Celiac With No Symptoms?

[daizednconphused]

Hi, I'm new here and totally confused so I thought someone here could enlighten me. I've been raising my Autistic grandson for 18 years and he's never had any kind of digestive problems. Very healthy, but autistic , intellectually challenged and has ADHD. Last summer he started losing weight (he had always been a kid that had to wear "husky" clothes.) I took him to the Doctor and she ran some tests and the results were that he had Celiac disease. We were sent to a gastroenterologist to have the surgical test done, but when my grandson heard the words "cut" pertaining to his stomach he said "NO" and since he had just turned 18 years old there was nothing we could do to force him to have the test. A day or two later the GI called and said she had gone over the results of his blood work and decided that it was not even necessary to have the test because his blood work was "off the charts' and he definitely had Celiac.

We've been gluten-free since then, I hope. I have changed everything I can think of from toothpaste, laundry soap, deoderant, shampoo, noodles, bread and on and on and on to make sure he is gluten free, but how do we tell? If he never had any symptoms to begin with. I see no changes in anything since we went gluten-free.

[ravenwoodglass]

Since he was diagnosed with positive blood work it would be a good idea to have the blood work redone after he has been gluten-free for six months or so. If the antibody levels have dropped down then you know you are doing well with the diet. Do be sure to take precautions against cross contamination like his haveing his own toaster, not sharing condiments, butter, nut butters etc with gluten eaters and be careful if your baking with flour as that will become airborne and CC him. It would also be a good idea to have all other family members tested. You may want to consider making him dairy free for a while also.

[cassP]

how long has he been gluten free?? I would assume u may see neurological and behavioral changes in him. Good luck with everything

[TooManyHats]

I do hope you see some positive behavioral changes. I'm hoping to see the same thing with my son who has autism when we all go gluten-free. I understand it can take 3 to 6 months to see behavioral changes, but this is the gluten-free/casein-free diet. I hope I don't have to go that far, but am certainly open to it if that becomes the case. Good luck! I'd love to hear back from you when he's been on the diet for a while.

[sahm-i-am]

I, too, had no visual symptoms except unexplained weight loss. I have no symptoms when I eat gluten today after being gluten free 7 months. My only confirmation is that I have gained back the 25 lbs. I lost. It is a very diverse disease, isn't it. I'm glad you found out so that your grandson can heal and grow to be a healthy 'old man'!