Sugar Malabsorption In Toddler

[anna34]

Well, it has almost been a year since DD was diagnosed and I went gluten-free with borderline blood results. (Update: One of my parents has just been diagnosed through biopsy, so with that plus my daughter being confirmed, I feel very confident about my self-diagnosis.) What a difference a year makes! We're all feeling better. I want to thank everyone on this board who has helped me over the last year. While our hospital offered some assistance with the transition, it was on this board that I learned the "whole" truth.

Now I have a question about sugar malabsorption. I've suspected our DS has celiac since we learned about our daughter a year ago. He had the blood test at age 2 and it was negative. We were told that at that age the test is inaccurate at that age and to keep him on gluten and test him again in a year, which is coming up soon. His symptoms are as follows: never had a solid BM, frequent dirty diapers (up to 6 a day), will have full dirty diapers back to back, foul smelling, often see undigested food in diaper, mucous too, dark circles under eyes.

His regular blood tests did not show any deficiencies. His doctor said that since his iron is fine and his skin is not sagging that she doesn't think he has celiac (I know better). He has been referred to a GI and has that appointment soon. So, while his symptoms point to celiac, I'm wondering what else could cause malabsorption of sugar? Any thoughts?

[gary'sgirl]

I may have missed something, but I can't figure out why you think he has malabsorption of sugar from what you wrote.

Did your son have a test that suggested that he is not absorbing or digesting sugars?

One thing that is somewhat common in people with celiac is to have fructose malabsorption. Could this be what you are asking about?

Fructose is one type of sugar.

[anna34]

Oops. I forgot to mention that it was his stool samples that showed malabsorption of sugar.

[gary'sgirl]

What type of sugar was the problem, or was it all types?

I know that some people have problems with cane sugar. I'm not sure if it's and intolerance or if it's an allergic reaction that people usually get with that.

Two of my kids and I have fructose malabsorption, which is like an intolerance (kind of anyway). We went on the FODMAP diet (along with a gluten free diet - we all have celiac too). Both of my kids seem to be better after being on the diet and the issue seems to have resolved after about 6 months on the diet, so I think it was directly related to their gut needing to heal from the Celiac. I am not better yet, but my damage was much much worse and will probably take a lot longer to heal.

I'm not sure if any of that helps you out at all, but if you have any questions I would be happy to try and answer them.

Hope you figure it all out.

[nocornhouse]

ah, another peice of the puzzle...this could explain why we can't handle more than a teeny bit of honey around here....hummmmm

thanks, I will keep fructose malabsorption in mind while I plan meals while our guts heal