Teen Daughter

[ara1]

Hi,

My 17 year old daughter has been feeling ill for some time.

Two years ago she was diagnosed with mono.....it took her pediatrician a while to figure it out. She had stomach pain and severe fatigue, but no fever, no sore throat.

Anyway the next winter she had what the doctor called a relapse of mono ...same symptoms at least.

Now this fall and winter she has been battling severe fatigue, headaches, and stomach pain/bloating. We have been to an endocrinologist(thyroid was ok). We have also gone back to the pediatrician several times - she thinks it is stress or IBS. I then took my daughter to a different primary care doctor....just for a new opinion, and this doctor suggested Seasonal Affective Disorder...this is not a bad guess, since she seems to be ill mostly in the winter.

Main symptoms are fatigue, stomach pain and headache. I can't find a pattern to the symptoms......she is not constantly fatigued or in pain....the symptoms seem to come on suddenly and ramdomly.

I did some research and noticed the information that compared symptoms of IBS to Celiac, so I think I need to investigate.

Any thoughts? I would appreciate any input you can give me.

Thanks,

Ara1

[ravenwoodglass]

I would ask your doctor to do a complete celiac panel to start. Mono was the trigger for quite a few of us here and it is quite possible it was for her also. If the blood tests are positive she will likely be referred to a GI doctor for a biopsy to confirm. Whether you do this or not is up to you. There are false negatives with testing much more often than we would like but the tests are the way to start. After all testing is done then do a trial of the diet no matter what the results. The body can sometimes tell us what testing can not. Do test first before trying the diet as even a short time on the diet will cause a false negative so if she goes gluten-free and then decides she wants a doctors diagnosis she will have to go back on gluten. For those of us with gluten issues that process can be very hard as often after even a short time gluten-free our bodies can react much more violently to reintroduction. At her age if you can get a postive diagnosis it will make it easier for her in school as her high school or college will need to be able to accomodate her dietary needs. This means either making safe food available in the cafeteria or sometimes putting the student into upperclass rooms that have a small kitchen. That was what my DD's school did, they put her in senior housing the freshman year so she could cook for herself.

Your in a great place for info and support, do read as much as you can and ask any other questions you need to.