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Hi everyone,

I am a bit of a newbie to this site and I am so grateful for it, I read it
daily (start and end of every day) and research the archives often.
 Currently, I am going through a very difficult time.

I will summarize my situation briefly.  This time last year, I noticed that
my 8 yr old daughter was having some belly aches after eating certain fruits
and pasta...she was eating bread w/out a problem.  She suddenly could not
tolerate the fresh juices that I made daily and although she would sit down
and eat a spelt sandwich without a problem a bowl of grapes or cherries
would send her running to the toilet!  Right before that period, she was on
several doses of antibiotics and developed oral thrush and a "funky" breath.
 In addition, she became extremely nauseous when she ingested honey, used to
be a favorite spread but suddenly became intolerant.  I had asked the
pediatrician about this several times and was told not to think twice.
 Looking back now, I wonder if the bacterial overgrowth was the trigger to
Celiac.  Prior to the oral thrush/antibiotics, she was able to eat
everything without any issues.  As an infant, she was nursed for a year,
gluten was introduced after 6 months and she is very tall and always
thrived!

Although belly aches were not frequent they were still out of character so I
began researching online and asked for a Celiac panel (although it was
mostly fruits that caused her aches).  Panel (Prometheus) came back positive
(DQ8 gene which means moderate, 2x increased risk over general population)
and biopsy at LIJ with Dr Pettei confirmed Celiac.  After that, we also saw
Dr. Kazlow at Columbia Celiac Center and  began GF diet immediately and
within a few weeks, oral thrush was gone and breath was better.  I am
assuming this was because wheat has fructans and clearly my daughter is not
absorbing fructose well so the gf diet provided relief.  The relief lasted
for a few (3) months and although we adhere to diet very STRICTLY, she is
now not doing well at all.  She has suddenly become lactose intolerant, much
more sensitive to fructose than ever before and has lots of aches and pains
in joints (waiting for blood results from rheumatologist but inital blood
negative for jr. rheumatoid arthritis).  Even quinoa pasta will give her
very bad belly aches since quinoa is a fruit.  I am concerned about candida
and wondering if this is what is causing her continuous reactions. Her
bacterial overgrowth test results were gray, possibly equivocal for small
bowel overgrowth, I understand it is often hard to get accurate results.
 Dr. said she can take antibiotic but hard to know which one is right and I
am nervous @ more antibiotics since this is what probably got all this
started to begin with.

Her duodenal biopsy showed slender villi present BUT her duodenal bulb
biopsy showed villous atrophy and gastric biopsy showed chronic gastritis..
 I was told by a few gastros that villi damage can also occur from bacterial
overgrowth so I wonder how they can truly differentiate between that and
Celiac?

I am hoping that you can give me your opinion.  Just recently, I read that
Sue Sheperd (her literature has helped me a lot), does not recommend taking
any type of probiotic if you can not absorb fructose because she says that
the last thing your body needs is more bacteria.  I was considering a
probiotic because I suspect that my daughter still has candida.  I have been
giving her yogurt daily and wondering if this is a mistake.  Do you think
that I should give her Florastor instead since this is a yeast not bacteria
(I think)?

I appreciate any advice that you can offer, especially about the
probiotics....should I give her culturelle, florastor and/or yogurt?  I am
also looking for a great naturopath in NY but will go tri state or
further....any recommendations?

Sorry this is a bit long.  Many thanks for your help and advice.

Nina Cole

* Please remember some posters may be WHEAT-FREE, but not GLUTEN-FREE *
Archives are at: Http://Listserv.icors.org/SCRIPTS/WA-ICORS.EXE?LIST=CELIAC