When did your Gluten free diet start to change your condition?

[jennybean0722]

I heard it can take a month or two but that symptoms usually ease at month one. I am debating with myself about whether or not to continue this....

My son has asthma and diahrrea and a sensitivity to wheat. Which, we figured out the wheat sensitivity before but we only eliminated whole wheat products. In other words, we only gave him white breads/white pastas, etc. It helped with his diahrrea (VERY mucosy for around a year) almost instantly.

B/c of the help with the diahrrea, we asked our allergist if we went totally wheat free would it help his asthma. He agreed it could, even though we already knew the answer to it. Fast forward to now. It's been probably around 6 or 7 weeks and not only do I NOT see a change, my son has lost FOUR pounds. He is 2.5 years old and is now 26 lbs. down from 30. Mind you, before this, his weight plateaued at 23/24 lbs until we stopped the whole wheat and went to white, then he started gaining weight again.

I just don't know what to do. We eliminated dairy a long time ago but it didn't work either (for probably 4 mo). I am tempted to just go back to giving him white bread again. This is so frustrating!:

[changingseasons]

Is he getting any other grains? If he was eating a lot of processed (white) wheat products, then you need to replace those calories with something else.

If it were me, I would be strict about 100% wheat avoidance for a wheat sensitivity.

Did you eliminate dairy before eliminating wheat? If so, you might try it again. Maybe you didn't see any improvements because he was still eating the wheat.

[LBMarie9]

is wheat have to do with diarhhea?!

[kjbrown92]

I have never heard of a thing like that: taking out whole wheat but leaving all the processed stuff and it helping. Wow. What a weird one.

For me, going gluten free helped within 2 weeks.

You do definitely have to keep his calories up during this process. And even if he has a diagnosed IgE allergy, don't forget that IgG intolerances can also cause an "allergy overload" that can exascerbate asthma and other allergies.

[changingseasons]

Originally Posted by LBMarie9

is wheat have to do with diarhhea?!

Any food allergy can cause diarrhea. Symptoms are different for every food, for every person. But celiac disease definitely causes gastro issues.

[lil_miss_understood]

Is he actually gluten free or just wheat free? Also, are you sure he's not getting wheat in any other forms? White vinegar, including in ketchup, mustard, pickles for example?
My son has lost nearly 15 lbs since we went wheat/gluten, casein and egg free in May. However, he was overweight (has been his whole life) and much of that weight loss can likely be attributed to his retaining water (according to my allergist).

If it were me, I would be strict about 100% wheat avoidance for a wheat sensitivity.

IMO, this is an absolute MUST. You will not see any improvements (or very minimal at the least) without 100% compliance to a wheat free diet. Also, be aware that there is a world of difference between wheat free and gluten free. Gluten is not only in wheat but also barley, rye, triticale, spelt, kamut... there's one other. And be aware that there is cross contamination in the majority of oats.

[jennybean0722]

Right before we underwent testing, we evacuated for a hurricane and all my aunt had at her house was all white products. His diapers were great the entire time there, and when we came back home and went back to our diet, the diahrrea returned. So we went back to white and it went away again, for good. I guess it could be something in the house but we don't know that yet.

NOW we are wheat/gluten free since Thanksgiving. I will say that we had probably two or three messups. He got a s'more graham cracker around Thanksgiving, and one cheese cracker before Christmas. He licked the icing off of one muffin but that was it.

My son is one of those extremely picky eaters. He was such a porker until around one year old and then thinned out. I know I know, they thin out b/c they walk etc., but that is also around the time that his diahrrea and asthma started. He got some vax's at age one, but not the mmr or cpox and hasn't been vax'd since. He was always such a hard baby to feed food to. Didn't really like to even try it until he was around 10 mo and then didn't really start to eat food on a regular basis until I got pregnant when he was 15 mo. I nursed him until he was 18mo. God how I wish every day I still nursed him. He doesn't want to nurse again, nor does he take my bm in any way, shape or form. Even if it is masked by his favorite yogurt, he will NOT eat it. That is besides the point.

I couldn't even tell you if his calories are restricted or not b/c he didn't eat anyway. Argh, this is so aggravating. Sorry to vent here. It is AMAZING to me that he even poops two or three times a day. WHERE does the food come from??? He must be eating his hair, clothes or bedding I swear.

What do you give a gluten free child who only likes yogurt, cheese, noodles, toast (g free of course), bananas? He likes NO veggies. I have to hide it in his mac and cheese (gfree of course), and then it is hit or miss on whether or not he will even eat that! What kid doesn't like mac and cheese??????! I'll even give him pizza and he WON'T eat it. Sometimes yes, but argh.

I am at my wits end here and ready to give up on all fronts and just treat the asthma symptoms and hope he just grows out of this. On top of all this, he is such an animal when he is sick. I mean, completely horrible. And NONE of this is working. In fact, I would say he is WORSE. Please help me!

[lil_miss_understood]

Okay, I have some stuff to say and you might not like it but I think it's something you need to hear.
For very sensitive individuals, any mess up can set them back to square one, more or less. For ds1, when he gets food which is cross contaminated by dairy (though this is an IgE allergy), his asthma returns in full force for at least a month. The same goes for him getting any food contaminated with wheat (an IgG intolerance/sensitivity)- his asthma will "relapse". So, the 2 or 3 mess ups you've had since going gf around Thanksgiving could be what's keeping you from getting the results you desire.
Also, and you're really not going to like this, I would hazard a guess that you may have a second allergy on your hands, that being dairy. The reason I say this is because of your list of your ds's favorite foods. It reads like a list of what *my* ds1's favorite foods are/were and the interesting but annoying thing with allergies/intolerances is that something in our body seems to crave our allergens.
What I would suggest is being *very* strict about going gf (including wheat free: no white vinegar!) for about a month before you decide that it's not doing anything. If you still feel that way, take out dairy for an additional month on top of being gf- we can link you to a list of hidden ingredients for dairy if you need- and be very strict about both for that whole month. No mess ups (believe me, we ALL know it's easier said than done).
Often times, when we take out one allergen, another one becomes apparent. My allergist (and many others) will tell you that results trump tests every time. (Is that how it goes? CS or Kathy will know... I always mess it up. )

ETA: Also, I would suggest treating the asthma symptoms until you find out what is causing them. Every attack that your child has causes damage to his lungs.