Question About My Son's Symptoms

[prairiemamma]

A bit of a recap. Monday we got his results, Tuesday -did alot of gluten-free shopping and switching to gluten-free items. He has been 100% gluten-free Wednesday on (to my knowledge anyway). A little tmi (I'm sorry) but when I was wiping him (he just turned 4) he was all excited about his poop. He had what he called biggy poops instead of owie poops. It was a normal bowel movement where 9/10 his poops are nasty.

Yesterday he told me his 'tummy no hurt'. Another normal poop again yesterday too.

Today, after his bday party, he thanked me. I thought he was talking about the party, so I told that I was happy he had fun. 'no, thank you tummy no hurt'

Could all this be from the gluten? I've been in tears tonight. Just the thought of my baby being in pain for the past 4 years and us not cluing in breaks my heart. Keep in mind that cognitively he is behind (slowly catching up) and until this summer his speech was very poor. He has come a long way these past few months.

His bowels have always been an issue, but the Dr always chalked it up to his diet (he eats A LOT of fruits/veg.)

If it is gluten that has been the culprit, would he be feeling better this quickly, or just a coincidence?? I guess I'm just feeling a ton of mommy guilt.

[Invictus]

First off --

Let me begin by saying: YOU are an awesome mother! You seem to be going above and beyond to help your son heal from this pestering condition. It is absolutely possible that her is reacting to a diet exempt from gluten. Being the young age he is, he will heal a thousand times quicker than any adult.

In young children you can literally see the healing process take hold within a matter of days or even weeks. Adults on the other hand, often take 6 months - 2 years or more to heal from the cummulitive damage over a lifetime.

I'm certain that the rest of this forum can attest: YOU are a GREAT mom. Don't be so hard on yourself. I only wish my parents caught mine at that young of an age.

[Huggenkiss27]

I just want to chime in and say you're doing a great job! I'm nearly 30 and my parents tell stories about how sick I was as a child yet they never found out what was wrong with me. It's just in the last 6 months I've been diagnosed! Sounds like your kiddo is feeling better and I hope he continues to get better!

[nvsmom]

Yeah mom! I was another who had stomachaches as a kid but the adults and doctors in my life never figured it out. That's wonderful that you're helping him with this now.

When I went gluten-free, my stomachaches completely stopped within two weeks. To be honest, I didn't realize how often I had stomachaches because I got used to having them. If your son was like me, the stomachaches were usually an annoyance that could be ignored, although some days were a bit worse than others. Symptoms are almost like allergies, you can start to get used to a stuffy head from hay fever (it's still mildly annoying) but when it clears up, you really notice how much better you feel... Does that make sense?

Keep up the good work mom. Remember, you are the one who made him feel better! It's not often we get to be your kid's hero.

[shadowicewolf]

You aren't to blame for this! You had no idea!

Quite frankly, I had no idea that gluten was my issue. Took it out and wow, this is normal?

[GFinDC]

it definitely could be the recovery from celiac damage making him feel better. That's a good thing! Diagnosis in children is not easy, as their immune systems are not fully developed. But it the doctor's job to do the diagnosis anyway, not yours. That you got him going on gluten-free at such a young age is great. The average time to diagnose celiac in the USA is around 9 years. And that's with adults who can clearly tell their doctor what symptoms they are having. It's the doctors who are not doing their job, not the parents.

[Roda]

Yes his improvements can very well be from his elimination of gluten.

My youngest son wasn't diagnosed until he was 5 almost 6. He did get screened after I was diagnosed (he was 3 almost 4) and was negative and didn't seem to have any symptoms at that time so he continued with a normal diet. He did have issues up until he was almost 3 with reflux and reactive airway due to reflux. He even would get hives and rashes as a baby. He was breastfed and I had to eliminate all rice, oats, dairy and tree nuts because he would react. It actually was because I inadvertantly went gluten light for almost a year that eventually, 2.5 years later, (after I went back on a normal diet)that I found out I had celiac. In hindsite I believe he had celiac as a baby. He seemed to be doing well at the time of my diagnosis and paired with his negative blood work, I figured he was in the clear. After he was diagnosed I did the whole reflecting and started putting the pieces together. When he was a baby and up until the time I was diagnosed, I didn't have a clue what celiac was. We do the best we can with the knowledge we have at the time.

Turn those tears into tears of joy that your little boy is healing and getting better. Just think where he will be in another 3 months..

[megsybeth]

I also have a four year old and haven't gotten his formal diagnosis but I believe it is coming. I just got my positive blood work today but I was tested because he was having such clear celiac symptoms and I started reading around and realized how many symptoms I've had. I just wanted to say hi because my ds is also speech delayed and has motor problems. I'm hoping that he'll be stronger and do catching up in a lot of areas once we get him on the gluten-free diet. Good luck to you!

[prairiemamma]

I also have a four year old and haven't gotten his formal diagnosis but I believe it is coming. I just got my positive blood work today but I was tested because he was having such clear celiac symptoms and I started reading around and realized how many symptoms I've had. I just wanted to say hi because my ds is also speech delayed and has motor problems. I'm hoping that he'll be stronger and do catching up in a lot of areas once we get him on the gluten-free diet. Good luck to you!

Nice to 'meet' you. For as much as this is going to come out wrong so please don't take it the wrong way. It's awesome to not be the only one in my shoes. I'm sorry you are going through many the same battles we are. He hasn't been officially dx'ed either. His bloodwork was positive last Monday, but if I would of been paying attention, it is obvious. But we were too caught up with everything else going on with him. Appts, drs, therapies.

[megsybeth]

Nice to meet you too Prairiemamma. I am personally on a roller coaster. I do get sad when I think about things like the baking the family sugar cookie recipe at Christmas. But mostly I'm so happy to be able to do something to help my little boy. It's actually an amazing feeling. And I feel like with specialists I've seen about his motor delays and speech issues I'm always the one saying, "No, that's not my son" when they talk about autism, the million genetic disorders they've tested him for. Now I can say, "YES! That is my son". I'm just trying not to put too much faith in the diet fixing everything. But it's good to have hope.