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My son was 20 mths old when he had the biopsy done.  In the 6 mths prior he
had numerous blood tests, urine samples, stool samples, ultrasounds done in
order to figure out what was wrong with him.

He was starving to death at the time and in need of a diagnosis.  He had
gone from a 95th percentile at 1 year old to under 50 percentile by 20 mths.
The doctors were testing for celiac disease and cystic fibrosis.  Needless
to say I am very glad that my son was diagnosed with celiac disease and not
cystic fibrosis.

I am also glad that the diagnosis was definitive as I would not want to
subject anyone to this diet unless it was a necessity.  It is hard enough to
follow it as an adult let alone have a child follow the diet.

He also could not eat past midnight and I figure it was a small price to pay
in order for a proper diagnosis.  Within days of starting the diet we could
see a marked improvement, by his one year followup he was again at a 95th
percentile.

He was also a happier child once the diet was started as he was not in so
much pain and discomfort.

He is now 5 years old and attending kindergarten.  The only residual affect
of his being seriously malnutritioned, in my opinion, is the fact the he is
severely speech delayed.  If his body was starving for nutrition, I figure
so was his brain.  He has done 2 years of pre-school with speech therapy and
has shown marked improvement.  He still is not up to age appropriate speech
and is still taking speech therapy.  The therapists say it may take another
2-3 years before he is at age appropriate speech.

Bottom line is that had I known about celiac disease and it's possible
affects on an infant/toddler in their formative years I would have kept my
son gluten free.  I was biopsy diagnosed with celiac disease 3 mths after my
son.  My only symptom being chronic anemia.


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Karen Bulmer, Systems Analyst
Capital Health
Edmonton, Alberta