Food intolerance tests?

[Lovemusic33]

Dd is 15 and has Autism, she has been unwell on and off for a year, stomach pains, not gaining weight and loose bowel movements. I have taken her to the GP and they have asked for stool samples but dd is being awkward and won’t do them, I have tried everything, have offered to do them for her (if she leaves the poo in the loo) but she won’t, she hates anyone going near her and is very anxious, she’s not very verbal so is hard to reason with her. The GP mentioned doing blood tests but this will also be hard.

I have seen that there are some companies online that say they can use a hair sample to diagnose food allergies and intolerances? Has anyone done one of these tests? Are they accurate?

I am pretty sure gluten is the cause, she’s often unwell after eating bread, pizza or cake.

[User405]

I would keep an accurate food diary for a couple of months before doing any tests,

[Needaholiday101]

I don't think the online tests are meant to be very good at all.

They can test for celiac through a blood test if that's an option?

Could be gluten or diary. Definitely keep a food dairy for now.

[Lovemusic33]

@User405

I would keep an accurate food diary for a couple of months before doing any tests,

I have been trying to do this but dd steels food so it’s hard to keep track, at first I thought garlic was the trigger but in the last few weeks I have noticed it seems to happen when she steels bread from the kitchen. Other than bread she doesn’t eat a huge amount of gluten, occasionally cake and occasionally pizza, during the week she has cooked meals at school which rarely contain gluten and then another cooked meal in the evening, again usually not containing much gluten. When she takes bread she often takes 4 slices and that’s when I’m noticing she’s more unwell.

GP said she’s slightly under weight and wanted to check for Crohn’s and colitis due to her not gaining weight (she eats a lot) and due to family history but without he doing a stool sample it’s hard to rule those things out.

[Lovemusic33]

@Needaholiday101

I don't think the online tests are meant to be very good at all.

They can test for celiac through a blood test if that's an option?

Could be gluten or diary. Definitely keep a food dairy for now.

Thank you, I will ask the GP if they can do a blood test, dd may not be happy but I think that’s the only option. Pretty sure it’s not dairy, i a, lactose intolerant so we don’t have a huge amount of dairy in the house and when she does eat it she seems fine.

[User405]

I'd take the bread out of the mix then by not buying it. It's a pain on the arse for you but you might get to the bottom of the problem.

[Anomalocaris]

@User405

I'd take the bread out of the mix then by not buying it. It's a pain on the arse for you but you might get to the bottom of the problem.

It's best not to eliminate bread and other gluten sources until she's been tested for coeliac, for the tests to work you need to be consuming gluten daily.

OP, my autistic son had his first blood tests last year at a similar age, they were done by paed nurses at the hospital and they were amazing.

[Lovemusic33]

Thank you, I finally manages to get her to do a stool sample, hopefully I will hear back from the gp this week to see if they are going to offer her a blood test (if the stool sample rules out any bacterial infection but shows inflammation), she’s been pretty unwell this week, I have been trying to keep a diary of what the triggers are but it’s not that clear, she’s defiantly more unwell after eating pizza but that could be the gluten or the cheese/lactose, a few days ago she was glued to the loo after having mashed potato and chicken (no gluten but a small amount of butter/milk in the mashed potato), I’m going to do a similar meal tonight without any butter/milk and see how she is.

I am getting quite worried as she is so thin and this has been going on so long, because of her autism she doesn’t tell me if she’s in pain or unwell, she also lies about having loose stools so it’s a case of me having to listen out for when she’s going to the loo, it’s usually straight after she’s eaten (within 20 minutes).