Weight Loss

[Zoebearsmom]

How is the weight loss determined. My 7 year old daughter has always been a slow gainer but in 2 years she hasn't gained weight. She does but it comes right back off. Its frustrating because the Dr. seems worried though she is still in normal percentiles at a curve she has stayed on with exception maybe to this last visit showing she hasn't gained since her 5 year well child exam.

Does gaining and losing the same 5 lbs count as weight loss as a symptom? I'm not sure I want to submit her to testing and just try out a gluten-free diet. Should I actually have her tested before removing it form diet.

I suspect we could have had undiagnosed family history. My grandmother had stomach issues most of her life. In her later years they determined she did have Chrohns Disease and I know this sometimes goes a long with celiac.

[WheatChef]

I believe the correct technical term in such a case is "failure to thrive". Failure to thrive coincidentally is also a possible symptom of gluten intolerance. Besides cost, there are no downsides to testing. There is however a downside in assuming any test can prove that you DON'T have gluten intolerance. In almost all aspects of science it is impossible to state that something does not exist, in reality it could be sampling size, experimental design, sensitivity, accuracy, any host of measures not being able to accurately measure something. This is why tests look to show the presence of something, not the absence.