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#CouldItBeCeliac
“I’m glad we are gluten free because it doesn’t hurt anymore”.
#CouldItBeCeliac
“Charlotte was 2 years old when she first started to complain about her belly hurting. It would happen randomly and often but we couldn’t figure out why. She seemed increasingly tired and moody. We brought her to our family doctor and she was referred to a pediatric GI specialist. She had blood work, x-rays and an ultrasound. Everyone seemed to agree it must be because she was constipated. But the treatments for constipation weren’t working and I knew something else was wrong. She was just too tired, it wasn’t normal for a little kid to be too tired to jump in a bouncy castle at a party.
— Charlotte
Finally we went back to our GP and she sent Charlotte for blood work to check her iron again and this time to check her TTG levels. At last we had the information we needed her TTG levels were above 130 (normal 7 or under) — she was scheduled for a scope and within weeks, we had a confirmed diagnosis of Celiac Disease. She was then 4 years old. We were shocked by the diagnosis as, at the time, there was no family history of the condition.
Within a couple of weeks on a gluten free diet she stopped complaining about her belly and she had so much more energy. We were getting back to the old Charlotte! She has been such a trooper about the changes we’ve had to make. A lot of her favorite foods and snacks were now off limits but she will say often that ‘I’m glad we are gluten free because it doesn’t hurt anymore’. And though we have had a few tough moments when friends and classmates have had things she couldn’t share in, she’s now happy and healthy and funny and silly and everything else a 5 year old should be!”
– Charlotte’s mom, Tina.
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