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Possible For Child To Be Overweight And Have Celiac's Disease?

momtogavin

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momtogavin Newbie
momtogavin
Posted

Hi there! I have had a lingering feeling my son (now 5) has celiac's from the time he was a baby. I kept blowing it off since he has always been chubby and I always associated celiac's with diarrhea and thin people. Well, he will go 5-6 days and not have a bowel movement. Then, when he does it is a TON and clay colored and very foul smelling (that is an understatement). Well, now his teacher suggested a PT eval because of his lethargy and his random falling down and lack of focus. They diagnosed him with low muscle tone in his upper body and the first thing she asked me was whether he had been tested for Celiac's disease. She said that he had a lot of the symptoms that Celiac kids exhibit. He had a period of about a month where he threw up every day, had severe abdominal pain and was completely lactose intolerant. They did an x-ray which just showed an abnormal gas pattern and they dismissed it as a virus. I am an RN and a GI doc on our floor told me up to 11% of children with Celiacs are overweight. I will be so upset if this has been his problem the whole time! I made a doc appointment for Wednesday with his general pract. and I am going to hard-ball them for the blood test. I am so afraid because of his weight they will dismiss it.

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Mizzo Enthusiast
Mizzo
Posted

My DD was dx 2 yrs ago. At the time she was in the 90h % for ht and wt and she is in the 95 % now. We are having a hard time maintaining/losing wt since her veggie intake is limited. Also, my Aunt was Dx 4 yrs ago and is also overweight and has been most of her life.

So ..not all Celiacs are underweight.

beebs Enthusiast
beebs
Posted

Yes, absolutely- Celiac can actually cause people to gain weight rather than lose it. There is a Celiac specialist in the US who wrote an article about a woman who present with stomach ache at the hospital, it was very severe. She had it on and off for years and years and she was really overweight, anyhow - no one had ever tested her for Celiac because she was overweight - he did and endo to have a look - and of course, it was celiac and he said as soon as she stopped eating gluten the weight started to fall off.

The fact is - most medical staff have NO idea about celiac. You need to do your research and make sure you are more informed than they are - because then they can't just pat you on the head and tell you to be on your way!

GlutenFreeAustinite Contributor
GlutenFreeAustinite
Posted

I'm not officially diagnosed with celiac (yet--that saga continues haha) but I went gluten free at 16 to combat headaches and "gastritis." I was always a big kid (high end of both height and weight), and was overweight in my early teen years. Even today, almost two years gluten-free, I'm not especially skinny. Don't know if that helps, but there you go.

  • 2 weeks later...
faithforlife Apprentice
faithforlife
Posted

I'm celiac and my son is as well. Weve been diagnosed with flying colors! All of my extended family are overweight and have worlds of health problems but nobody has tested for celiac.

  • 1 month later...
Llamamama Newbie
Llamamama
Posted

I was overweight my whole life.. Tried so many lowest or low call high gluten/ gain diets over the years and couldn't lose it.

Gave up gluten then grains.. 42lbs lost in 7 months with a 1600-2200 cal a day diet. I know now how much inflammation I was carrying and my body was storing visceral fat that it gave up when my immune system wasn't being attacked by my food.

mushroom Proficient
mushroom
Posted

If you are overweight because of celiac, it is common once you go gluten free that the pounds drop off whether you "diet" (i.e., low calorie) or not, so long as you gluten free diet. It is a total myth that you have to be skinny and anorexic looking to be celiac. My sister was -- I wasn't. Same genes. :)

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1974girl Enthusiast
1974girl
Posted

At the local support group, there is a child who is 10 and very overweight and very celiac. He also has diabetes. I would for sure have him tested to try and head off any other auto-immune diseases that might come with it being ignored. It sure can't hurt. My daughter was in the 80% for weight when she was diagnosed. She has trimmed down in the 5 months gluten free.

MitziG Enthusiast
MitziG
Posted

Very common. The skinny celiac kid in the medical books is more of a rarity these days. Be very insistent on getting the full celiac panel- ttg IGA and ttg IGG, total IGA, deamidated gluten peptides and endomysial antibodies. Most docs don't even know which tests to order and only order 1 or 2 of the older ones. Beware there is a high rate of false negatives, so even if he tests negative, try the diet!

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      Desperately need a vitamin D supplement. I've reacted to most brands I've tried.

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    • Jane02
      Desperately need a vitamin D supplement. I've reacted to most brands I've tried.

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      Thank you so much @knitty kitty for this insightful information! I would have never considered fractionated coconut oil to be a potential source of GI upset. I will consider all the info you shared. Very interesting about the Thiamine deficiency.  I've tracked daily averages of my intake in a nutrition software. The only nutrient I can't consistently meet from my diet is vitamin D. Calcium is a hit and miss as I rely on vegetables, dark leafy greens as a major source, for my calcium intake. I'm able to meet it when I either eat or juice a bundle of kale or collard greens daily haha. My thiamine intake is roughly 120% of my needs, although I do recognize that I may not be absorbing all of these nutrients consistently with intermittent unintentional exposures to gluten.  My vitamin A intake is roughly 900% (~6400 mcg/d) of my needs as I eat a lot of sweet potato, although since it's plant-derived vitamin A (beta-carotene) apparently it's not likely to cause toxicity.  Thanks again! 
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    • Scott Adams
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      Contact them.
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