Son New To gluten-free Diet

[Ginnie64]

Hi my son has been on a gluten free diet for 2 months. He has not been properly tested, the doctor has said I can do my own test by putting him on this diet, if he stops having all the pain he has celiac. He has no more pain and his gas has dropped by 80%. Looking back at things I would say he has had this since he was put on food when he was a baby. He is 10 years old now. I thought he was very colicky as a young child since you can have it up until your 5 or 6 years old. He has never been a really healthy child, but since he has been on the diet he has had to very bad colds. My question is, is he going through a lot of changes in his system which is lowering his immune system? I thought he should be getting healthier.

[rosetapper23]

I would suggest that your doctor have your son's vitamin and mineral levels checked--he may be low in Vitamin D or C, which could be causing him to be more prone to viruses. People with celiac can suffer from nutritional deficiencies, and the most common ones are Vitamin D, iron, B-12, and Folic Acid. However, he might be deficient in these and other nutrients, because eventhough he's following the diet, he could have sustained some damage previously to the lining of his small intestine. I can take a while for the damage to heal.

[Darn210]

I don't have any scientific data to throw out here, but I will tell you that I've seen accounts from members on this board over the years that have played it both ways . . .

The celiac disease had the immune system so ramped up/constantly ON that they were never sick before diagnosis . . . now they catch every cold that comes along.

The celiac disease had the immune system so overworked and beaten down that they were constantly sick before diagnosis . . . now they haven't had a cold in a year.

[Lima Bean]

Is it possible he just caught 2 cold that were going around? One of my kids has already had 1 stomach virus and 2 colds this school year. He is usually really healthy and he got over them much faster than the other kids in his class. The kid across the street was sick with one of them for a week. May just be bad luck this year?

[AVR1962]

Can your son eat yogurt? I would encourage this on a daily basis and if he cannot eat yogurt or doesn't like it I would look into a probiotic for children. One of my girls had a real tough time, caught everything that came around and more. Doc suggested cultured milk (yogurt drinks) and yogurt and while she would be consistant she would do well but it is no easy to always put this into your body if you're not crazy about it in the first place so she started on a probiotic and that helped alot.

[Ginnie64]

Thank you for your comments. I have to work harder to make sure he has a yogourt every day the doctor did say he should eat it every day. I just started giving him vitamins a week ago, hopefully that will help.

[domesticactivist]

Make sure the yogurt he is eating has live cultures! You can also introduce other probiotic foods like homemade (or bubbies refrigerated) sauerkraut. You might also look into making sure that gluten is really, truly eliminated from his diet!

I have blog posts on the blog linked from my profile about being 100% gluten-free. If you search on cross contamination here you should find great stuff as well!

[maximoo]

make sure his vitamins are gluten-free too. flinstones are not gluten-free .

[Ginnie64]

There is so much to think about. I have been researching this for 2 months and every time I think I have a handle on things I read something that send me back reading labels again. It can be overwhelming at times. I read that you need to check your bathroom for gluten because it can be in your toothpaste and other things. Who would have thought. I do appreciate your your help.

[amberskids]

If your son doesn't tolerate dairy, many new celiacs don't - a good way to get probiotics is through making your own water kefir (if you're ambitious) or buying coconut kefir or you can go to your health food store and get the refrigerated powdered kinds that you can add to his water or juice. the children's kind that I have has 3 billion per serving -- it sounds like a lot until you realize that you are supposed to be populated with trillions =)