What were your young kid's celiac or gluten sensitivity symptoms? Especially behavioral and emotional?

[PagesandFields]

???

 

I've long suspected gluten sensitivity in my oldest... but I haven't wanted to believe it because he also has eating issues and frankly sandwiches are my fall back... but the last 6 months I've been more lax about food ( I used to make all our bread, that kind of thing) because I'm handling everything in the house/farm for a while due to DH's work/school/life schedules and issues... And frankly I'm exhausted...

 

But my son's having an increase in some things that he sort of hinted at before.  So I'm just curious, if anyone's willing to share, what made you seek an allergy or what specifically mood or emotion (because I know the physical...) occurred?  

 

Thanks so much!  I tried searching threads but didn't really find any.  At this time I'm not concerned about any other allergy.  

[umsami]

For us, it wasn't behavioral/emotional.  He complained about stomach aches after eating.  His eczema gets really bad as well.

 

I did the 23andme testing and found out that he inherited my celiac genes, so then we went and did some more investigations.

 

I can see a gigantic difference in his eczema depending on how strict we are with gluten free.

[bettyandbob]

Child 1

Physical symptoms were anemia, rashes and absence type siezures

 

Behavioral were ADHD type behaviors, especially implulse control

 

Child 2

Physical symptoms constipation

 

Behavioral ADHD, impulse control, anger

 

 

[Nemom]

My ds started having symptoms that are consistent with Eosinophilic Esophagitis which my dd has. His symptoms included difficulty swallowing, drinking water after every bite, eating veeerrrrryyyyy slowly-he would still be sitting at the table about an hour after everyone else was finished, and complaining of food being stuck in his throat. He also started telling me that he was having strange thoughts that he knew were not true but could not stop and was experiencing separation anxiety if he tried to spend the night at a friend's house. He would call me and have me come get him in the middle of the night. These were friends' houses where he had spent the night several times with no issues.

 

Gluten Intolerance is an issue at our house in addition to EoE so I made an appt with a GI and ordered a gluten intolerance test from Enterolab. Stool test came back positive and subsequent Endoscope came back as Latent or Early Celiac.

 

Removed gluten and all symptoms went away. Whenever he gets glutened-he goes into a major state of depression. I'm talking about a 13yr old who will roll around on the floor whimpering about how awful life is. This usually happens about three days after eating gluten. He use to ask for the occasional gluten filled slice of birthday cake or cookie but he no longer does this because he knows what will happen.

[Um_2_4]

Ours was the anger (intense, like way over the top compared to what occurred), arguing and crying jags. I had suspected for a while, but resisted like you because of the food issues (he will try anything, it was my issue: the time, expense etc. Sandwiches are fast, cheap and easy. So are bean burritos, english muffin pizzas, etc. LOL)

 

I now know if he sneaks gluten while out with dad (sometimes dad forgets what exactly gluten is in). The reaction will be later that day or the next.

 

Then he had another reaction. After being gluten free (just him, the other kids eat gluten) for almost 6 mos with no slip-ups, he had some ata party and the next day he woke with a red rash on his stomach... So.....now even he will not ask for it.

[Andani]

My darling was severly uncomfortable:

writhing on the floor in misery because socks weren't right, belt was never tight enough.

Irritable to the extreme and miserable with his life.

Many frustrating comments like "I'll never..." or "When will I ever..."

 

We cut gluten down to a treat once a week and we have a cheerful little fellow (usually :P).

 

 

[PagesandFields]

thank you all!  This is helping.  

[Arch at Home]

For my then 3 1/2 year old it was extreme tantruming - kicking, screaming, out of control. Now a days my 10 year old experiences stomach discomfort when he gets gluten on accident.

[Erin]

DD had hair loss and a rash.  Behavior and emotions are really hard to say since she's 12!  lol

[texasmama]

Cranky, fussy, clingy, not sleeping well, horribly constipated.  (toddler)  I told the pediatrician that I didn't really like her until we took her off of gluten.  She was never happy.  It was exhausting.

[countrygal]

My daughter had/has growth issues (even little hair growth) and other celiac symptoms like enamel defects, pale skin, constant stomach aches (daily) since she could talk, always picky eater but got worse and worse - at the same time she started developing more and more complaints of swallowing, difficulty chewing, stuff getting stuck in her throat, then spitting out foods. This went on for about 2 years (from once a month up to daily in the ages of 4-6) Finally she was scared to even eat her favorite foods. Behavior wise - she always seemed spaced out and wouldn't talk to anyone but me. But her intellectual developments seemed quite high, at the same time her maturity level seemed stunted. She would scream and cry over nothing. Like throw her plate off the table because I put the wrong kind of cheese on it. Just completely irrational moods and anger. I could reason with my 2 year old better. I didn't know what to do, dh just said she was 'mental'. He would ask her "how was Sunday school" and she would just stare at him, like right through him and not talk. One day she complained of her fingertips itching and I googled it out of desperation and Celiac disease came up. Lightbulb moment. She fit it to a T except the diarrhea. Months of messing with the doctors because her celiac panel was negative was exhausting. Her GI only did one biopsy of the intestine which showed digestive enzyme deficiency and no other damage so the GI said she doesn't have Celiac's despite only taking one biopsy (I'm still mad about that.)

 

I doubted myself. Maybe I was wrong. I put off the trial diet because it was going to be very hard. I made my own bread and it was great! I didn't want to give it up! When I switched her to the gf diet I let her eat yogurt, Lay's plain chips, cheese, and gf pancakes (that's all her diet consisted of.) After a week her choking/swallowing episodes stopped. After two weeks I had a new child. She was running around, talking everyone's ears off and singing and giggling. Dh kept saying "it's a miracle!" I couldn't believe it. This 'stupid fad diet' annoyed me. But it saved my little girl. When she get's glutened now it usually shows up the next day as irrational behavior, especially the anger. Then after the anger she cries. She's 6 and knows not to take food from anyone but me because she knows it'll "get stuck in her throat." She is unaware of how her behavior changes though. Her appetite for other foods has grown so that's a help!

 

Do a trial diet and set a date. That way you have a goal, and if you need to keep him on the diet it'll hopefully seem more doable by then! It doesn't work for everyone but it's sure worth a try. It's extremely hard at first (at least if you have picky eaters or a budget!) so I feel your pain. :grouphug: :grouphug: 

[Erin]

 

 

Months of messing with the doctors because her celiac panel was negative was exhausting.

And this is precisely why neither Bean nor I have a Dx.  

The diet cures everything, so why bother? :)

[Tohru]

Symtoms include: dark circles under eyes, tantrums & irrational behavior - like over the top anger or crying fits for no apparent reason.  Sometimes a rash if we eat too much, poor sleep, restless sleep - which aggrevates the irrational fits.

 

We don't/didn't want to admit it because gluten is too convenient, too easy.  It's hard, we still eat it more than we should and I regret it every time.  I didn't realize lack of hair growth and hair loss could be gluten issues until this thread.  Thank you.  We're going to try to go compeltely GF again tomorrow.

 

I do want to mention that if you try to go GF, the TinkaYada brand pasta is the best one and most closely resembles gluten pasta in texture.  Most all the gf pasta with corn mix aren't very tasty.  We spent a lot of money experimenting to find a good pasta replacement.

[goldberry]

DD had almost constant nausea since age 5.  Constant ranging between constipation and diahrea.   We tried everything else, and gluten was the last thing.  I purposely did not try it because I did not WANT that to be it.  Two weeks off gluten and DD said it was the first time in years she could remember not feeling nauseous.  Talk about feeling guilty!

 

No emotional symptoms.  DD is ADD, and she said she did notice a slight improvement off gluten, but not significant.

[kitten18]

My DD was a super sweet, compliant child 99% of the time, except for a 2-3 times a week she would have a complete and total melt-down.  For no apparent reason she would be screaming, crying and ranting.  There was no way to snap her out of this, we just had to ride it out for 30 minutes to an hour.

When I took her off gluten the meltdowns were gone within a week.

 

When DD went GF I removed all gluten from the house and made DS GF as well.  He went from wetting the bed several times a week to only once every couple months.

[klmama]

Sound sensitivity. The sound issues improved gradually once the gluten was removed from the diet; by three months the sound sensitivity was completely gone.

[countrygal]

Symtoms include: dark circles under eyes, tantrums & irrational behavior - like over the top anger or crying fits for no apparent reason.  Sometimes a rash if we eat too much, poor sleep, restless sleep - which aggrevates the irrational fits.

 

We don't/didn't want to admit it because gluten is too convenient, too easy.  It's hard, we still eat it more than we should and I regret it every time.  I didn't realize lack of hair growth and hair loss could be gluten issues until this thread.  Thank you.  We're going to try to go compeltely GF again tomorrow.

 

I do want to mention that if you try to go GF, the TinkaYada brand pasta is the best one and most closely resembles gluten pasta in texture.  Most all the gf pasta with corn mix aren't very tasty.  We spent a lot of money experimenting to find a good pasta replacement.

 

You can do it! I feel like if I could, anyone can! It took me 5 months to get up the courage and let go of the gluten. I cried while cleaning out my kitchen. My big 25lbs. bag of bread flour.... I still miss it, but we have some new favorites. I second the TinkaYada pasta!

 

Also, my daughter was 5 and I never cut her hair and it barely wisped across her eyes. She looked like she had baby hair. Within a month her hair got thicker and is growing, and now curls! I think she had nutritional deficiencies that caused the lack of hair growth. Her ped. NP said it's probably a zinc deficiency that causes that. She believes me that she is gluten intolerant thankfully :)

[celticmom]

My dd was very hyperactive and also had some behaviors that would fit on the autism spectrum. When we removed wheat from her diet it was like I suddenly had a different child. She was less hyper and her overall behavior was much more age appropriate. Even her speech improved dramatically. When we challenged wheat her behavior changed for the worse very quickly and obviously.

[musicianmom]

So, does this sound like a gluten sensitivity:

 

Sound sensitivity, frequent stomach aches, extreme mood swings, anxiety, difficulty sleeping, persistent bedwetting, hyperactivity?

[Erin]

Who knows?
The thing with gluten, though, is that it's a fairly easy thing to change.  

Be really strict for a few weeks.  No wheat products ANYWHERE, not just the obvious stuff like bread and pizza. 

 

Give it a try.  See what happens.  

[laughing lioness]

Ours was the anger (intense, like way over the top compared to what occurred), arguing and crying jags.

 

This. Along with eye bruises and exhaustion, stomach aches, general malaise. 

He self-moniters now, because he HATES how little emotional control he has when he is "under the influence."