We just had his diagnosis confirmed. The biopsy showed Marsch 3B.

With patients who are experiencing ear ringing and ear pain I first want to make sure there is not any kind of ear infective process verified by your primary care. The next thing that I see as a dentist who treats a lot of temporomandibular joint disorders (TMJ), is that the jaw joint can be having a problem that causes the ringing to happen. My primary care physicians here in Colorado Springs will refer these patients to me for evaluation when they don’t find any source of infection with the ear. We are able to treat with a specific type of mouth splint and get resolution of the ringing and ear pain as we resolve the TMJ problem.  First a visit to your primary care to make sure your inner and outer ear is infection free. And if it is clean, a visit to a dentist who treats TMJ disorders. 

One thing I ought to add is that although any new medical condition diagnosis can come as a huge shock/blow, navigating the gluten free diet will one day become second nature to you all  Yes, mistakes occur on the way, but it will get easier.  A few things that have helped me on my journey: 1/ My husband has said to me a few times, and I think it helps. I should to try think of all the food I CAN still eat.  So much natural, unprocessed food, is gluten free, and a whole lot of processed and canned goods available in the supermarkets, too.  I can still eat Heinz Baked Beans and Tomato Soup, for example, and a lot of oven chips are gluten free.  Not all chocolate and candy contains gluten.  Excellent gluten free substitutes now exist in the supermarkets and I've lost count of the times I've been eating a product and shared it with a friend, and they have loved it.  Gluten-free doesn't mean taste free.  A lot of gluten-free substitutes are just as good as the 'real thing'. 2/ As time has gone by, I have met more and more coeliacs and other people who react strongly to gluten. This will happen to your son in time, and it often helps to be able to chat with someone who walks a similar path.  I now have over a dozen such buddies and we share tips and recipes, and also recommend 'safe' restaurants and cafes to each other.   3/ Family support.  It is good if you can offer a safe haven at home.  My family aren't coeliacs, but the only things they eat that are not gluten free is shop bought bread and pies, and occasionally biscuits and we keep them very separate.  The rest of the time we cook with gluten free substitutes and all eat the same.  I have always been a keen cake baker and my daughter who is not a coeliac actually prefers the crumbly texture of gluten free flour, so she always uses that, even outside the home.  You can spend lots of time cooking and baking with your son, he'll acquire a new skill, and without wishing to boast, if his cakes are as good as mine he will never be short of friends!!  My daughter has quite a following at Uni, and I don't think they realise that her cakes are even gluten-free! I hope some of this serves to encourage you. Cristiana    

@Kathleen JJ  I am based in the UK.  The following link is to a website for UK based consumers but even post-Brexit, we are still importing from and exporting to mainland Europe, so chances are some of the products mentioned in the link are from the same factory.  Therefore, what your son eats would likely be the same product that I eat when it comes to eating sweets. https://libereat.com/2021/07/gluten-free-sweets/#:~:text=Haribo Gold Bears are gluten,Starmix It would therefore appear that Haribo Gold Bears are the ones you need to buy for your son. In answer to your other questions - yes, European labelling is strict so "Gluten free" is trustable.  However, if I read "Residual gluten" on a label I would say that is not safe for coeliacs. But always check the ingredients lists first as ingredients do change over time.  When doing this, what you need to avoid (usually printed in bold in the ingredient list) are: Wheat, barley and rye. These grains all naturally contain gluten. Coeliacs must also avoid products which state, "May contain traces of wheat, barley and rye" or products where the statement occurs: "Made in a factory which also handles wheat, barley and rye"    However, one other thing to think about:  oats.  In the UK, we do produce quite a few cakes and some candy which contains oats.    Oats do not naturally contain gluten, but as the crops are often grown alongside wheat, barley and rye, or processed in the same plants, cross-contamination can occur and they pick up gluten 'en route'.   The good news is that some food producers now grow oats away from these crops, and process them in oat dedicated plants, so you end up with a product called "pure oats" which are suitable for the majority of coeliacs (a minority react to avenin, the oat protein, in the same way they would to gluten, but I won't go into that here - just making you aware in case down the line you think it could be a problem).   So increasingly, in the UK at least, manufacturers are now printing oats in bold.   In candy production, you might find vegan chocolate which contains oat milk, hence I mention it here.  Unless such a candy bar stated that it was suitable for coeliacs,  your son would have to avoid it.   Incidentally, I think the idea of having a party after your holiday is a very wonderful, positive start to your son's gluten-free diet journey.  I was symptomatic by the time I was finally diagnosed with Coeliac Disease and was quite keen to start the diet straight away.  But just a few days after my endoscopy I was due to visit Normandy.  My consultant said to me, "Don't bother about taking up the diet until you get back".   I did try to start it in France but back then French catering establishments didn't seem to appreciate coeliac customers (something my gastroenterologist seemed to know something about!) so I was so glad he told me not to worry until I came home!

@cristiana Do you have any suggestions for the gummy bear type of candy? Because that is what is getting passed around. Someone told me "you will have to read all labels thoroughly from now on" but to be honest: I don't know what I'm looking for that should or should not be there? And is the notion "gluten free" trustable? And what about "may contain residual gluten"? Is that safe?