|
The mother in the family I saw today was asking "How early can you make a diagnosis of coleiac disease? My mum (the children’s grandmother) has coeliac disease. Both my children are now gluten-free (two years and four years old). There is no question that gluten upsets them! They get awful behavioural upsets: with hyperactivity and poor sleep. They also get runny bowel motions. For example, my 4-year-old took a handful of ginger nuts a few weeks ago and developed diarrhoea after a couple of hours - his behaviour was very tricky. Diabolical! He went nuts."
I Reply: The early diagnosis of coeliac disease is problematic. It takes time for gluten to cause damage to the small bowel in susceptible people. Both of these children had an elevated IgG-gliadin antibody level. However, their tissue damage marker (in this case the endomesial antibodies) were negative. They had been relatively low gluten all of their lives (because of grandmother's diagnosis). This means that at this stage they have not developed any bowel damage. At this stage it is not possible to diagnose them as coeliac disease. But nor is it possible to rule out this condition. The next step for these children will be to do their gene marker for coeliac disease (the HLA studies). This will give me an indication as to whether or not they have the genetic propensity to develop coeliac disease. If their gene test is positive, then it means that should they keep eating gluten for several months, or years, that they do have the genetic makeup to develop gut damage. However, they clinically get upset with gluten, so it is not an option to put them back onto gluten. They will have to remain gluten-free: consequently, their diagnosis will be elusive. However, I am managing these children to be fit and healthy rather than to make a tissue diagnosis of coeliac disease. The earlier that one tries to diagnose coeliac disease the more problematic it becomes. Cheers, Dr Rodney Ford. Recommendation: You can find more in-depth information in the book -
"The Gluten Syndrome: Is wheat causing you harm?" |
