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Our 7th grade daughter was diagnosed with celiac last April.  She
seemed to  be doing a little better on the GF diet (i.e. she would have
a good day every week or so), but  began to have strong stomach acid
pains in October and has been on Nexium (40 mg) for two months and is
about to try a lower dosage.  She has missed approximately 1/4 of her
school days this school year (and many more classes, as she is worse in
the mornings and therefore goes to school late if she goes at all).
She often goes to sleep with and usually wakes up with a headache,
stomach ache, or both.  Tylenol and Ibuprofen don't help her headaches
at all.  Her sleep is sometimes interrupted by severe pain that causes
her to cry out or wake up.  Other times, she is just restless and
sleeps poorly or has insomnia.  She can't exercise without getting a
severe stomach ache.  She is so sleepy and uncomfortable that she can't
concentrate in class.  And she just doesn't seem to be getting better.

In desperation, we consulted our pediatric group and saw the physician
who was available and he said (after we explained her various problems)
she was just depressed.  He claimed that she should have recovered from
the celiac damage in two months, the fact that her weight remains 7 -
10 lbs less than it was a year ago is no problem (and she wasn't fat
before), and that taking a single vitamin supplement once a week is
sufficient to stave off any malnutrition issues.

Although I would love to hear from any and all of you about your
observations about her health problems (and the pediatrician's
"diagnosis") and what we might try to make her feel better, my real
question has to do with her education.

She has missed enough school over the past three years (her symptoms
began in July of 2001) that she has real holes in her education.  Given
how she is feeling at present, it is likely that she will continue to
miss a lot of school.  I am either going to homeschool her or try
homebound schooling (this would continue an affiliation with a school
and give us access to some of their curriculum and academic resources).
  We would prefer to do homebound schooling if possible as long as it
allows us to fill in her educational gaps because we could use the
additional school support.  To do homebound schooling, we need to get a
doctor's letter saying that she is likely to miss 3 months of school
this school year because of a health problem.  She has already missed
one month (which would count), most of it since mid- October.  Her
gastroenterologist says he won't sign a letter to enable her to be
homebound schooled, it must be her regular pediatrician.  We don't
think that is likely given how helpful and understanding the doctor was
that we last  saw although we have a phone call in to see).  We have
been seeing a naturopath but are not sure if she would count as a
physician in the eyes of the school.

Has anybody else run into similar situations with schooling a celiac
child?  How did you handle it?

Thanks.

Jackie in AZ

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