Possible Cd W/my Son?

[Amanda76]

Hi. I'll try not to make this too long. First of all, my dad has celiac disease. I haven't been tested for it, nor have my siblings. But my 14 month old son has always had a handful of health issues that we haven't been able to pinpoint. I'm wondering if it isn't celiac disease. Since he was 6 months old he's had this horrible skin rash, that is like little red bumps that pop up, are very itchy, and eventually they get to be blister like until they crust over. THey do not go away on their own. I've ended up using a Rx topical steroid cream that seems to help a little, but they always come back. Dermatologist told us it was some form of eczema.

Anyway, in the last 2 months he has started getting HORRIBLE diaper rashes. He's NEVER had a rash before in his life up until recently. And it is his stools that are causing it, I can tell that the areas irritated are the places that his stools touched his skin. Anyway, I'm sure this is TMI, but I read that you guys discuss everything here. He goes from constipated one day (hard little pale yellow poops) to diarrhea the next day (runny stinky pale yellow). I don't know if he has food allergies. If he does he hasn't had a "severe" reaction. I always gave him lactose free formula and when he was 12 months I put him on regular milk. Since he's getting older he's been eating a lot more gluten containing products - sandwiches, oatmeal, pasta, especially in the last 2 months or so.

I haven't had him tested for anything yet, and today I am going to take him to his regular pediatrician to discuss this with her. I'm betting a trip to the pedi will be a waste of time though, as she will probably tell me I need to take him to an allergist anyway. Right? I don't need a referral from her, and I'll waste one of his two sick visits covered by our insurance company. Oh well. I guess I could just cancel the appt and make on with an allergist. I've just always had the feeling that something wasn't right. I couldn't pinpoint it, but I have always thought he had some disgestive issues. Add to that the skin problems, and my dad having celiac disease. SHould I and my siblings get tested for celiac disease? What about my other children?

Sorry to have written a book here! This seems to be the place to get good info though.

[lovegrov]

If you suspect allergies see an allergist, but if you suspect celiac disease, you need a GI. celiac disease is not an allergy. Your regular doctor, however, can run the bank of blood tests for celiac disease.

richard

[KaitiUSA]

Richard is correct. Celiac is not an allergy so would not show up on allergy tests. Celiac has a separate panel that needs to be done. However, kids under the age of 2 can have inaccurate results.

Since celiac runs in the family you and your kids should probably all be tested.

The panel for celiac you should get is listed below:

Anti-Gliadin (AGA) IgA

Anti-Gliadin (AGA) IgG

Anti-Endomysial (EMA) IgA

Anti-Tissue Transglutaminase (tTG) IgA

Total Serum IgA

[lbsteenwyk]

Your son sounds like he could have celiac disease, especially given your father's diagnosis. Does your son have any other of the common symptoms in children, such as underweight, poor growth or a distended/bloated tummy? Any unexplained vomiting? My daughter's stools were very pale and smelly- pale colored stools can be a sign of fat malabsorption which is often the first sign of intestinal damage in children. My dd also developed a severe diaper rash about the time she developed celiac disease, that did not respond to treatment.

You should insist on having your son tested with the panel Katie posted. You may have to tell your pediatrician exactly what to test for; many doctors are not knowlegeable about celiac disease. Blood tests can be inaccurate in children under 2 years, however, so if the tests come back negative that does not necessarily rule out celiac disease. An intestinal biopsy would be the next step. Some children have negative serological tests but positive biopsies. A pediatric gastroenterologist would be the best type of doctor to help you get a diagnosis for your son, although your regular pediatrician could run the blood tests first. If you have a good relationship with your ped and you think he/she would be receptive to your suggestions, you could try that route first. It could take months to get in to see a pediatric GI doc.

[Jnkmnky]

Since testing in a young child isn't always reliable, you could run the tests, then try him on the diet to see if there's an improvement in any of his symptoms. If you don't think the blood tests are necessary right now, you could just try the diet. You could expect to see positive dietary results in a short enought amount of time. You would have to be sure he is 100% gluten free, though, to see the results. Any small amount of gluten would negate the dietary challange. I recommend immediate action as *I've stated this again and again here*, my child suffered from delayed gross motor skills, fine motor skills, speach, and because he was in a mental Fog for the first three years, he's a year behind his age group. I believe the delays in children that are caused by undx celiac disease are significant and warrant immediate action. You don't get to make up these crucial first years.

[Amanda76]

Thanks so much for the info. celiac disease "sounds" like an allergy at first - I guess I was confused about that. I cancelled the appt with the pedi this morning, and I guess I'll have to cancel the appointment I made with the allergist too. I'll reschedule to have the pedi do the bloodwork next week and make an appointment with the GI in the meantime.

My son doesn't have some of the other symptoms. He's always been 50-75% on the growth charts. There are times when I feel like he's suddenly lost weight (a couple lbs) but then over the course of another week he will seem to be back up to his "normal" weight. Perhaps this is dependent on what he's been eating? He seems to have the normal round baby belly, I wouldn't consider it distended or bloated. He spit up quite a bit as an infant, but nothing frightening (2 of my other children had reflux, so I've seen my share of vomiting). It's been a while since he's thrown up - and there are only a handful of times he really and truly vomited. Most of the other times I would probably consider normal spitting up. But the BMs have always been quite stinky, bouncing back and forth between diarrhea and constipation - and 9 out of 10 poops are pale yellow, there have been a few that I wouldn't even qualify as yellow they were practically white/tan.

Thanks so much for all the information given here. I had a hunch to go on here, but I didn't know what the next step would be. Now I have a plan.

Thanks!

Amanda

[Amanda76]

Just wanted to say YAY. I got an appointment for Oct 31. I'm glad I don't have to wait months and months like I thought I was going to have to. At first they told me Jan 3rd! I asked them to check with some other doctors in the practice and I told them I'd be willing to drive a little further if it meant getting in sooner.