/1/Ten...ting/Page1.html

Here are a couple links to places where you can get the tests done:

www.kimballgenetics.com and www.enterolab.com