Could It Be?

[melblondin]

Hi all -

I don't want to be hyperparanoid about the possibility of my son having celiac, so I wanted to get your thoughts and see if this could possibly be a reaction or just a matter of coincidence. My son pretty much ALWAYS has flaming red cheeks, explosive, bulky stool, and frequent tummy aches. Well, the other night I noticed that his cheeks were a relatively normal color and started thinking through what he had eaten that day. It turns out that he had had a gluten free day except for some goldfish crackers at lunch. I am gluten free for a wheat allergy and probably celiac too, but hard to get a gold standard diagnosis with not having gluten in my diet. I am DQ2.5 positive, so I'm guessing I passed that lovely gene along to my son, but I don't know for sure. At any rate, the next morning, he had 2 bowls of Quaker oatmeal with barley in it (that had made me sick before) and within 20 min. or so of eating, he was rolling on the floor saying his tummy hurt, his face was flaming red, he went #2 3 times throughout the day, fell asleep by 11am, which he NEVER does, took a 3 1/2 hour nap, and ran a fever until 3:30am the next morning.

Is that a reaction and could it have come on with only one day of having been mostly gluten free or do you think it was just a random bug of some sort. He's completely fine this morning.

Oh another maybe random thing is that he craves milk like crazy. He woke up at 3:30am because he had to go to the bathroom, but was begging for some milk and asked for some more as soon as he woke up. This is something that happens a fair amount, so he either just really like milk or his body is telling him he needs it for some reason...

[melblondin]

ok - so he's not totally fine now. He's gone to the bthrm twice already and starts crying uncontollably at the slightest thing. His fever is gone but belly still hurts like crazy.

[cal220]

You mentioning how your son is craving milk gave me flashbacks to the weeks before my son was diagnosed at age 3 (he's now 7). He always wanted milk and yes in the middle of the night too. His main symptoms were the distended stomach and skinny legs (but that can vary so much). You aren't being paranoid, get him tested or have more gluten free days for him and hopefully you'll have an answer. Good luck!

Carol

[melblondin]

Thank you!!! I've always thought this was kind of odd, but I figured maybe he just really likes milk! I haven't seen much posted on this type of a craving, so I'm thankful to see I'm not the only one who has noticed this!

[Officersbride]

How weird!?! My 3 year old daughter craves milk like she's about to be stranded somewhere!! I've posted about her...no diagnosis, and her labs are normal, but she has concerning symptoms. She downs a whole gallon of milk by herself in just over a week (that doesn't include what she drinks at daycare). Her teacher has told me that at each snacktime/meal at school, she asks for refills of milk so much that they have to tell her "no" after the 3rd refill....so then she goes to the water fountain to get water.

I thought it was just how she was! (And her blood sugars have been normal, so diabetes has been ruled out....)

Tammy

[concernedmamma]

Interesting! My son (age 5) was diagnosed Celiac in March. He has ALWAYS craved milk. We call him our milk hound. Even as an infant (we have known something was wrong with his bowels/digestive system his whole life) he would drink HUGE amounts of milk. Now that he has been gluten free for 2 months his milk and liquid consumption has normalized somewhat. I wonder what the connection is?

Kim