Does Anyone Outgrow Gluten Intolerance?

[norahsmommy]

My mother is absolutely convinced that my daughter will outgrow her gluten problems. She is 14 months and we have been dealing with this since we introduced solids. She isn't diagnosed yet, but I keep her gluten free because she is in pain when she eats gluten. My mother thinks her intestines are just immature and she will outgrow her problems. Has this happened to anyone you know? I really don't think it will happen but I thought I'd ask.

[mushroom]

It used to be commonly believed that the intolerance would be outgrown. We have now learned that while some children have an interval where it appears that they are tolerating gluten, that the intolerance never goes away, that damage is still being done, and that the outward symptoms later return.

There has been just in the last month a reported incidence of a man somewhere in Europe who was "cured" of celiac disease, but this is a one-off event. Celiac disese/gluten intolerance is a disease for life, I'm afraid. Your mother is repeating what she would have heard when she was growing up, not what is known today.

[Jestgar]

For your mom:

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[norahsmommy]

It used to be commonly believed that the intolerance would be outgrown. We have now learned that while some children have an interval where it appears that they are tolerating gluten, that the intolerance never goes away, that damage is still being down, and that the outward symptoms later return.

There has been just in the last month a reported incidence of a man somewhere in Europe who was "cured" of celiac disease, but this is a one-off event. Celiac disese/gluten intolerance is a disease for life, I'm afraid. Your mother is repeating what she would have heard when she was growing up, not what is known today.

so there are no instances of kids who cannot tolerate gluten but as adults they can? Gluten intolerance is always Celiac disease or degrees of it? Are there other medical conditions that can cause gluten intolerance but are not related to Celiac?

[Jestgar]

My opinion on this, is that they are different manifestations of the same thing. A test was designed for celiac disease because kids were dying from it. There is no test for gluten intolerance because it's relatively recently that people have simply stopped eating gluten without getting a blessing from their doctor. Without a test for the damage caused, it would be irresponsible to assume there is none.

People have reported that Lyme disease can lead to gluten intolerance, which goes away once the Lyme has been cured.

[codetalker]

It used to be commonly believed that the intolerance would be outgrown. We have now learned that while some children have an interval where it appears that they are tolerating gluten, that the intolerance never goes away, that damage is still being down, and that the outward symptoms later return.

I can vouch for this because that is what happened to me. I was DX'd as a celiac baby at Johns-Hopkins in the early 50's. Doctors believed I would outgrow celiac disease and eventually put me back on a regular diet when I was about 3 or 4. From then to my early 20's, symptoms were relatively mild. After that, problems became progressively worse. In my late 40's, I finally figured out on my own what was happening and put myself on a gluten-free diet. The reason for the delay was that, when I was a kid, my parents decided that telling me about celiac disease would give me an excuse to be picky with my food and they did not want that. As a result, no one told be about the DX until my late 30's. Unfortunately, the explanation was based on out-of-date info partially understood and partially remembered from decades earlier.

As the poster mentioned, doctors no longer support this belief. My gastroenterologist takes it a step further and denies doctors would ever have done this.

[MacieMay]

HI Norahsmommy,

I didn't get a chance to read the above links but...

I believe that my daughter can outgrow her gluten intolerance she is 22months. That's only if the tests prove to be right and she doesn't have undiagnosed Celiac. I plan on re-introducing it slowly when she 3 to see what happens.

A cousin of mine had a gluten-intolerance when he was a baby. His mom (my aunt)remembers driving into Boston to buy special bread for him. This was 30 years ago. He is healthy now and eats a regular diet. He does not have any health problems.

I hope this helps. My daughter too was in pain when she eating gluten, I think milk was hurting her too. She is much better now and does much better with milk products (she doesn't drink milk). I'm hoping to find a dr. to help us when we re-introduce, not sure if it should be an allergist or GI. I'm working on that. Good luck!

[Pac]

so there are no instances of kids who cannot tolerate gluten but as adults they can? Gluten intolerance is always Celiac disease or degrees of it? Are there other medical conditions that can cause gluten intolerance but are not related to Celiac?

There are several different ways in which gluten can make you sick. Wheat can be hard to digest for some babies. When their stomach gets stronger, they might be able to handle wheat without any issue.

Kids very often outgrow IgE wheat allergy too - up to 65% by the age of 10. There are reported cases of adults with IgE allergy to wheat/gluten going into remission but this doesn't seem to be too common (it might be just my wrong impression though).

You don't outgrow celiac (ie gluten-induced enteropathy) or duhring dermatitis and IMHO you don't outgrow non-celiac gluten intolerances either.

For a baby that is just sick when eating gluten but doesn't have any official diagnosis, there is a fair chance it will outgrow the problem.