<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>

More growth responses:

10.  Please have the child tested by the best GI doc
(knowledgeable about
CD) before the shots...he probably has only Cd and
will grow just fine once GF.

11. My son, who is now 16, was diagnosed as Celiac two
years ago.  At the time, the only symptoms he had were
short stature and stomach aches.  He was diagnosed as
a result of tests ordered by the doctor we were taking
him to for the growth problem.  Even after my son was
diagnosed, his growth hormone levels were still
showing up as low, and that MD wanted to put him on
growth hormone injections.  My wife and I resisted.
By coincidence, I just measured by son ten minutes ago
( today's his birthday ) and he's grown 6 inches in
the past two years.  He's still short for his age, but
he's now 5 foot 3 inches tall, and he should wind up
being a normal height.

Tell your cousin that it's critical to have her son
tested for celiac.  If it turns out that he is a
celiac, all the growth hormone injections in the world
won't do the job.  Why subject a kid to that daily
routine if it's not necessary?  Sounds like he's
already got enough to deal with.  I do have articles
on celiac and growth, but the most important thing is
for the boy to be tested.  Do you have access to a
pediatric gastroenterolgist who is really knowledgable
about Celiac?  In what region does you cousin live?

12.  My daughter who is a Celiac is on growth hormone
shots and has been
since
about 17 months old.  We did not know of her diagnosis
of CD then, but
she
has a chromosomal abnormality that affects her growth.
 At 17 months
she was
about 16 pounds and 26 inches (the size of my boys at
3 or 4 months
old).
We knew her body did not use the growth hormone
correctly, plus we know
of
cases where growth hormone actually helps the children
with her
syndrome
IQ's.  She started growing like crazy with the GH.  I
did notice though
that
after the CD diagnosis and starting the GF diet, she
gained five pounds
quite rapidly!
I would have your cousin check out the Celiac, but
also other endocrine
factors.  Most typically developing children do not
benefit from the
use of
GH after they hit puberty, and if he is 12 there isn't
a lot of time
left.
I would see why they want GH shots (the doctors) and
what test they
ahve
done to come to that conclusion.  This may or may not
be related to CD
or it
can be that if he is celiac, that is only part of the
growth problem.

13.  My daughter was diagnosed with celiac after she
wasn't growing & we finally got a new ped doctor to
check into her
problem with being petite, now after being gluten for
over 2 yrs she's
up
to 60% on the growth charts for her age when we
started she was like
5%,
She just had her yearly checkup with her gastro doctor
& in a year she
went from 10% to 60% so I know she's alot younger but
I think he should
be able to grow more after going gluten free if that
is what he has.
Also I was diagnosed 1 1/2 ago but I have no symptoms
or problems.

14.  Every child who is not growing properly should be
tested for celiac
disease. If
their doc did not do this, they should get another
opinion. My personal
opinion
also is that even if the test is negative one should
try a strict
gluten free diet
if one's child has health issues as your cousin does-
there are no side
effects and
it might work. It is accepted in the medical community
that the testing
may not be
100% accurate. In my family we have biopsy diagnosed
cases and also
cases of people
who were sickly but tested negative, then went gluten
free anyway and
had a
remarkable return to good health. Myself included! I
am now a proud
blood donor
after being anemic for 25 years before going gluten
free.

15. My brother at age 14, wanted growth hormones,
since he was the oldest (held back a year) and the
shortest boy in his class. Our doctor was against the
idea, as these hormones have side effects, and don't
always work. My brother never got the hormones, and is
now 6 foot 1 inch.

My family have always been "late growers."  Of course,
CD is genetic.
I grew 2 inches in college (from 5 ft 2 inches to 5 ft
4 inches), and only recently associated the idea that
maybe the reason I grew in college was that I was away
from home, eating what I liked, not a "normal" diet
anymore. I didn't have to clean my plate.

I didn't like bread and pasta: they sat heavy on my
stomach. I ate whatever the cafeteria's alternative
offering was, and traded my dinner rolls for spinach
or meat. I stopped eating pie or cake for dessert most
of the time. My chronic tummy troubles cleared up, and
I grew 2 inches!

I realize that, to a doctor, my story and my brother's
are merely "anecdotal." They are from real life
though, and I became much healthier in real life when
I found out about gluten intolerance and gave up
gluten for good. After over 50 years of innocent
gluten ingestion, a lot of irreversible damage was
done, but I am healthier now than I have ever been.

I have a son who's growth got stunted but by the time
I found out that he has celiac it was too late for
growing

17.  if he is already 12, he made need the shots even
if he starts a GF diet, he
only has a few years to grow, during adolesence the
bone ends start to
"harden off" and further growth ceases.

18.  I believe my husband's slow growth, and that of
my children is due to
celiac.  They are not doctor diagnosed, but have
responded in so many
ways (intestinal, neurological, improved hearing and
no more ear
infections, etc.) to the diet (along with the removal
of some other
allergens some of us suffer from), so celiac or gluten
intolerance?  It
doesn't matter- just don't feed the stuff to my boys!

19.  I have a 10 year old daughter that was diagnosed
with celiac disease when she was 5.  She was diagnosed
due to short stature - she had no gastric symptoms.
After years on the gluten free diet she still wasn't
growing properly.  They started another battery of
tests and have determined that she is also very low in
growth hormone.  She is now taking the daily shots and
is doing great.  It is possible to have both celiac
and low growth hormone, but the two are truely not
related.  Hope this helps!

20.  Well, for sure, the kid needs to be tested asap.
I think if you look in the archives, you'll see a
string regarding just this from about 2 weeks or so
ago.  Yes, a typical symptom is short stature.


Thanks again to everyone who responded!!

Cheryl

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