Coeliac symptoms

[ReginaPhalangeee]

Hi all,

I have a 2 year old who has been struggling with loose, acidic, smelly stools. It has gotten to a point where her bottom is absolutely red raw and nothing is helping.
I'm convinced she has coeliac disease. She has the loose stools, mixed with constipation, bloated tummy and farting, plus she's covered in a bumpy rash all over her body, and is so clumsy, she's constantly falling over and covered in bruises. The drs aren't really taking me seriously, with everything that is going on, and I'm a bit of a loss as to what to do.

So, does anyone have any experience with this? What were your child's symptoms? And how did you manage it?

Thank you

Hi - I would give the charity Coeliac UK a call to speak to one of their experts - you can find the helpline number on their website www.coeliac.org.uk

Yes worth a coeliac test but I dont know if you can get blood tests at the moment?

Sounds like my dd. It took six visits to the GP despite having the same symptoms as your dd because mine was autistic they just ignored us. My husband took her the 7th time and demanded tests. The coeliac test was thrown in but wasn’t really considered. Her bloods came back incredibly high then she had the gene test and both siblings were tested and they had it.

Keep pushing your gp.

Thanks for your replies. I'm just going to have to keep pushing it aren't I x

I have just posted a big massive plea for help about this exact topic on another thread @ReginaPhalangeee!! Jumping on to yours to placemark as I am at my wits end trying to figure out what’s going on with my little one. Have stumbled across celiacs and realised it seems a very close fit. We also can’t get tests just now due to covid (understand but so upsetting when your kid is suffering)

Also in case it helps you, husband and I have just ordered a finger prick gluten intolerance test from an online pharmacy (Lloyd’s I think). Hoping that if it gives a positive result I am better armed to go back - again- to the GP. Worth a try?

My dd gets the bumpy rash it doesn’t bother her but shows when she’s reacted to something. Keep bothering and keep asking for blood tests when things are up and running. If you haven’t already print out the symptoms from coeliac uk and take them along. Just be mindful that she will need to be eating a decent amount of gluten for it to show up and blood tests aren’t always conclusive. Ours thankfully were. It’s horrible to see them in pain isn’t it. My dd looked so so ill. Her elder sibling showed no symptoms apart from being slight for her age.

My son had symptoms of coeliac disease since he was 2. The doctors said it was down to his bowels developing and not to worry. My son had severe constipation, bloating, multiple bone fractures etc. My son was only tested at the age of 10! His blood test came back completely off the scale. We saw a dietician and gastroenterologist and the was put on a gluten free diet. Nearly a year on my son has completely changed. He has no symptoms at all and has gained weight and growth. I wish I pushed this much more when he was younger. What a difference the gluten free diet makes. Best of luck

My ds was diagnosed with coeliac disease when he was 16 months old, he was sick for several months, bloated stomach, loose stools, very poor weight gain and when they admitted him to hospital he only weighed 13 lbs and severly anaemic.
My youngest DS has always had similar symptoms but although he has had 4 coeliac b;ood tests they have always been negative, he is lactose intolerant though.

Coeliac son took six months to improve once on GF diet but the transformation was amazing.

My DS has just had his 6 month follow up blood test and the GP said that they were expecting his levels to be less then 20. I was quite surprised at this. We have only been following a gf diet for around 10 months and the starting level was 1392 then dropped to 24p not measuring at 167 so we are coming down. Can I ask your thoughts on this please? TIA

Late to this post I know but just wanted to give those of you who might be worrying about a coeliac diagnosis something positive to take away. My son was weighed 9lbs11 at birth and was healthy and happy until he turned one. He went downhill drastically with terrible vomiting and loose horrible smelling stools. He became very listless and plaid. After about 6 months he had the blood test and then a biopsy to confirm the diagnosis. As DICarter1 said you do have to keep feeding them gluten to ensure a positive test result which is really hard but it is worth it. My son is now a very healthy, strong and tall 18 year old who has followed a gluten free diet since he was18 months old. We have had 5 known instances of “glutenisation” which has made him very sick but other than that it has been easy enough to cope with. Back then gluten free food was fairly awful and labelling rubbish but it is so much easier now. He has gf bread and pasta and we cook and bake with gf flour but we can mostly cope with “normal” food. There is plenty of delicious things he can eat, both healthy and unhealthy! So if you do get a coeliac diagnosis please don’t worry too much as it will be ok. Some things will break you heart a little like not being able to have the birthday cake at parties but there are always ways round things. So good luck and please don’t worry too much.