Should I Take My Son Off Gluten?

[ljgs]

My 13-year-old daughter was dx with celiac six months ago. Her bloodwork was sky-high and the biopsy showed damage. She's done beautifully on a gluten-free diet. My 10-year-old has no obvious symptoms of celiac and his bloodwork was negative. The only issue has had had is that he is on the short side, maybe in the 20-25th percentile while the rest of us are fairly average. A few weeks ago he had several episodes of seemingly random joint pains along with a little bit of urinary discomfort. We had a lot of bloodwork done and everything was negative--Lyme, rheumatoid factor, sed rate, etc. Basically, all the markers of infection. The rheumatologist feels this is a classic case of reactive arthritis (an autoimmune reaction) following an upper-respiratory infection he had last month. There was also a terrible gastro bug going around his school that he didn't have symptoms of. Right now he has no joint pains or urinary discomfort or anything, but a friend of mine who is an integrative medicine physician told me I should try taking him off gluten to see if that prevents any joint recurrence and to see if it encourages his growth. Obviously there is autoimmune disease in our family. She is very against gluten in general and has all her children avoid it even though they don't have celiac but rather a bit of sensitivity. What do you think? Is this overkill?

[ravenwoodglass]

I agree that a trial of being gluten free is certainly not going to hurt anything. Since you already have one celiac child and celiac is strongly genetic IMHO taking him gluten-free is a good idea.

[Skylark]

I think it makes sense too. With one gluten-free child it's not much more effort and he might feel a lot better.

[GFinDC]

Yep, try the gluten-free diet. But you might want to have him tested for antibodies first. And then try the gluten-free diet (regardless of test results) for a couple months and see how he does.

[sb2178]

I'd take him off it at home, if only for the ease of food prep. My joint stuff was fairly gradual to develop, and was slower to resolve than any other symptoms so it would be hard to do a good elimination diet since he has no clear symptoms. Has he always been in that percentile? It's not unusually small.

On the other hand, it seems very reasonable to take a wait and see approach since he seems to be comfortable and has the negative blood work. Just monitor the blood work annually/biannually and watch for symptoms like dropping lower in growth curve or anemia.

It could become clearer if you take him off it and then let him eat some in a few months for something like a sleep over, and then see if it comes back.

[ljgs]

Thanks, all. He was tested for celiac antibodies and was definitely negative. And you're right--he is not that short. In fact, we took him to an endocrinologist last year who said there was absolutely no cause for concern. So I do feel a little like I'm overreacting by taking him off gluten. But it turns out, now that I've really scrutinized my pantry, that all four of us are eating less gluten than before just as a result of my daughter being celiac. I still buy regular wheat bread and cereals, but I'm going to encourage my son to eat the gluten-free stuff for now--even if it's just for a week--and see how he feels. I don't want to take him off gluten if it's not medically necessary. I know some people hate gluten and act like the gluten police, but all the dietitians say that if you don't have celiac or a true sensitivity, it's healthier to eat gluten.

[kareng]

I have 2 teen boys. Mine would get random joint pain, particullary the legs. It seemed like a few days or weeks later they would be taller. I have heard that the bones grow and then everything attached ( muscles, tendons, ligaments) stretches and hurts at first. Hope that's it.