Gluten sensitivity???

[scheelimama]

You ladies are very knowledgeable. So, tell me what you think of this. Last night I fixed Kraft Mac & Cheese (the supreme shells kind). DD2 also had a few canned green beans and ketchup. I know, this is a terribly un-nutritious dinner, but it's what we had in the pantry and I didn't feel like doing heavy cooking.

So, anyway, shortly after dinner, I noticed a rash around her mouth and on her arms. This has happened several times, but we haven't really been able to pinpoint what is causing it. The most common times that she gets these rashes are after Mac & Cheese and after Spaghetti. I'm trying to decide if this is a gluten sensitivity or a tomato sensitivity. She has had ketchup several times and not gotten rashy. I'd say, pasta is the culprit. But why wouldn't quesadillas or cheese sandwiches cause these problems? They have gluten. Most cereals they eat do not have gluten in them. We eat mostly whole-wheat everything, except Mac & Cheese and a few other pre-packaged pastas.

She also has very loose stools most of the time. Soy milk causes diarrhea. Cow's milk is okay, but does cause looser stools. She is currently drinking rice milk which seems to be pretty good for her. So, should we try to cut the gluten or just white processed flour foods? I've been gradually improving our diet anyway, but we aren't perfect in this area. I'm limited by finances and motivation (I don't want to be cooking all day every day). So, what do you think?

[Spastica]

When a child or adult has gluten intolerance, or celiac disease, they tend to have other issues until the gluten problem is solved, like lactose intolerance too. Sometimes the gluten thing is hit or miss. Pasta is a big trigger, sometimes with certain breads you can slide by and get symptoms later. Something in the back of my mind also says soy has some glutamate in it, which has some chemical similarities to gluten. Also, I've recently read that tomatoes have a large amount of glutamate in it. Glutamate also is huge in soy sauce and in MSG products. If you check in a lot of processed foods, the yum factor lies in MSG. Trying to avoid MSG may help you and your kid (though I don't have celiac disease, MSG gives me hideous headaches and migraines these days).

Try looking up celiac disease and you will find what your child can and cannot eat. Corn, potatoes, rice, quinoa, amarynth flour, tapioca, teff, and some other items are perfectly okay with gluten intolerant folks. The best way to eat if you're gluten sensitive is having a lot of fruits, veggies, and lean meats. Some diets that are great are Meditteranean and South Beach - which focus on lean fish and meats and tons of veggies, and not a whole lot of refined flours and sugars. Children need fats and sugars, but not as much as the typical American diet is coming to these days.

With celiac disease, you get a lot of nutritional deficiencies. The first step is to get your child tested and then work on a program so that they have a normal growth pattern and no nutritional problems. Celiac disease has symptoms like the scaly red patches around elbows, buttocks, ears, and sides of nose, and quite often sebbhorrheic dermatitis (big flaky scaly dandruff). Over time, the buttocks of the person looks flat or 'wasted,' what I like to call 'frogbutt.' Also over time, the child looks really cherublike, and has a belly. It's cute at first, but it can be a sign that their intestines are having trouble. Gluten intolerance is an auto-immune issue and gluten pretty much acts like a poison to that person's system. It destroys the vili in the intestestines and over time, makes the vili atrophy and flatten down, making it hard to absorb a good amount of nutrients in food. Most celiacs are very deficient in B-Complex, Magnesium, and Calcium, among other minerals and vitamins.

[scheelimama]

Thanks for all the info. My dd seems pretty healthy, aside from the loose stools. She's in the 20th percentile for weight and 90th percentile for height and has been since around 9 months, so no weight issues really. I'm not really concerned about true celiac disease, but I'm wondering if it's possible to just be sensitive to it but not truly have the disease? Or, it sounds like you are saying maybe she has a glutamate sensitivity? I have no idea what the difference is. I'll have to research that. But I thought soy was safe for celiac's. She clearly can't handle soy.

[Spastica]

I was saying that the weight issues come later, celiacs look pretty normal at first and over years of gluten ingestion, may run into problems. Better to catch it earliest as possible. My boyfriend didn't know he was a celiac until I showed him an article and he got tested. He only found out last year or two.