Wednesday, December 02, 2009

DIAGNOSED: Celiac Disease for our cute Kylie

So, this is a BIG contributer to the reason I feel like I am sort of drowning in my own life! BIG BREATH:

Kylie has Celiac Disease. We took her in for her 18 month appointment to a new Pediatrician. SO MUCH BETTER than the last pediatrician who made me feel that the reason Kylie wasn't gaining weight was because I was feeding her a "low fat diet" - and I needed to put butter and oil on everything she ate.

So THIS pediatrician was great - he listened to her history, what she was allergic to, symptoms, health concerns and told me it was CELIAC DISEASE.

What is CELIAC DISEASE? I was sort of familiar with it. When I got my AMA nutritional credits, they did have a VERY DRY speaker who addressed this. Sad to say, he was so dry I tended to nod off during his presentation.

But here is what it is:

Celiac disease is a digestive condition triggered by consumption of the protein gluten, which is found in bread, pasta, cookies, pizza crust and many other foods containing wheat, barley or rye. If you have celiac disease and eat foods containing gluten, an immune reaction occurs in your small intestine, causing damage to the surface of your small intestine and an inability to absorb certain nutrients.

Eventually, the decreased absorption of nutrients (malabsorption) that occurs with celiac disease can cause vitamin deficiencies that deprive your brain, peripheral nervous system, bones, liver and other organs of vital nourishment. This can lead to other illnesses and stunted growth in children.

So this is why Kylie is 18 months old and only 19 lbs. And get the runs whever she has wheat, gluten, or dairy.

She also has to get her thyroid checked.

So if you have been reading my blog in the past year you will know that I took Tyler to an NAET specialist (allergy elimination technique) to get rid of his allergy induced asthma. He is totally better, just can't have sugar yet.

At any rate, we took Kylie the next day to the NAET doctor who is FANTASTIC. She came up positive with neuroscensory muscle testing with CELIAC DISEASE, COLITIS and that the body was rejecting the process of producing GROWTH HORMONES.

So since this thing can lead to stunted development - physically, neurologically, physiologically, it is VERY good we are finding this out now.

She is on a VERY strict No gluten, yeast, wheat, dairy diet, and no canned foods. And she has to get on very concentrated probiotics, a digestive enzyme to eat away the mucus lining in her intestinal track/stomach, and D3 vitamin to start absorbing nutrients, and a growth hormone JUMP starter. If it sounds expensive, it IS.

But I am looking through the long range lens and getting my little cutie pie better. So far she is not affected mentally or with her motor skills. She is just VERY small in stature - still below "0" on the child tracking chart for weight. For height - she is like 10%.

So I feel lucky that we have the tools to reverse this thing - to treat the components creating the antibodies in her body through NAET, and then jumpstart her immune system, digestive track, and her growth hormones.

So while it seems like a pain, I really feel like I was prepared to handle this one, especially after Tyler.

7 comments:

Unknown said...

I'm so glad that you were able to get her diagnosed. We have two little girls in our ward who are celiacs. When you mentioned her symptoms and lack of growth, celiac disease was the first thing that came to my mind. I wish that I had mentioned something at the time. Truly, it might have helped sooner. I hope that things are improving. There are great resources now for celiacs. Our grocery store even has a gluten-free section. And it's crazy all the things that contain gluten, like soy sauce. Who would have thought?

Katrina said...

Oh my goodness!!! Good luck with getting this all organized and starting a new routine. Poor girl. It is so nice to know what is going on so that you can help her the best, but it is also so sad to know that she will have to deal with this...forever? Do they grow out of it?

Rebekah said...

I have another friend whose six year old was just diagnosed with this same illness. I'm glad you found out so early. The whole things sounds incredibly overwelming, but I'm sure you ony posted the tip of the iceberg.

Tracy P. said...

If anyone can handle this, Bonnie, you can! Give them family a squeeze for us...

Johanna said...

In our mission elder Orme has that disease... and he was pretty tall... she is going to be ok, beautiful and tall...

kelsey said...

Bonnie, if anyone can handle it, you can! You are amazing! Especially with your background and interest in nutrition. Still I'm so sorry, it does sound like an overwhelming situation. So glad you had a great doctor to diagnos sweet Kylie correctly!

Cami said...

My goodness! It's so good to know, though, and be able to do something about it. Good luck.

And, I need your address . . .