Michi8

A couple questions about the endoscopy/colonoscopy procedure. My son's GI doc's office won't give me all the details til a week before, and it's a month away. I am curious NOW, lol! So if your child has had this done, could you please share some of the details with me? Oh, Isaac is 5 years old...Thanks!

1) What is the prep for it like?

2) How do most kids react afterwards?

3) Any uncomfortable side effects?

4) How long (typically) til the results are in?

Any advice on how to explain it to my son? I told him about it and he started complaining that he didn't want to do it...

Jennifer

They won't give you info until a week before? My gastroscopy (upper GI endoscopy) was booked for end of November, and I was given the information packet and consent forms when we booked (mid-August!) Heck, I have the info packet for my colonoscopy too, and it's not scheduled until March! (Yeah, long wait for elective procedures here.)

Here is a site that has basics on endoscopy: Open Original Shared Link and basics on colonoscopy: Open Original Shared Link For the colonoscopy your son will likely need to go through a cleansing procedure (done at home) before the appt. For both procedures you'll be expected to avoid certain meds and refrain from eating & drinking for some time before your scheduled appointment.

Michelle

My sister couldn't deliver vag. She's 5'2'', with a narrow pelvis. She had two 11lb babies, and never even went into labor with either of them, because they couldn't drop far enough. She never even dialated. She did not have gestational diabetes, we just have huge babies in the family. My grandfather was over 11lbs, and my brother's twins were 6lbs EACH (they were vag).

My sister did have one baby that was "normal" sized at 9 lbs, and even went into labor! She opted for the c-section, though. She wasn't supposed to get pregnant again, because the first two took such a toll on her body. The second one nearly broke her hip, and the third one gave her a hernia. She's just too little to have such giants. I'm not looking forward to pregnancy, I'm 4 inches taller than her!

It's a shame that your sister's experiences would make you worried about pregnancy. Every person and pregnancy is different. A narrow pelvis is also not an indicator of a body's ability to birth, because ligaments loosen and are designed to stretch...I'm only 5'3" and have a narrow pelvis too, and had an almost 10 pounder with little trouble. The bigger issue for me was since I'm so short, I don't have a lot of room to carry big babies, and tend to have malpresentations (breech, asynclitic, compound presentations)...plus I get as big as a house during pregnancy.

Michelle

WOW...I hadn't thought about the antibiotic thing before...but it would stand to reason that it could cause a problem!! AND the fact they they "fortify" your breastmilk in the NICU...or at least they did with ours to help with caloric intake.....hummmm...hadn't thought of that one until just now!

If you consider even a full-term infant has to develop GI flora, giving the wrong foods or antibotics upsets the normal development of that flora...a premature infant has even more work to develop a healthy system. And colostrum is an important first food to help develop the GI tract while providing a huge boost to develop an infant's immune system.

Michelle

I'm in Ontario, where pretty much across the province our healthcare system is now deeply flawed. Our rate of C sections is also up considerably (I was lucky enough to have two great, uncomplicated natural deliveries) and the very worst part about this is the fact that because there's no money in our system, patients are being pushed out of the hospital FAR too early, often at great risk to their health. My girlfriend had a complicated C section last winter and was sent home 48 hours later. She ended up back in ER a week later...no surprise. This is a terrible state of affairs, and with C sections costing the government a whole lot more than a natural birth, it amazes me that our rate is so high.

I think that healthcare is flawed in most provinces. Alberta won't fund midwives, although the studies show they can save the healthcare system a lot of money. OTOH, when a woman hires a midwife here, her money works well for her, since the government has less say in what the midwife can and can't do. I had a less than positive midwife experience when I lived in BC...attempted a homebirth VBAC for my second birth, but the midwives weren't really acting in my best interest and were eager to move me to hospital when I found I wasn't comfortable staying at home. Then the cascade of inventions started. I believe the fact that they're gov't funded, and I had to agree to be a part of the homebirth study that the protocols they followed weren't truly favourable for VBAC.

In terms of recovering from c/s, the decision of when to go home should be looked at in a case-by-case manner. 48 hours may be too little time for returning home after a primary c/s, but 4 days felt like an eternity with my secondary c/s and I probably would have done better emotionally if I could have left after 2 days.

Michelle

My youngest was born almost six weeks early due to prom.

Is there a connection?

There could be. I remember reading that vitamin C intake helps strengthen the amniotic sac. If that is the case, then it stands to reason that malabsorption of vitamins and minerals (such as with celiac disease) may make the sac more susceptible to prom.

Michelle

Please hear me say that I have no idea if being a preemie is related to Celiac...I would think that is isn't necessarily if you read some of the previous posts. I was just wondering...because our Celiac was born a little early and had a life threatening condition...we should have lost him WAY before birth and his condition is considered a "mid-line" problem and connected to Downs. He turned out fine. I was just wondering though if the "trauma" of being born early and needing extra help or growing time would be enough to trigger a babies immune system with Celiac? I am convinced that our 2nd sons problem was fixed and yet aggravated by his surgery after birth.

Our last baby decided there was too much fun stuff going on out here and decided to come at 34 weeks. I am concerned about him having celiac but will not have him tested yet. He is just 7 months. But the other two (we have 4 boys) were a little early and induced on due date for low fluid levels...who knows...it is amazing what we really do not know aobut this sometimes quiet disease.

Given that celiac tendency is hereditary, and it is suspected that there is a trigger for celiac becoming active, I'd guess that early trauma could very well be that trigger. Personally, I also suspect that feeding a premature baby foods other than breastmilk, and giving (necessary) antibiotics for infection may also be considered trauma to the GI tract.

Michelle

It surprises me that you had midwives that were willing to do VBAC after 2 c-sections. Here (in Utah) they won't let you do VBAC after 2 c sections because of the increased risk of tearing your uterus. Midwives won't touch you.

Unfortunately, the medical establishment has too much control over midwives, and in turn, too much control over a woman's choice over how and where to birth.

I live in Alberta, and there were no medical reasons to force me into a hospital. I had textbook recoveries from both my cesareans and had healthy pregnancies each time. The risk of uterine rupture is extremely small, and there are signs to watch for in terms of scar separation long before a rupture occurs. An undrugged mother will experience signs of pain during labour (and probably before labour) that would indicate a need to transfer to hospital. Note that induction with prostaglandins increases the risk of rupture, and should never be used during VBAC. Induction is never used in a homebirth. A VBAC is still a safer birth for both mother and baby than a repeat cesarean section.

Here is a fact sheet about c/s: Open Original Shared Link Here is a fact sheet about VBAC: Open Original Shared Link And an article about the risks of VBAC and risks of CS: Open Original Shared Link

Michelle

Unfortunately it does happen, but not nearly as often as we are led to think.

When I was pregnant 24 years ago, I read studies about this same thing, and naysayers were raising questions about the ballooning CS rate even back then.

I had a natural birth with no anesthetic, just a little novocaine to sew up a small tear. I was very hard case.

Yes, it can happen, but it's usually due to other medical issues such as gestational diabetes. Even then, I know of mothers who had 11 pound babies vaginally.

Michelle

My children had good sized noggins as well, but that had no bearing on whether I had c/s's or not. The surgeon for my second birth said that my son was simply too big to come out (CPD)...which was bull$!&#. I went on to prove him wrong with an even bigger baby the third time 'round. My daughter's head was large, she was 9lbs 12oz, and with a fist on her cheek the head circumference was at least 0.5-1 inch bigger. No problems with her coming out, and virtually no problems for me...I needed no stitches.

Because heads are designed to mold, there is rarely a time when c/s is needed due to head circumference. A big factor in being able to birth the babies head safely is position. The lithotomy position (on the back) is the most ineffecient, and most dangerous in terms of damage to mom. Squatting or hands and knees (which is also a good positions rare cases of shoulder dystocia) can make delivering any size head easier.

Essentially, the human body won't grow a baby that's too big, and given the right birth position, the birth canal is designed to birth big babies. Furthermore, ultrasound during the last weeks of pregnancy is notoriously inaccurate for measurements (can be out +/- 3 pounds!) and cannot predict how well a head can mold. Regardless, VBAC is safer for both baby and mom in most cases. However I believe the mother needs to be comfortable with her choice of birth, and a mom that is not interested in the work needed to achieve VBAC (I had to work really hard on so many issues to finally achieve a VBAC!) or is fearful about trying should be able to select an ERCS.

BTW, both of my boys still have good-sized noggins (my eight year old wears the same size hat as me!) and have no signs of autism. My daughter was born big, but it's looking like she'll be petite like me (5'3".)

Michelle

Absolutely! Hmm, somehow I missed the paragraph of explanation. Serves me right for skimming, I suppose!

I'm just questioning it because I had what I'm reasonably sure was DH (it led to the blood test that showed my IgA off the charts), and when I went off gluten, the rash disappeared (as did the stomach problems that I had been ignoring to the point where I didn't realize I had any until they went away). My skin biopsy--taken from unblemished skin next to the lesions--was totally negative.

Dr. Green does not address the fact that most PCP's and even most dermatologists, will prescrible Prednisone to get rid of the rash way before they decide to biopsy to find the cause of it. I believe that Prednisone taken within a month or two (or maybe more?) of the biopsy screws up the test results.

Dr Green does go on to say, "No tests in medicine are 100 percent, not everyone with dermatitis herpetiformis will have a positive skin biopsy. A negative biopsy should not necessarily be used to exclude the diagnosis if the legions look and act like dermatitis herpetiformis and occur after the ingestion of gluten. Patients should be retested, making sure that both the lab technique and specimen taken are appropriate for determining the diagnosis."

Michelle

Me, too, 3 hours pushing for the first.

None of my epidurals were started early, even for the ones that were induced. I didn't want to impede progress! Starting the epidural early is a prescription for a c-section! I can't believe they do it! It seems that docs prefer everything to be cut and dry. I remember someone's doc telling them to express the breastmilk and feed the baby out of the bottle so that they would know how much the baby was eating! I don't believe there were any health problems with the baby ... sometimes docs don't want to just let nature be in control.

Starting an epidural at all can be a prescription for a c/s!

For me, my first c/s was due to breech presentation 3 days post dates...I didn't even labour...and I had a spinal. Second I laboured for a long time before augmentation and epidural. Because I was stuck on my back, my son was unable to move into correct alignment for birth...we both ended up with epidural fevers and had a c/s. My third birth was a typical "first birth": 13 hours of active labour (24 hours of labour in total) with back labour, 2.5 hours of pushing and a compound presentation birth (daughter's hand on her cheek.) My midwives were great for helping me get my daughter turned during labour (lunges on the stairs, hands and knees position & hip squeeze, etc) and were tough when I needed them to be. It would have been very easy to give up and go to hospital for pain relief, but we all knew that it would end in another unnecessary c/s.

Michelle

Does anyone know why UNINVOLVED, apparently healthy skin should be biopsied? I know Peter Green is the reigning deity of celiac MD's, but he also says the gold standard of diagnosis is the intestinal biopsy, and I certainly don't agree with him there!

The reason was in the paragraph I quoted. Dr Green is not the only source of this information. Biopsy (skin & intestinal), for good or bad, is still considered to be the gold standard, and will be until other testing methods become standard. Personally, I put more faith in the word of a Dr who specializes in the study and treatment of celiac disease, than in a dermatologist who does not specialize in it.

Michelle

Of course, its babies to order... non of that inconveneice for the medical staff with the mother not making enough effort and deliberatly waiting till 2AM to have the baby just to spite them. With this they get the thing to order.

But they won't let the mother wait until 2am to have the baby! That's when they'll insist on an "emergency" cesarean (that you get prepped for an then wait forever to have.) Then there is the issue of cesarean section due to medical mismanagement of labour. There is a lack of informed consent when giving women epidurals too...many women do not realize that simply getting an epidural for labour increases their risk of ending up with a cesarean section.

I've got the experience of having medical mismanagement ending in cesarean section (x2.) Third time was a charm with having a homebirth VBAC. A wonderful experience supported by exceptional, experienced midwives. Wish all three of my births could have been like that. Best of all, recovery was a snap...unlike recovery from major abdominal surgery.

Michelle

How do you find a good dermatologist that knows how to do it right?

I'd ask here to see if anyone has recommendations of drs in your area. I can't give you my dermatologist's name, because he did the biopsy wrong (and got a negative result of course!)

Michelle

Good article, but old news. This information has been reported many times since I had my first (unnecessary) cesarean section in 1998...and the cesarean rate has been climbing since:

November 15, 2005

The CDC reports:

Cesarean rate for 2004 is 29.1%

The rate is up from 27.6% in 2003

U.S. cesareans have risen 40% since 1996

First-time cesareans are at an historical high of 20.6%

VBAC rate fell to 9.2%

Since 1996, the VBAC rate in the U.S. has plummeted 67%.

The cesarean seciton rate in North America is astronomically high, and women are being encouraged to choose a primary cesarean birth in absence of medical need. What many people fail to realize is that it is major surgery, with all the risks of surgery. Plus there are serious additional risks for the baby. Many women are not properly counselled on those risks...there is a serious issue with a lack of true informed consent.

There is a North America-based organization, ICAN (International Cesarean Awareness Network,) whose mandate is to lower the cesarean section rate through education, and to advocate for mothers in this regard. They also advocate VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean) as a proven, safe choice over ERCS (elective repeat cesarean section). Unfortunately, the medical model of birth is based on fear...fewer and fewer practitioners are willing to properly support women in their desire for VBAC...and fewer and fewer practitioners are willing to support a woman through a safe, natural primary birth.

Check out ICAN here: Open Original Shared Link.

Michelle

I don't know if it's related to calcium. I have, however, read that psoriasis (an auto-immune condition) can affect the nails. There is information on the National Psoriasis Foundation website: Open Original Shared Link.

Michelle

My drmatologist said the biopsy has to be done on a blister that has not yet opened to get accurate results, otherwise the test will return non-conslusive or maybe as a false negative. I say get it ithere as soon as you can. Being pregnant doesn't matter. The biopsy is a simple slice of the effected area where the non bursted blister is. Good luck and best wishes. Kris

Is your dermatologist saying that the sample must be taken from the lesion or beside the lesion? If it is from the lesion, then he is incorrect... Peter H.R. Green, MD, Director of the Celiac Disease Center at Columbia University, wrote on the subject of skin biopsy for DH in his recent book.

From Celiac Disease: A Hidden Epidemic:

"The gold standard for diagnosis is a skin biopsy of uninvolved skin adjacent to an eruption -- best taken within millimeteres of a lesion. The biopsy must be done by a knowledgeable dermatologist because a sampling of tissue from the eruption itself can be confused with other skin conditions. A biopsy of the actual lesion will give a characteristic appearance, but it is not possible to do the immunological staining that is necessary to make the diagnosis. This is because the inflammatory reaction in the blistering lesion destroys the early signs of the immune deposits that are still present in adjacent tissue."

I believe not all (or many?) dermatologists are familiar enough with Celiac and DH to test properly, and some will even insist that the biopsy must be of the actual lesion. Perhaps that is standard when testing for other health issues, but as mentioned in the above quote, testing for DH in this manner gives inaccurate results.

Michelle

I have a daughter who is grown. If she acted up inappropriately in public I would warn her and ignore her entirely until she stopped, pretending she was not there. But she behaved well (didn't like to be ignored, I guess) and I don't remember something like causing a fuss in public happening more than a few times.

Since my daughter was always in visibly good health, it's hard to imagine what I would have done had she been chronically ill.

Just so you know where I'm coming from...

I've got three kids: 8, 6 and 4. They are generally well-behaved, and we usually get comments about how well they behave in many situations (in a restaurant for example.) I know their limits, and refrain from taking them places where I know we'll have problems (like taking all three of them grocery shopping by myself.) Sometimes public tantrums are hard to avoid, and I try to keep as calm through it as possible and get the child out of public as soon as I can. I have receive positive comments about my handling of those situations, which makes me feel a bit better, but it's still embarrassing to have a child act out where all can see. I would rather people just ignore what's going on.

Michelle

My husband has Celiac, his mother as well. We're trying to have a baby, and I have questons about my diet.

Should I go gluten free? Any one who has had a child with a partner with celiac who could give me some advice, I'd really appreciate it.

I don't see a reason for you to go gluten free if you aren't personally celiac. It will not affect whether the baby inherits the disease. OTOH, if you were eating a gluten free diet along with your husband already, there would be no reason to add gluten to your diet either.

It would be important, however, for a celiac mother to be gluten free during pregnancy as the ingestion of gluten would affect her body's ability to absorb the necessary nutrients for maintaining a health pregnancy.

Michelle

Well, if it were the case that I thought the mother was putting on a scene for the purpose of embarrassing the daughter (for doing something that nobody else actually noticed) I would hardly commiserate with her. I do not consider public humiliation to be an effective child-rearing technique. That's just bad behavior on the mother's part, on par with a 2 year old having a tantrum, or maybe worse, as we adults are supposed to be in control of our behavior. I might take it as a call for input - it was her choice to create a public scene where none existed. But generally speaking, I would be embarrassed for the child and simply ignore this display, as paying attention will perpetuate the issue.

I'm not condoning what the mother did, and I wouldn't be commisserating in that situation either. It sounds like it was an embarassing situation for that family, and it does sound like bad behaviour on the mother's part. Of course, we weren't there so we don't know how everything actually played out.

I'm curious, eKatherine, do you have children? Have your kids ever behaved inappropriately in public? How have you handled it? Would you have wanted attention from strangers in those situations?

Michelle

Michelle, I do hope that you find answers for yourself. And I will keep my fingers crossed that your drs. are much better than the ones that my mom has seen so far. My mom has 90% of the symptoms for Celiac and has for over 9 years now. She's had multiple blood panels, endoscopies, colonoscopies, etc.......they're all negative. But her sister did test positive and dd and I responded to the diet. My mom has slowed down on gluten quite a bit with positive results, but she still cannot resist her toast in the morning and her weekly fried chicken strip salad at Wendy's. lol!! What do you do? lol!! She's a big girl and can handle her discoveries at her own pace. As long as she keeps her gluten to herself, we'll love her anyways!

I hope I find the answers too...I've had symptoms for 20 years now. I will be going gluten-free regardless of the biopsy, just wish I didn't have to wait another three months for it!

Michelle

Interesting feedback...I agree it is a hard topic to bring up to strangers and I applaud GFBetsy.

From my own experience, my son was in SE preschool when he was four, one of the aides, who also worked as an EMT, pointed out to me on a Friday that my son seemed thirsty lately. I said, fine, just give him water to drink if he is thirsty.

A friend babysat him on Saturday night and talked about how thirsty he seemed when we met on Monday. Light finally dawns, we go to the hospital and it was diabetes.

When he went back to school, the aide told me she was concerned that it might be diabetes, but did not feel comfortable saying so to me. Ugh! And she saw me everyday when I dropped him off at school.

I would not want that to happen to anyone else. So, I may have jumped to conclusions, but I responded to the mother complaining loud enough for the whole room to hear about the daughter's crying, fussing and not eating at every meal, and she seemed to be at her wit's end; I did not hear or see the child during the meal time. Plus, she and her two daughters were very underweight. Not enough for a diagnosis, but those are clues. And, we all know how underdiagnosed celiac is, that public awareness is low, and even people/parents/family involved in diagnosis can remain in denial. And, many food intolerances are not yet recognized by the medical community.

I would have loved to have had the opportunity to strike up a conversation with the mother, but we were checking out that morning. Clearly, I did not feel comfortable chasing her down and bringing up the idea of food intolerances to her either, but I still feel I did a real disservice to the daughter, who was maybe 5,6?, as leaving some info at the desk was a shot in the dark.

I would fully expect a caregiver to report any issues going on with my child...they are an important ally in ensuring healthy emotional and physical development. They are in a good position to do this as they see your child for a good amount of time outside of your presence, and know enough about the child's typical behaviour to know if something's not right. It is too bad the aide didn't mention suspecting diabetes, as it would have given you a heads up for going to the doctor sooner.

The mother of the fussy girl, however, sounded like she was creating a bit of a scene. Perhaps she wanted all who may have witnessed her daughters' actions to know that she was embarrased about what happened in public. Being at one's wit's end isn't necessarily an immediate cry for help, but an outward expression of frustration. Personally, I find it more helpful to simply have others commisserate, rather than offer their opinion on how to solve the issue, or to tell me that I've handled something poorly. I especially appreciate the times when I'm told I've done a good job of keeping my cool in a stressful parenting situation.

Michelle

Michelle, I agree you can't tell others how to raise their kids even though you had a good experience with one method (I happen to agree with you). However, the difference is that celiac is on a lot of people's minds ... with the statistics that 1:4900 are diagnosed but 1:133 have it, the NIH is even taking it seriously now. I know it can be on your mind, like Nini said, but underdiagnosis is a very real problem. Anytime someone mentions IBS or some other disease that is commonly diagnosed instead of celiac, I bring it up. Of course, we're already talking about health. It would be nice if we had little pamphlets that said something about not taking offense, but the person who gave this to you thought you might benefit from knowing about this underdiagnosed disease ... I'm only half-joking.

But there is difference when someone brings up a health topic that naturally flows into mentioning celiac. It is an entirely appropriate venue in which to bring it up. Approaching someone out of the blue, however, may not be appropriate.

Celiac is on the minds of a lot of people in the celiac community, and I agree that the word needs to be spread. But it may not be appropriate to approach people on an individual basis, given that you don't know a strangers' health history. This is where there needs to be a strong community-based campaign to raise awareness and, more importantly, education in the medical community to make clear that old perceptions of the disease are just plain wrong and that screening for the disease should become top of mind.

Michelle

I forget what the term is, but when you are focused on something, ie: Celiac, you tend to see it everywhere in everyone... it's just that our awareness is keyed in on Celiac.

I do think we have an obligation to make people more aware of Celiac, but we have to be so careful to do it in a way as to not offend.

Michelle, I too would be mortified, but just keep in mind that everyone here has Celiac on the brain and that is usually the first thing we think of. And, we also know that Celiac is genetic and runs in families and doesn't always manifest in gastrointestinal distress. So even though you don't think it's Celiac, it is something to consider. My daugher was an extremely picky eater before dx, and now, she tries just about anything. Just a thought.

Thanks, nini. I do suspect celiac is in my family. But I'm going through the process of diagnosis carefully. I don't want to put my kids through unnecessary invasive tests (or be given the Munchausen by proxy label!) We're dealing with their current symptoms and trying different things. When I go through my own tests, then I may have enough info to proceed through further tests with the kids. I also suspect my husband may have it, but he is a tough one to convince (and he doesn't want to give up beer! LOL!). Given his scandinavian heritage and symptoms in his whole family I bet the tests would be positive. I also have to work around DH's skepticism with putting our family on a gluten-free diet...it is a delicate balance with working through the process. One step at a time though...like I said, I'm the pioneer here.

I can understand the focus for people who have celiac, and the need to get the message out. I was made aware of it myself with a campaign that was televised in the mid-nineties in BC. Then my boss, who didn't have any of the "classic" symptoms, was diagnosed. I'm not diagnosed myself (yet) but even I'm spreading the message to others about getting tested.

It's hard to know when the message is welcome and when it isn't. It's not unlike spreading the message about any other health topic. For example, I'm a big believer in extended breastfeeding, natural birth, homebirth and attachment parenting. I like to encourage other parents to follow that path. But I am careful to limit my enthusiastic support/promotion to those who are receptive. It's a touchy subject, and I don't know others' history/experience. And I would never go up to a total stranger and tell them how they should be feeding/raising their kids.

Michelle

Since I've been gluten free a year ago the blisters on my elbows have been perfect unless I go out to eat and don't question the food. I never had a biopsy but I might in the future. Anyway, I went to Friendly's to eat the other day and my elbows are raging and I have blisters all in my mouth. I didn't question what I ate because I am pregnant and was starving. I'm assuming that the sauces on my chicken had gluten. Should I go and have it biopsied while it's inflamed? Or maybe I should just wait until I'm done being prego. Either way i know gluten does this to me but it would be good to know if it was DH. How long after a breakout can you do a biopsy? I figure that by time I get an appointment to do it my elbows will be better.

I believe a biopsy can be done at any point (regardless if a lesion is active or not.) The key is that the tissue is taken from the normal skin beside the lesion, not the lesion itself.

In terms of biopsing during pregnancy, that is up to you. However, I believe you should be vigilant about staying 100% gluten free to ensure you have a healthy pregnancy and birth.

Michelle

Because chick peas are a legume they can make you gassy until your body gets used to them. I use Besan (chick pea) flour in my cooking and I found that my body took a little bit of time to become re-adjusted to the different flours etc. I was using.

It is worth persisting with different types of foods/flours/nuts/seeds. I look at my gluten intolerance as being a passport to a whole new world of foods out there that I would not have otherwise eaten.

That's true...provided you're not otherwise sensitive to legumes, your body does get used to them. I am a big fan of beans, chick peas, etc...great for fibre and protein...and have no trouble with related gassiness. Hummus is a big favourite.

Michelle

Since my Open Original Shared Link, I have gotten an appointment with the G.I. that did my colonoscopy. It's not till the 11th, so I'm trying to be patient and not change my diet, so as not to mess with the blood work...even though I really feel like I would feel much better if I just started eating gluten-free.

I get weekly allergy injections, so it occurred to me to get a list of the things that I'm allergic to today. Wheat was one of them! It wasn't the highest on my list, but it was close (2 points difference). Higher ones were corn, coconut, eggs, milk, and peanuts...but soy and yeast were also there.

To me, it makes total sense that the allergins that I tested for with allergies would also be giving me problems intestinally. Am I thinking right? Will showing the G.I. my allergy test results hold any weight? Could my problems JUST be food allergies and not Celiac Disease?

At one point, the Allergist (ENT) started me on food drops (not injections), but they seemed to be giving me intestinal issues (constipation, then diarrea)...which also makes sense, because the syrum is made up of the things you are allergic to--to build up a tolerance to them. My "inhalent" allergies are so bad, though, he wanted to get those under control, so we stopped the food drops and haven't started them back up.

What do you guys think?

Allergy and intolerance are two different things, but allergies can give you GI symptoms just the same. I've seen my allergies change over my lifetime. Food wise, I've since outgrown my peanut allergy, but have developed food allergies related to my severe Birch pollen allergy: all raw tree fruit, almonds & halzelnuts. From what I understand it's unusual to outgrow something like a peanut allergy, but to keep it out of your diet for a long period of time could help. Apparently, once you "outgrow" a food allergen, you need to keep ingesting it to remain free from allergy to that particular food.

Knowing that you are allergic to wheat should mean something to your G.I. I think it's reason enough to eliminate it from your diet regardless of your gluten intolerance/celiac status. Also, if you eliminate your food allergens from your diet, you may actually see some improvement with your inhaled allergies as well. Personally, I think it's hard on your body to continue to bombard it with allergens...giving it a break could be a good thing.

Michelle

As others have suggested, continued breastfeeding, if it will work as an option for you, is the best choice. All three of my kids nursed to around 2 years of age, but the one who benefitted the most (and went the longest - a few months past 2) was my son who had trouble accepting solid foods. And I was a big fan of being able to continue providing breastmilk when my kids were sick...provides all the nutrition & electrolytes needed in the most genlte format for the tummy. Wish I could have nursed them longer, but my body couldn't handle it (got an antsy feeling, kind of like restless leg syndrome) when I was a few months into the next pregnancy.

Michelle