More Than Physical?

[New Man]

My son has just recently tested positive for the antibodies relating to gluten intolerance. Since finding this out we have modified his diet and He still has trouble with nausea and vomiting. He seems to be better during the day and his nausea returns in the evening. I understand that it may take some time for these symptoms to go away. however, a weird pattern seems to emerging. He seems to get worse during the day when he knows we are going somewhere. Whenever we are about to leave, whether to the chiropractor, grocery store, out to dinner or even to take him to school he gets nauseous, and sometime even vomits where we arrive there. It certainly looks more psychological than a physical reaction to gluten, could the gluten intolerance have anything to do with this? Has anyone one else experienced anything like this?

[OBXMom]

This is such a tough one - and we have definitely been here. The psychological effects of a chronic illness are undeniable. But I can't tell you how many times my son's symptoms ended up having a phsyiological basis when we thought it was all in his head. For example, his tummy always seemed to hurt more when he played his cello. We kept asking, "Are you sure you want to play?" until an x ray showed a huge amount of impacted stool right where his cello rests. After a miralax clean out, the cello pain went away.

The other problem is that the damage caused by an autoimmune response to gluten can cause lots of other issues. Healing can take a good while. I won't discourage you by telling you how long it took for my son, but we also had to explore allergic reactions to other foods besides gluten.

I can totally feel your pain about the difficulty going places with your son. My little guy was the most incredible homebody you have ever seen pre-diagnosis. He was fabulous at home and so whiny everywhere else that I got pitying looks wherever we went. I wanted to have a sweatshirt made up that said, "I'm really good at home." Recently he said to me, "Do you remember how I used to never want to go anywhere? It was because I was always felt so bad, and when you feel bad you just want to be home."

I hope your son feels better soon.