New Here...what Do You Think

[AJSmom]

Hi all! My son is 3 1/2, and has been dealing with many many health issues for a very long time. First off he has a congenital heart defect which will need surgery. We also deal with reflux, chronic constipation, asthma which I'm told is the reason for his constant cough.

I work at a day care and one of the moms there has been talking to me about my son. Her daughter is on a gluten free diet. One of the things she has noticed about my son is the dark circles under his eye. He's always been like that as long as I can remember.

What do you think? I'm willing to try out a gluten free diet...it's better then him being on medications for everything.

Thanks for any help/advice/suggestions

[celiac-mommy]

It can't hurt, but before you do, you might want to ask his doctor to run a celiac panel on him before changing his diet. On the other hand, my son's panel was negative but was diagnosed from his extremely positive dietary response. I'm not sure I'm helping too much

[AJSmom]

It can't hurt, but before you do, you might want to ask his doctor to run a celiac panel on him before changing his diet. On the other hand, my son's panel was negative but was diagnosed from his extremely positive dietary response. I'm not sure I'm helping too much

We've done many many testing and I'm sure this one was one of them. I'll call next week when his office comes back from vacation. I've just heard and read stories of just like your son...testing coming back negative but still having many symptoms.

He has asthma and is on many meds for that...reflux on meds for that....constipation on meds for that. He was off some medications but slowly one by one getting put back on them. I hate the idea of him being on medications for such long time.

[Ahorsesoul]

When my kids were young they looked like little racoons. Both are celiacs.

[conviviality]

Hi all! My son is 3 1/2, and has been dealing with many many health issues for a very long time. First off he has a congenital heart defect which will need surgery. We also deal with reflux, chronic constipation, asthma which I'm told is the reason for his constant cough.

I work at a day care and one of the moms there has been talking to me about my son. Her daughter is on a gluten free diet. One of the things she has noticed about my son is the dark circles under his eye. He's always been like that as long as I can remember.

What do you think? I'm willing to try out a gluten free diet...it's better then him being on medications for everything.

Thanks for any help/advice/suggestions

I had dark circles under my eyes as a child. I never understood why but was always self-conscious about it. I did not get my Celiac diagnosis until age 39. But now, at 40, no more dark circles. This is not a proper way to diagnose I'm sure, but just thought I would share my own experience with you. Sometimes the symptoms are so subtle that no one notices. The research seems to show that gluten is just plain hard to digest for anyone, so it couldn't hurt to go gluten-free for the whole family. Its not that hard once you get used to it--I promise!

All the best!!