Children's Symptoms:

Looking at symptoms: the doctor really relys on you as the parent for information about your children. These symptoms may be a good indicator you child may have celiac disease:

Abdominal discomfort : cramping and distention

Abnormal bowel habits : loose watery stools, frequent large stools, and very smelly stools. Consitipation may be the main problem as well.

Behavior problems: irritability, restlessness, and the inability to rem$ain focused. Once they start foloowing a gluten free diet, you will notice their mood will change rapidly.
* there is some evidence that certain neurological and behavior problems such as ADHD and autism are more likely to occur in children who have celiac disease. Nonetheless, the great majority of kids with ADHD and autism do not have celiac disease and, conversley, the great majority of kids with celiac disease do not have ADHD, autism, or neurological or behavior difficulties.

Dermatitis Herpetiformis: a very itchy skin rash with little blisters over the elbows, shoulders, and buttocks.

Insufficienet growth and development: failure to grow and develop normally (called failure to thrive), lack of normal weight gain, and especially the development of weight loss. The child may be shorter than others of the same age and may also be shorter than their siblings were at a comparable age.
Some children may have malabsorbtion of calcium and vit D and can develop rickets in which bones have impaired growth and strength.

Nonspecific symptoms: pale skin, lack of energy, malaise, fatigue.


How can you find out if YOUR child should be tested for celiac disease?

WebMD Health News recently published a questionnaire that you can use to find out if your child has celiac disease and needs to be put on a gluten-free diet. According to the article, at least half of children with celiac disease NEVER get diagnosed, leaving them suffering from the painful physical and mental symptoms of the disease.

Instead of indiscriminately administering a blood test to kids, now we can narrow down the children who need to be tested by asking them five questions:
1. Has your child ever suffered from abdominal pain more than twice during the last three months?
2. Has your child ever had diarrhea lasting more than two weeks?
3. Does your child have a tendency to firm and hard stools?
4. Does your child gain enough weight?
5. Does your child gain enough height?
Check out the link below!
http://tinyurl.com/yl5fgbc

Tina Turbin
http://glutenfreehelp.info/


Source: "Celiac Disease for Dummies", by Sheila Crowe, MD and Ian Blumer, MD