Muscle Wasting In Rear End

[Chakra2]

We are in the process of trying to figure out if our 2.5 yr old has celiac. I've recently learned that I probably have had it since infancy. I've read that wasting of the bum muscles is a celiac symptom but don't feel like I've seen much about it on here. My son is pretty healthy and has stayed 50th % for height but has slowly dropped down to 5th% for weight. I took him gluten-free in January not knowing about celiac disease, just trying to solve severe nightwaking. I now think that one of his glutening signs is loss of appetite. So I'm not sure if it's gluten-free diet, loss of appetite from occasional glutening, or muscle wasting that's causing the weight issue but his pants have been falling off for months. I still have him in 18 mo shorts but he doesn't look super-skinny to me in any other body part. I just can't keep his pants up! He eats great when he hasn't been glutened and I give him high fat foods (bacon, etc) to try to make up for the other diet restrictions. I do feel worried about his weight though. Was gluteal wasting a symptom for anyone else's kid? How long did it take to resolve?

[Mercy-Jean]

Hello,

I saw your post like a needle in a haystack. I am not sure if what I have to write will be helpful or not. I have been diagnosed "Gluten Intolerant" 3 years ago now. Way before that, I'd say around 12 years ago, I started to have terrible pain in my rear muscle. It felt like it was on fire burning. My rear end was red as a lobster in just one spot right above my leg. After a few months it stopped. When I looked in the mirror, I had lost a trench in my muscle. It is still there and looks like a giant dimple. I asked and am not even able to get it fixed with cosmetic surgery. It is so deep that there is practically no muscle and it almost goes straight to my bone where the "trench" is. I asked my doctors about it and no one could explain it. Up until I read your post a minute ago, I had never thought of it as a (another) symptom of Celiac. I am glad you wrote in and that your son does not have the pain I had. I hope you don't feel so alone now. I also hope you feel a bit grateful because I was a grown woman when I had that pain and it was devastating.

[RestorationFarm]

So glad to find your post. As a newly diagnosed celiac mom of 3 newly diagnosed celiac kids married to a now-apparently celiac husband, I am right there with you in just trying to figure out what will heal my family!

Muscle wasting in rear end is actually one of the numerous symptoms that helped me finally be able to identify that what we were really dealing with in my family was celiacs. In a presentation on signs/symptoms of Celiac, this was clearly listed among many other symptoms as sometimes being an attribute of Celiac, but plenty of us have Celiac and still have a behind, too. In our family, this condition (we jokingly refer to as "no-ass-at-all") is only obvious in the males: my husband, son, and father in law all had/have this attribute, but my 3 daughters and myself do not. We'd thought it was just genetic body-type, but learning more about Celiacs, I believe it is more about the muscle wasting commonly caused by mal-absorption issues of a damaged gut. I also know that constant stress can cause this, and to me a glutten intolerant body that is continually under glutten assault IS constantly stressed.

I think the particular nutrient not being absorbed that leads to muscle wasting is carnotine or creatine, maybe both, but I am still currently researching this to be sure. If I find enough evidence to think this is a plausible idea, I plan to begin adding it to our daily supplement regimen.

According to the presentation I saw at the doctor's office, in the 1930's and '40's, they were only diagnosing children with Celiac's who showed chronic, extreme muscel wasting, because they were convinced it was a "rare" disorder, since only the most extreme cases stood out as clear indicators something was wrong. I saw pictures of this time period of Celiac children whose muscles were so badly atrophied, their pelvic bones were clearly visible where there should have been a healthy, fleshy bottom. They looked like concentration camp victims, but they were from safe, healthy middle class homes. As I understand, this was also the era when they believed children would eventually out-grow the glutten intolerance. All this to say, YES, muscle atrophy in the buttocks muscles IS known to be related to, caused by Celiac disease.

My own son is right at puberty just now, and now that I know to keep him glutten free, I am also looking for ways to help him build those weak, atrophied muscles. I believe it will require supplements in addition to exercise, because my husbands efforts to build muscle only results in firm, dense small muscles, and no amount of work makes them larger, even though he eats a lot of protein.

Hope this helps, even though so many months after your original post!

kcm