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I am a newcomer to the group and very, very glad to be here.
 
My son Peter (13 months) was adopted from India at 6 months.  Symptoms
(irritability, failure to thrive, severe constipation) began shortly after
arrival.  We suspected food sensitivities but couldn't get much help from our
doctor.  On a hunch, we first eliminated milk products from his diet, and got
some improvement in irritability but none in constipation.  Next, we
eliminated gluten.  What a change!  For the first time, we have a child who
isn't acting "sick" and uncomfortable.  Now that he's totally fallen off his
weight curve, he's been diagnosed "failure to thrive" and we're getting more
professional attention.  (He's under 14 pounds now, and his development
completely stopped 3 months ago).  Even if the blood tests for celiac disease
were accurate in kids, he's now been off gluten a month.  This means that a
biopsy may be a lot of pain and suffering with no clearcut answers.  My gut
feel (no pun intended) is to treat him as a celiac and defer definitive
diagnosis until later (MUCH later).  He has no reserves left and is quite
fragile.  I can't see making him sick again just to be certain what his
problem is.  Does anyone have any thoughts on this?
 
Second question -- an Indian pediatrician new to our practice says she thinks
he has "tropical sprue".  Based on my research, I think she was confusing
this condition with celiac ("non-tropical sprue").  But I haven't been able
to find out much about "tropical sprue".  Would removing gluten from the diet
help someone with this condition?  What distinguishes it from celiac disease?
 If anyone out there knows, please enlighten me!
 
Chris Futia in NJ, Peter's mom