A New Path: Gluten Intolerance or Celiac Disease?

I've started to blaze a new research trail. A trail I never looked at or thought about much until the last few days.

As I've mentioned before, Osiyyah has struggled with reflux problems since he was a baby. When we started him on Nutrivene, his reflux greatly reduced. Then we realized cow dairy caused a problem for him. Once we removed cow's milk, his reflux reduced even more. And his "silent" (in that he didn't vomit, but you could certainly feel & hear the reflux) refluxing episodes were few & far between.

Lately though, he has had them more frequently. And it has gotten worse. Worse in that he cannot have anything that is made from cow's milk. No cheese, no ice cream, no sherbet, not even a salad dressing that contains cheese products (like ceasar dressing with romano & parmesan in it). We read labels and if it contains any cow's milk product, we don't give it to him. That helped some, but he has still had a bit of reflux problems here and there with all the cow dairy cut out.

So, something else must be causing this and it's time for us to make some drastic changes to his diet. The next most common allergy is Celiac disease or gluten intolerance (they are different, but very similar). The more I read & talk to people, the more I'm convinced that this is what we are dealing with in Osiyyah. Gluten is found in wheat, barley & rye. Oats often times are cut out of the diet as well and at times added back in at a later date, since they are processed with gluten many times.

Milk intolerance is commonly associated with gluten intolerance. Celiac disease is very common in kids with DS. Those two things right there make me think all the more that gluten intolerance or celiac disease is what we are dealing with.

To quote Kirstin from whattofeedyourkids.com (I'm sure she doesn't mind ;)),

Also, when you have celiac, the villi in the intestine are damaged. The lactase enzyme to break down milk is produced by the villi. When the villi are damaged you don't produce the lactase to break down the milk.

That quote right there makes me believe we may be dealing with Celiac rather than just a gluten intolerance. Especially since Osiyyah's milk intolerance has gotten worse over the last few months. If the villi in his intestine is being damaged more & more, it would make sense that he cannot tolerate an ounce of cow dairy.

I've read a lot the last day about this and am coming up with a plan of action somewhat slowly, but surely.

I'd really like to do the celiac disease screening done asap so that we can start him on a GF diet soon. If we can get the celiac disease screening & gluten intolerance tests done, hopefully it'll show which we are dealing with - celiac or gluten intolerance. Even if all tests come back inconclusive, we will still start Osiyyah on a GF diet in the hopes that it will take his reflux problems away.

Here are some helpful websites that I've come across so far. I will keep you all updated with information & research, as usual :).

http://whattofeedyourkids.blogspot.com/ - LOTS of good information here!

http://whattofeedyourkids.blogspot.com/2008/11/there-are-several-ways-parent
s-can.html

http://gfcf-diet.talkaboutcuringautism.org/gfcf-in-10-weeks.htm - while this site is specifically referring to Autism, there is a lot of helpful info about doing a Gluten free diet.

www.drdahlman.com/gluten-free-products.shtml

www.glutenfree.com/home.aspx

www.celiac.com - this website has tons of info on it and I haven't even scratched the surface!

http://www.cryingoverspiltmilk.co.nz/Food/Glutencancausegastro-oesophagealrefluxdisease!.htm - this article is very fascinating, especially in light of Osiyyah's reflux problems.

http://gfcf-diet.talkaboutcuringautism.org/gfcf-food-list.html - GFCF food list! Very helpful!

http://stewartdehart.stores.yahoo.net/gfsugr.html - My mom found this book, a GFCF shopping guide.

That's all for the moment!
Qadoshyah