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Living Abroad And Recently Diagnosed Son

GlutenFreeinPanama

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GlutenFreeinPanama Newbie
GlutenFreeinPanama
Posted

My 2 year old son was diagnosed recently with Celiac Disease. We are an american family living in Panama. Medical care is good here, but I spent the last year arguing with the ped about our "poo" issues. Finally, we made it to the ONLY neonatal gastro dr. in our province. She took one look at my son's distended belly and wasted arms and said "Celiac" and off we went to the public hospital for blood testing. Our positive test results were not a surprise, but a relief, he is only 22 lbs, not even on the growth charts and refuses to eat. Now we have our answer, but our journey is beginning. I cannot get purchase the gluten-free foods available in the USA. So I am desperate for quick snacking ideas for him. Any ideas and support for our journey would be so appreciated.

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mushroom Proficient
mushroom
Posted

My 2 year old son was diagnosed recently with Celiac Disease. We are an american family living in Panama. Medical care is good here, but I spent the last year arguing with the ped about our "poo" issues. Finally, we made it to the ONLY neonatal gastro dr. in our province. She took one look at my son's distended belly and wasted arms and said "Celiac" and off we went to the public hospital for blood testing. Our positive test results were not a surprise, but a relief, he is only 22 lbs, not even on the growth charts and refuses to eat. Now we have our answer, but our journey is beginning. I cannot get purchase the gluten-free foods available in the USA. So I am desperate for quick snacking ideas for him. Any ideas and support for our journey would be so appreciated.

You can order gluten free products online - if you do a bulk order it tends to reduce the sticker shock of shipping. But think first of things that are naturally gluten free. There are wonderful recipes on here for cheese crackers and cheese/nut crackers. Think carrot and celery sticks, cheese sticks, lettuce wraps with cold meat and cheese and veggies in them. almonds, dates, dried apricots, apple slices and pineapple chunks, or combinations of all these (have a cocktail party :lol: ). He is young enough to be converted to the more vegatarian kind of diet. He may also be sensitive to lactose at this point so you will need to trial him on milk, yogurt, ice cream. He will probably be able to add these back in if he is sensiitive to them now. But he can probably stilll do potato and corn chips as treats if you make sure they are gluten free (do they have U.S. labelling laws in Panama?) I am not sure how "American" it is any more. When you make up an order from the U.S. include bread mixes, cake mixes (Pamela's is a good all-purpose mix), pastas, etc., so that you can make him pancakes,cookies, cakes, bread. That way he won't feel deprived.

Good luck, and I am sure others will come on with more ideas.

GlutenFreeinPanama Newbie
GlutenFreeinPanama
Posted
  • Author

Thanks! We tend to eat a vegetarian diet as that is what I follow. We live about 8 hrs outside of more modern Panama City in a small country town, so our ability to buy is limited. I love all of your ideas! Yes, right now he is lactose intolerant and the dr. took him off all milks except an infant formula. I am glad to hear we might be able to reintroduce that at a later date. She left it open ended when I asked her. She also took him off all juices, colorants and dyes..I was wondering if I juiced our abundance of papaya, mango and mangostein if those juices would be acceptable - I really don't like the idea of his only liquid consumption is of infant formula or water.

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    • knitty kitty
      Desperately need a vitamin D supplement. I've reacted to most brands I've tried.

      By knitty kitty · Posted

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    • Jane02
      Desperately need a vitamin D supplement. I've reacted to most brands I've tried.

      By Jane02 · Posted

      Thank you so much @knitty kitty for this insightful information! I would have never considered fractionated coconut oil to be a potential source of GI upset. I will consider all the info you shared. Very interesting about the Thiamine deficiency.  I've tracked daily averages of my intake in a nutrition software. The only nutrient I can't consistently meet from my diet is vitamin D. Calcium is a hit and miss as I rely on vegetables, dark leafy greens as a major source, for my calcium intake. I'm able to meet it when I either eat or juice a bundle of kale or collard greens daily haha. My thiamine intake is roughly 120% of my needs, although I do recognize that I may not be absorbing all of these nutrients consistently with intermittent unintentional exposures to gluten.  My vitamin A intake is roughly 900% (~6400 mcg/d) of my needs as I eat a lot of sweet potato, although since it's plant-derived vitamin A (beta-carotene) apparently it's not likely to cause toxicity.  Thanks again! 
    • knitty kitty
      Desperately need a vitamin D supplement. I've reacted to most brands I've tried.

      By knitty kitty · Posted

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    • Scott Adams
      Desperately need a vitamin D supplement. I've reacted to most brands I've tried.

      By Scott Adams · Posted

      I do not know this, but since they are labelled gluten-free, and are not really a product that could easily be contaminated when making them (there would be not flour in the air of such a facility, for example), I don't really see contamination as something to be concerned about for this type of product. 
    • trents
      Desperately need a vitamin D supplement. I've reacted to most brands I've tried.

      By trents · Posted

      Contact them.
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