Could This All Be Gluten Related?

[kiddo0215]

Hello! I have been on an elimination diet for about a month now, and I am suspicious that my children probably need to be gluten free as well. As you all know, the diet can be difficult...my plan was to find out for sure if I have a problem and then to "force" the diet on my children to see if it helps some of the "symtpoms" that I have noticed in them since I started researching.

I have a maternal aunt who is diagnosed Celiac. I could conject that my Mom was also and perhaps several of my aunts (all with stomach pains all the time and lactose intolerance). Several also have a range of autoimmune disorders (Lupus, Sjogrens, RA)

My questions today relate to my 14 year old daughter. She was diagnosed with Asthma at age 11, Osgood Schlatter at 12, and yesterday with ovarian cysts. She has depresssion and mood swings.

I haven't scheduled the ER follow up for the ovarian cysts yet- I wanted to research them a bit first. The Osgood Schlatter was supposed to go away within 6-12 months. It has not. In fact it is still bothersoem to her on almost daily basis. She also has headaches, neck and back pain.

I requested her doctor to do a gluten blood test last week and she said that because of the cost the patient would be required to do an elimination diet first. From what I read, that isn't necessarily the best idea.

It seems too simple for all of these symptoms to relate back to gluten, but I have to consider the possibility... does this all sound like it could stem from celiac or a gluten senitivity?

[ravenwoodglass]

There has been some recent research that shows a link between Asthma and celiac, there was an article about it the other day in the Health section of Yahoo News. From my own experience I know my asthma was caused by celiac because it resolved completely on the diet.

Celiac can cause inflammtion that can cause issues with the muscles and tendons so the pain that she is having could be related.

I don't know for sure about the ovarian cysts but my DD has suffered greatly from them since she went off the diet.

If you absolutely can't get the doctor to at least do a blood test then you would need to go with a dietary trial. Since the blood tests and biopsies can have false negatives anyway you would need to do the trial no matter what the test results.

[kiddo0215]

Thank you for your response! I guess sometimes I just need someone to state the obvious... wonder how to break the news to her...

[ravenwoodglass]

Thank you for your response! I guess sometimes I just need someone to state the obvious... wonder how to break the news to her...

I would call her doctor and tell her that since there is a family history of celiac you really want her tested. Also ask the doctor if they will give her a formal diagnosis if she responds to the diet as she may need one to keep her safe in school and in college. However there is a chance of a false negative and if you think she will resist the diet if the tests are negative you may want to just go with your original plan.

I would just tell her it may help the symptoms she is having and that if it doesn't help then you can stop after a couple of months. Also have her come here to the board, we even have a section for teens but she can feel free to post or read anywhere. It also may help to have her talk with the diagnosed celiac in the family so she can know that just because she is gluten free it doesn't mean that she can never have pizza, cakes or bread again, they will just need to be gluten free.

[eatmeat4good]

My son's asthma that he has had since childhood went away. He is 4 months gluten free. Had to use inhaler one time in all these months.

She might be happy about going gluten free once she learns what it can help with.

I worried about how my son would take it too. Now he tells everyone how brilliant his mom is to have figured it out. I never would have imagined that response!