Coeliac diagnosis in children

[VerityBrulee]

I'm suspect, for many reasons that my 11 year old ds may be coaliac. He had the blood test a few years ago, but he has ALL the classic signs. Is biopsy the next step? He had a dreadful experience in hospital when he was 3 and was utterly traumatized by it, so any kind of proceedure would cause a lot of stress.

Our GP is not particularly helpful, so I'd liked to be armed with as much information as possible when I bring ds to see him

Blood tests nowadays are so much more reliable that a biopsy might not be necessary. Could you ask to see another GP and get another blood test?

That's interesting Bunbaker he had the test about 5 years ago. I'll ask for another. We are in Ireland though and when I had a blood test for the same reason last year it took 3 months to get the results!

DH has coeliac disease and because it can be hereditary our DDs had blood tests a few years ago. We were told that they could develop it later so should be retested especially if they had any symptoms. So the first step would be to ask for another blood test. I think most gastros would still want to do a biopsy to be sure, but if you think it would be too much fir your DS then you can refuse and treat him as coeliac on tge basis of the blood test.

Verity, the results do take longer than other blood tests - although 3 months seems a bit much! You can buy a home testing kit which gives an instant result and is supposed to be very accurate.

Have another blood test - they are very accurate. It is possible of course to have a problem with gluten and be intolerant to it but not have coeliacs as such. My DDs were both diagnosed with a blood test and I did not feel the need to put them through the trauma of a biopsy.

Great, thanks, I will push for another blood test.

I'm not coeliac but have a definate intolerance to wheat as does my mum.

DS is 11, but tiny for his age, he wears age 7-8 He had a raft of tests about 5 years ago and his growth was monitored, but his consultant concluded that his height was genetic. However, he is deathly pale, lacks energy, and has a lot of stomach pain, which our GP helpfully diagnosed as Non Specific Abdominal Pain.

The unfortunate thing is that he is quite a fussy eater and would happily live on bagels and pasta. Due to my own issues I'm pretty good at substituting in baking, etc so we would learn to live with it. TBH, I would be so releived if he was diagnosed as it would hopefully improve his health.