Gluten issue - what would you do?

[rugbygal90]

Long story short(ish!)…My daughter 19months has always had issues around eating wheat. Initially it displayed as hives, that stopped, she had a respiratory reaction, that was a one off.
After a recent break from gluten we reintroduced 5 weeks ago. At first she showed no symptoms at all, but she now has a rash around her mouth that flares up after eating and her bowel movements have deteriorated to the point where she’s had diarrhoea for days.
I’m convinced it’s linked to the gluten. Dr has just referred us for another allergy test but should I be pushing for a coeliac test?
I’ve accepted ultimately whatever it is it appears she should not be eating wheat at the moment so in some ways why subject her to tests? But I’m also desperate for an answer as to what we’re dealing with.
What would anyone else do? Anyone had a similar experience?

Hi OP, yep ask for a coeliac test. Hopefully she is just intolerant to Gluten but if she is coeliac, nipping it in the bud early is much better than suffering for years and not knowing why (speaking as a seasoned mum of 2 coeliac children!)

Thanks, the GP didn’t rubbish the idea entirely of but responded “it doesn’t usually display itself like that” when I described the above journey we’ve had. So we’ll see what the hospital decide to do

IME, my DD was diagnosed with toddler diarrhoea, such was the severity of her then undiagnosed coeliac disease. She had headaches, was very small for her age and had lots of general aches and pains, as well as horrific heartburn that landed us in hospital twice. My DS, on the other hand, just had diarrhoea when he ate weetabix. No other symptoms at all! So coeliac disease / gluten intolerance can affect everyone very differently. Keep up with giving her gluten though, as it will affect the gluten intolerence / coeliac test if she doesn’t have enough gluten in her system.

My ds was diagnosed with coeliac disease at 16 months old. You can get skin condition, Dermatitis herpetiformis that is caused by gluten.
If you are going to ask for blood test for coeliac disease she needs to continue eating gluten.
My other two sons have been tested for coeliac disease but negative to it but are gluten intolerant.

Thanks for sharing your experiences, I’m a chronic people pleaser and find it hard to stand up for myself so going to have to put my big girl pants on and push for answers 😂