Tomorrow will begin a new journey for my family. We will begin a 30 day Gluten-free diet. What has inspired this experiment? Our 12 year old son began experiencing migraines 3 weeks ago. He has also suffered with chronic tics for several years now. I have been on a quest to find a way to resolve his condition since it began, but have been unsuccessful on my own. The addition of migraines to the mix has sent me into yet more research.
Our journey is about to take a new path due to my belief that our son may be suffering from Celiac Disease. I had not heard of the disease until 2 days ago. The University of Chicago Celiac Disease Center has a great website at http://www.celiacdisease.net/
I had suspected the tics were caused by a food intolerence so he was tested for intolerence to gliadin a few years ago, but that came back negative, and so did the tests for eggs, dairy & soy. Even so, his nutritionist recommended cutting out all gluten, eggs, dairy & soy to see if his symptoms improved and they did. However, trying to cut out so many things from his diet was overwhelming. As time went on, the diet grew old, and while my picky eater had done well eating some new foods (and eating meat & veggies for breakfast), it was difficult to maintain such a diet.
I wish I had known about Celiac Disease then. However, it has only been since my son has experienced several migraines that I made the discovery. I typed the words "migraines & tics" into a search engine & found several references to CD. I read on a website that migraine sufferers are 10 times more likely to have CD than the general population. Neurological problems are also associated with CD. Could this be the answer I've been looking for?
I found The University of Chicago Celiac Disease Center's website & read all about testing for the disease. First a blood test to measure certain anti-bodies. A positive anti-body test requires a biopsy of the small intestine for the final diagnosis. The biopsy is done through an endoscopy. The thought of putting my son through that was not a pleasant one but I knew if it had to be done, it had to be done. I continued reading...
Treatment for Celiac Disease: Follow a gluten-free diet. It stops symptoms & the small intestine heals itself (in relatively short order). That's all??? No medication? No surgery?
The only remaing question for me was do I take my son to the doctor & put him through the testing or start him on the diet immediately? Thinking about the testing process itself seemed like a daunting task. Make the first appointment with his pediatrician, explain his condition, making another appointment for blood work, waiting for the results to come in & if positive, making another appointment with a Gastroenterologist, explaining his condition & the results, and very likely making yet another appointment for a biopsy. How long could this take? Several weeks or months?
It didn't take long to decide. Try the diet for 30 days. Monitor his progress. What do we have to lose? If it works, I will be thrilled (that's a major understatement)! If it doesn't, then a trip to the doctor may be necessary, but we can rule out CD.
I should note also that my son has been experiencing a bout of unexplained diarrhea & abdominal craming since he had his lat migraine 3 days ago. This is yet another symptom of CD.
The diet seems like a simple solution. I guess we will find out....
No comments:
Post a Comment