Considering A Gluten-Free Diet

[suziq0805]

I'm considering beginning a gluten-free diet but not sure if I should yet or not. My 1 year old has shown signs of some issue with gluten/wheat ever since we introduced solid foods. As I've researched celiac I have wondered if I have it and never knew it. I get stomach cramps sometimes (when I get them they are AWFUL), but only get them randomly. I have had years of neurological symptoms- muscular pain, dizzy spells, headaches. But the pain can also be explained by the fact that I'm a musician...the more I play my instruments the more pain I have. Headaches could be due to an old whiplash injury. I'm also tired all the time, but I have a 1 year old so I definately don't get consistent sleep! I've had the bloodwork done and it came back negative. I was hoping it was positive just so that I could have an explanation for the years of pain I've been through. With the symptoms I do have combined with the fact my son seems to have wheat/gluten issues I'm curious as to whether I would see a difference by eliminating gluten. Is this something I should speak with a doctor about before beginning???

[AzizaRivers]

You can talk to a doctor about it, but be forewarned that not all doctors are well educated on celiac or gluten intolerance and you may or may not be getting accurate information. A few things you should know:

1. Some people have it even though they test negative, sometimes with both negative bloods and biopsy.

2. Many doctors will deny this.

3. If you go through testing and it's negative, you should give the diet a good strict try anyway. This includes watching out for cross-contamination (lots of info on that here).

4. If you do want to go through testing, don't go gluten-free in the meantime. In order for us to get positive results, we have to be eating a high-gluten diet. So if you go gluten free and you go for testing, you could get a false negative.

5. If you want to test your little one, you should know that testing is often inaccurate in babies and very young children. Plenty of kids and babies are successfully diagnosed, but parents sometimes have a hard time getting a solid diagnosis even when it really is the problem, until the child is older and often sicker, with more damage done. Use your mommy instincts.

6. Remember that an official diagnosis is little more than a piece of paper. If your body is telling you that you don't get along with gluten, don't let a doctor stop you from giving up the gluten and calling it a day. The treatment is the same either way: completely gluten-free diet.