Need Advice

[MommaBear09]

Hi i'm a mom to a 20 month old boy. He is lactose intolerant and we have cut out all milk products. When we figured this out he was having chronic diarrhea, gas, bloated. For a little while the symptoms went away. Well now he has diarrhea off and on and all those symptoms. He literally wakes up in the morning looking skinny as can be and by the end of the day his stomach sticks out, and it is really noticeable. Does this sound like symptoms of Celiac's Disease? I don't have anyone on my side of the family with it and my fianc

[T.H.]

It IS genetic, but at the same time, it's increasing in the population, so doctors aren't quite sure how that's working. However, if you have any family history of auto-immune disorders, specifically MS, diabetes, Hashimoto's disease, or hypothyroidism, that can put you in a higher risk category.

There's definitely a chance he could have it. And even if the test is negative, he could have gluten intolerance (which there is not test for, like most intolerances), so taking him off gluten after the test results are back, just to see, might not be a bad idea.

In my family, we had no family history of it, and then my father was diagnosed. We tested the rest of us - most who didn't even HAVE symptoms - and three out of the four of us turned out to be positive. If your son turns up positive, they really recommend you and his daddy get tested to. There's a 1 in 22 chance that you'll have it, even if you don't have symptoms.

My son, who tested negative but had swollen belly type symptoms, went off gluten because the whole family did, and he suddenly started improving as well, so we're pretty confident he was intolerant to gluten.

Good luck to you!

And if gluten isn't the answer? Other foods could cause this, intolerances especially. With a lot of food intolerances, it damages the gut so that a person becomes dairy intolerant too, so going off dairy helps for a while, but the food continues to cause damage. So...that might be worth looking into. There is only a test for lactose and fructose intolerance. The others have to be diagnosed by simply not eating the food, and keeping a journal of how your son's health improves or not. Also, some parasites can cause this, so if you've been out of the country, in an area with many people who have emigrated here, or eating at restaurants that serve foods with imported ingredients, that could be an issue, too.

  On 5/4/2010 at 3:31 AM, MommaBear09 said:

Hi i'm a mom to a 20 month old boy. He is lactose intolerant and we have cut out all milk products. When we figured this out he was having chronic diarrhea, gas, bloated. For a little while the symptoms went away. Well now he has diarrhea off and on and all those symptoms. He literally wakes up in the morning looking skinny as can be and by the end of the day his stomach sticks out, and it is really noticeable. Does this sound like symptoms of Celiac's Disease? I don't have anyone on my side of the family with it and my fianc

[MommaBear09]

  On 5/7/2010 at 9:38 AM, T.H. said:

It IS genetic, but at the same time, it's increasing in the population, so doctors aren't quite sure how that's working. However, if you have any family history of auto-immune disorders, specifically MS, diabetes, Hashimoto's disease, or hypothyroidism, that can put you in a higher risk category.

There's definitely a chance he could have it. And even if the test is negative, he could have gluten intolerance (which there is not test for, like most intolerances), so taking him off gluten after the test results are back, just to see, might not be a bad idea.

In my family, we had no family history of it, and then my father was diagnosed. We tested the rest of us - most who didn't even HAVE symptoms - and three out of the four of us turned out to be positive. If your son turns up positive, they really recommend you and his daddy get tested to. There's a 1 in 22 chance that you'll have it, even if you don't have symptoms.

My son, who tested negative but had swollen belly type symptoms, went off gluten because the whole family did, and he suddenly started improving as well, so we're pretty confident he was intolerant to gluten.

Good luck to you!

And if gluten isn't the answer? Other foods could cause this, intolerances especially. With a lot of food intolerances, it damages the gut so that a person becomes dairy intolerant too, so going off dairy helps for a while, but the food continues to cause damage. So...that might be worth looking into. There is only a test for lactose and fructose intolerance. The others have to be diagnosed by simply not eating the food, and keeping a journal of how your son's health improves or not. Also, some parasites can cause this, so if you've been out of the country, in an area with many people who have emigrated here, or eating at restaurants that serve foods with imported ingredients, that could be an issue, too.

Thank you so much for the information. He has an appointment monday to talk to the doctor about it.there is a family history of diabetes on both sides for him.