What Is Going On?

[Lori and Kieran]

My son has had diarrhea for months. We tried various things including taking him off juice, dairy, and giving him probiotics before I decided to take him off gluten. When I tried a gluten free diet the diarrhea almost completely cleared up within the first day or two. He had an appt. with his allergist anyway so I suggested testing him for celiac with the blood test. I understand that it is very unlikely to come back positive in a 2 year old but, my husband is not very supportive without scientific evidence. When the test came back negative my husband strongly suggested putting him back on gluten. I did this hoping the return of diarrhea would convince my husband. He had been gluten free for about two weeks and of course the diarrhea returned immediately. After torturing my son for about a week my husband was starting to come around and agreed to once again take him off gluten. Now is where I become confused. Now that he is again gluten free his diarrhea did not go away as expected. He has been gluten free (time #2) for a week or so. I don't understand. If anyone has any ideas please share.

Thanks

[JillianLindsay]

I'm nowhere near a qualified professional and am new to this as well (3 weeks gluten-free). What came to mind for me was that in the time you had your son off gluten his digestive system may have started to heal so that when he ate gluten again his sensitivity was heightened (he could be absorbing more now that the lining of his small bowel has begun to heal?) so it may take longer to see results the second time around. When you put him back on gluten, did you also put him back on dairy? Dairy may also be causing him stomach upset. Did any allergies show up on the test? Good luck!

My son has had diarrhea for months. We tried various things including taking him off juice, dairy, and giving him probiotics before I decided to take him off gluten. When I tried a gluten free diet the diarrhea almost completely cleared up within the first day or two. He had an appt. with his allergist anyway so I suggested testing him for celiac with the blood test. I understand that it is very unlikely to come back positive in a 2 year old but, my husband is not very supportive without scientific evidence. When the test came back negative my husband strongly suggested putting him back on gluten. I did this hoping the return of diarrhea would convince my husband. He had been gluten free for about two weeks and of course the diarrhea returned immediately. After torturing my son for about a week my husband was starting to come around and agreed to once again take him off gluten. Now is where I become confused. Now that he is again gluten free his diarrhea did not go away as expected. He has been gluten free (time #2) for a week or so. I don't understand. If anyone has any ideas please share.

Thanks

[Lori and Kieran]

I'm nowhere near a qualified professional and am new to this as well (3 weeks gluten-free). What came to mind for me was that in the time you had your son off gluten his digestive system may have started to heal so that when he ate gluten again his sensitivity was heightened (he could be absorbing more now that the lining of his small bowel has begun to heal?) so it may take longer to see results the second time around. When you put him back on gluten, did you also put him back on dairy? Dairy may also be causing him stomach upset. Did any allergies show up on the test? Good luck!

He is on dairy right now but, he was eating dairy the first time around and was fine. No allergies showed up. He used to have an egg allergy that he has apparently grown out of. I requested testing for myself since I have symptoms as well, but have not gotten the results back yet. I'm hoping if it's positive that my husband will take this all a little more seriously. I am also getting my DNA tested since it is covered under my insurance. I plan on getting my son's DNA tested as well but time is of the essence with an unsupportive family.

[Lori and Kieran]

Oops . . . I meant to ask if anyone knows how long I should expect to wait for DNA results from LabCorp.

[grainfree]

Lori and Keiran, so sorry to hear your son is feeling unwell. Apparently I was a very fussy eater when cereals were introduced and have not been a big bread eater my entire life. I developed autoimmune thyroiditis in my teens. A first degree relative has just been diagnosed and I am preparing for further testing in myself. Scientific evidence may be the course for you now. That your son has any sign of feeling unwell is cause for investigation, not just a gastrointestinal one. Looking back, I would have had no problem avoiding gluten in my diet if it had meant better health for my future.

[grainfree]

Here is a link which may be helpful celiaccenter.ucsd.edu and sees children.

[Celiacos de M]

My son has had diarrhea for months. We tried various things including taking him off juice, dairy, and giving him probiotics before I decided to take him off gluten. When I tried a gluten free diet the diarrhea almost completely cleared up within the first day or two. He had an appt. with his allergist anyway so I suggested testing him for celiac with the blood test. I understand that it is very unlikely to come back positive in a 2 year old but, my husband is not very supportive without scientific evidence. When the test came back negative my husband strongly suggested putting him back on gluten. I did this hoping the return of diarrhea would convince my husband. He had been gluten free for about two weeks and of course the diarrhea returned immediately. After torturing my son for about a week my husband was starting to come around and agreed to once again take him off gluten. Now is where I become confused. Now that he is again gluten free his diarrhea did not go away as expected. He has been gluten free (time #2) for a week or so. I don't understand. If anyone has any ideas please share.

Thanks

The problem that laboratory studies were made after removing gluten from the diet, so it is very likely to have yielded negative results. Therefore it is recommended that no gluten is removed before any test ... Try again, thus feeding a "normal" prior to sampling ...