Possible gluten intolerance?

[mimiasovitch]

My dd has suffered with constipation all her life, and though it's nowhere near as bad as when she was younger, she still has very bad stomach pains leading up to her needing to go. In the past few months she's also been complaining of feeling nauseous all the time, she has headaches and is frequently tired. She's quite unhappy in school at the moment (no bullying or anything serious, just a dislike of the school environment in general), so I thought these were symptoms of depression more than anything, and we've been concentrating on bolstering her mood. However last week, on Facebook of all places, I saw a list of signs of gluten intolerance. As well as the symptoms I've mentioned it also included keratitis pilaris. She has this too, so it triggered a bit of a revelation. I was planning on taking her to the doctors next week once school breaks up, but is it worth restricting her diet first to see how that goes? Does a blood test show up intolerances as well as Coeliac disease? She does have a deep and abiding love for toast and pasta, and I don't really want to cut them out if she'll need to have been eating them for accurate blood test results.

Sorry this is so long. She looks so sad all the time and I just want wrap her up and hug her happy.

[dementedpixie]

No don't cut them out before testing as it could make the results wrong

[user1471537877]

As advised, whatever you do don't cut her gluten down until tested

as a hidden coeliac due to immuno deficiency I would however say that if the test comes back negative try going gf to see if it makes a difference, there is still a debate regarding intolerance which won't show up in tests but causes just as much damage

[2madboys]

Not sure about intolerances showing in he blood test, but ask for a coeliac test. My DH has it and a few years previous to this, he was diagnosed with mild depression after a tough time at work. He managed to get it under control with counselling, exercise and a few other strategies, but we're now convinced that it was due to the coeliac. If he eats something contaminated, he is really miserable! It could be that the unhappiness at school is connected. As said above, don't cut out anything until the test is done.

[BumbleNova]

I wholeheartedly agree with everyone else, keep eating her normal diet atm and get her tested. the first test they do is a genetic one (blood test) to see if she has the genetic profile for coeliac disease. then on to looking for the antibodies reacting to the gluten. if she isnt eating enough gluten, no antibodies. there is no test for intolerance sadly.

If it is gluten that is causing the problem, the good news is cutting it out makes you feel better in days.

[mimiasovitch]

Thank you all. She's off school tomorrow so I'll get dh to take her to the surgery. It's very interesting about the depression being linked, as she's generally the one to bring sparkle to our day. It's horrible seeing her so down.

[CoeliacK]

Hope you get on well with your doctor tomorrow. Might be an idea to check out the online assessment for coeliac disease at:
//www.isitcoeliacdisease.org.uk too which provides info on testing.
Depression is mentioned as one of the symptoms of undiagnosed coeliac disease on the Coeliac UK website: www.coeliac.org.uk/coeliac-disease/about-coeliac-disease-and-dermatitis-herpetiformis/symptoms/
Good luck!

[mimiasovitch]

Thanks Coeliack - I just did that and it says she should be tested. It mentioned mouth ulcers - I'd forgotten about those, but that's something she has a lot of too. Poor lass - I found a search on her phone 'is gluten free pasta nice?'. The girl has priorities!

[Amin141]

As a nutritionist, what would be recommended would be to take a food diary, and record what your child is eating. You can also track the time-lag between meals and symptoms. This may help the dietitian/doctor decide what exactly is going on. At least then you can be sure of what is definitely exacerbating symptoms. A good app that is built for just this is //www.alliapp.com and is recommended by the NHS. Hope it helps!

[mimiasovitch]

Thanks for that. We're waiting on the results of a whole host of blood tests, so depending on what comes back that'll be the next step I think. She's not half as miserable now she's having a break from school though!