Monday, January 21, 2008

Celiac Disease

I am new to the blog but have been making comments on here for a few months now. I am excited that Lindsay asked me to join because I have been dying to get some opinions and help on some things.

The main thing affecting my life right now is my sons health. He has been have problems with diahrea since the end of october. I took him to the doctor in November and they tested him for normal sicknesses that cause diahrea and they were all negative. The next step was to test for allergies. Today we went to the allergist and they tested him. There was nothing significant except he is allergic to cats and since we are not cat owners or around cats that is not the problem. He did have a slight reaction to wheat and so the doctor sent us over to the hospital to have him tested for celiac disease.

Basically that would mean he can't eat gluten which is anything with wheat, barley, and rye. Anyway, I am worried he may have it and was wondering if anyone elses children or anyone you know have it. Also I was curious if anyones kids have gone through long periods of diahrea because the allergist said it might just be a phase. So advice on the issue would be great if anyone has any to offer.

7 comments:

VH said...

I am Lindsay's cousin, Mary Ellen. This is interesting because I checked the blog about the freebie giveaway Linz told me about and saw this post. ha ha, I'm not a Mom, nor prego, but I have experience with celiac disease so I thought I'd respond. I was never diagnosed with it, but I was diagnosed with a wheat allergy. After serving a LDS mission with a girl who was a celiac, I started to follow her diet (since it is just more extreme than a wheat allergy) and learned a lot. I have seen gluten free magazines and cookbooks and I am sure that there are websites to help. Gluten is in a lot of things that we don't think about like yellow 5, caramel coloring and other grains like barley and sometimes rice. Depending on the severity, these things may not bother your little one, but it's good to be aware of it. From what I hear, it's best to be really dilligent because allergies can go away. For example in my case, after returning from the mission I was tested again and had no sign of a wheat allergy. I now have re-introduced wheat into my diet and have never felt better. So, it is possible to "grow out" of some allergies!
If you are wondering what foods to make, I suggest corn-based things and lots of fruits, veggies and unbreaded meat. Because there will be a lack of whole grains, things like beans are great, and even adding some Benifiber or tasteless metamucil to anything is easy and good. Check out your local health food store for gluten-free pastas, cereals and pretzels. Good luck!

Liz said...

My aunt and cousin and dear friend have Celiac Disease. They are not able to eat gluten which is in wheat and many other things that Mary Ellen mentioned, and so "the gluten-free Thanksgiving" is a very memorable one in our family! :) From what they've told me, they have it for life, but now that they have a solution to all their discomfort, they don't care about the extra work because they were all sick for a long time before they figured this out. They even have a (according to them) good recipe for gluten-free cake! :)

My little one is almost two and seems very sensitive to diarrhea. If she has antibiotics (and she gets ear infections somewhat frequently) she gets bad diarrhea, and if she even has too much fruit or I haven't been diligent in keeping her diet good and balanced, then she gets diarrhea. So I do know that it can be a phase. Because we cycle through them more than I'd like!

Liz said...

and welcome to the group, by the way!

Kage said...

My daughter has been having a lot of diarrhea for about a week and I am starting to think it is an allergy to something....isn't it frustrating and confusing? I also continue to get new allergies added to my already long list, and I have had one allergy reversed...only one....so just keep being your child's advocate and getting as much information as you can.....and perhaps a food diary so that you can start seeing the effects of food that you are giving your baby.....good luck

Norton's said...

I came across this interesting blog. I thought it might help you out a bit. http://glutenfreegirl.blogspot.com/ Good luck.

The Schacher Family said...

Thank you so much everyone. It really helps to have some people that can help! I will let everyone know what happens.

The Dansies said...

i just came across this blog and this post caught my eye because I just learned about celiac. I have a good friend whose son has celiac and can't even have oats, which for most people are ok, but even the traces of gluten from being shipped in the same trucks are too much for him. My 8 year old cousin recently started having trouble feeling his bowels, and therefore had no control over them, and has been tested for all of these things. They never could figure out what was wrong with him, but my aunt has done a lot of research with the natural healing methods (since the doctors weren't able to help). She has cut back on the grains and they now eat mostly raw vegetables (to maintain the enzymes) and fruit. In just a week he was all but cured. It's no fun to have a sick kid, so I wish you the best!