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Hi List-

I'm looking for help here!! My son had a endoscopy/biopsy at 7 months old
where they found villous atrophy w/ crypt hyperplasia. He had, at that
point, only tried a few solids and was mostly breast feeding...so the
fact that he had damage amazes me. He has since been GF (4mths), and we
are having a really hard time. We've been to see an allergist- where he
tested positive to everything on the SPT, so we figure he has
supersensitive skin and are disregarding the results (his reaction to
saline and histamine was the same). Then we had a RAST and were told the
results were all within normal limits.

The GI we see has put him on Gastrocrom, and for the first few weeks
seemed like a miracle drug-- and I'm pretty sure it is still helping him.
However, he is still miserable. Won't sleep at all. We have put him on
Neocate- a medical formula, and really restricted what he can eat-- a few
simple fruits and veggies, potatoes and rice. This is to try and heal his
gut. We think once it heals, he'll be able to digest the proteins better.

Since he is a baby, I have no idea what else to do. Those of you w/ CD-
what are your symptoms? What does it feel like, and did you have similar
problems once you were diagnosed? How long did it take for you to start
feeling better? I just don't know what else to do. We've checked him for
allergies-- nothing came up, but we are still avoiding the big allergic
foods. I've been researching to see if maybe there are other diseases w/
similar symptoms that would also damage his gut? Anyone know of anything?


On his biopsy report it says "despite the flattening,  intraepithelial
lymphocytosis is not prominent. There are no infectious organisms
identified. With these findings, coupled w/ the clinical history,
clinical correlation regarding the exclusion of celiac sprue is
suggested... Some forms of 'autoimmune enteropathy' or soy-protein
allergy could also simulate gluten enteropathy."

So, the other 2 possibilities aren't likely? Our GI explained that
although allergies can flatten villi, they don't cause crypt hyperplasia.
YIKES!!!!!Do I sound confused?!

Thanks for reading this- I know it was long. Any light you could shed on
your experience, may help me understand what else I need to do. He has
had some improvement going GF (i.e. not malabsorbing- huge decrease in
diarhhea, tummy distention is down quite a bit), but I  wonder why he
isn't feeling  better by now!

Thanks,
Richelle in UT -or should I say sleepless in UT :-)

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