Re-introducing gluten prior to biopsy - any advice about minimizing symptoms?

[mintychocchip]

I have to re-introduce gluten to my DS2's diet prior to doing a biopsy to test for coeliac. I am dreading it as he becomes very irritable when he's eaten gluten and has tummy cramps, bloating, a sore red bottom and general lethargy. I have written to his school asking when they would consider the least disruptive time to do this as the paediatrician has given us a free choice about when we do the testing.

Any advice about how I can minimize symptoms would be much appreciated. I think he'll need to be on gluten for 6-8 weeks which seems such a long time to have these symptoms.

I can't really offer any useful advice about minimising symptoms I'm afraid but I can totally sympathise. My DD1 was diagnosed earlier this year and once we knew from the blood test that it was 95% certain she was coeliac, it was horrible having to continue to give her gluten for 6 weeks while we waited for the biopsy, knowing that the gluten was making her ill. She begged me to let her go gluten free straight away and it broke my heart but I explained to her that we had to get through it so that we could be sure as it's a lifetime diagnosis. How old is your DS2? My DD was nearly 10 so she was able to understand the reasons for it but I can imagine that it must be harder if your DS is much younger. Just to let you know that the biopsy itself was absolutely fine and we were out of hospital within a few hours of the procedure and DD was allowed to go GF straight away, without waiting for the results.

Thanks freefrom. My DS is 6 and I can imagine will also be begging to stop if he knows that he is being given gluten. I am really stuck as to whether I should tell him what we're doing. It feels awful to deceive him about what he's eating but if I tell him he's eating gluten I'm worried that he is too young to understand the need for the test and will stop eating or become (understandably) angry with us for feeding him food that will make him feel ill.

We had our parent/teacher meeting tonight and his teacher said that from their point of view, the sooner the better for the test. She said it should not be May as they'll be doing SATS and not be the summer as he'll have a big transition into junior school which might make him nervous. So best get on with it.

Freefrom - did your daughter have tummy ache and a sore bottom? These are DS's most troubling symptoms when he has eaten gluten and I'm wondering if calpol would help tummy ache and sudacream for his bottom??

When DD1 accidentally ate a gluten bourbon biscuit, a kind MNer recommended this. I don't know if it actually works and it very clearly warns on all the websites I've found that sell it that it's not a substitute for going gluten free if you have coeliac disease, but it can help alleviate symptoms in people who have a gluten intolerance. Also how about some children's acidophilus (sp?) to help with the tummy pain?

DT1 still gets tummy pain occasionally and I sometimes give calpol, but she says it doesn't really help.

It is hard, and at 6, your DS is old enough to understand why he shouldn't eat gluten, but it might be difficult to understand why he has to eat it for a few weeks. But it is most definitely worth it and as freefrommum says, the biopsy isn't that bad (is your DS having it under GA?) and DD1 went gluten free immediately after her biopsy (although it may be worth taking some g-f treats in for your DS to have at the hospital once he feels like eating as the g-f options on the hospital menu, if there are any, may not be very appetising!).

From a timing point of view, if you do it now, then he can be gluten-free again by Christmas and will be feeling well again.

DD suffered with severe tummy pain that had her doubled over. She occasionally had the runs too but not very often, it was mainly the tummy pain. We did give her Calpol but I'm not sure how much it helped plus she wasn't supposed to take it in school. However, as she was 9 and very sensible I gave her 2 Calpol Meltlets to take at school if it got really bad and she would take them in secret in the toilet. She was desperate not to miss school so wanted something to allow her to get through the day. I'm not recommending this for anyone else's child, just letting you know what we did. At 6 I really don't think it would matter very much if your DS had quite a lot of time off over the next 6 weeks and in the long run it'll be worth it.

I find it really starnge that drs want to make you ill to prove the point, thankfully ours didn't and we opted for gf instead and still have access to gf although not buying much on prescriptions as realised that you can't get that much better on substitutes alone.
Still, if you minimise the symptoms through enzymes then you prob won't get enough damage to the gut, so if you really want to get the result you need to make her really unwell and no good cutting out some gluten, coz you will prob get false negative - basically the more gluten you eat the more damage you get and the build up of it is what really matters.
As my ds had severe symptoms we didn't faff about - best decision I have ever made as coeliac is the tip of the iceberg and she could be gluten sensitive and not even coeliac - and for gluten sensitivity the diet trial is the only way to go.

I'd suggest you check with your doctor as to the minimum amount of gluten your ds needs to eat and don't give more (obviously).

When I've accidentally glutened myself I find Gaviscon v. good for reducing the stomach symptoms - and it won't interfere with the damage to the small intestine either (the wince emoticon I want for that hasn't been invented yet).