Sweet Faces of Celiac Disease: Meet Caleb

Meet Caleb. Caleb is 10 yrs. old and was diagnosed with celiac disease     at 8 1/2 yrs. old.

What symptoms were you or your child having before being diagnosed?

Constipation, Reflux, nausea at bedtime, achy joints, pain in legs, bruising, rib pain, weight loss, bloated tummy.

Any other family members diagnosed with celiac disease?

No.

How has your life or your child's life changed since being diagnosed?

Going gluten free didn't immediately fix things for my son.  He continued to have moods swings, tummy aches, reflux & constipation.  We had to do further testing and determined he also has fructose malabsorption and dairy intolerance, small intestine bacterial overgrowth and intestinal yeast overgrowth (which came on with celiac disease).  It took a year and a half to get him feeling good on a consistent basis (through diet and medication).

Being that 83% of those with celiac disease are UNDIAGNOSED, what are some ways we can encourage more awareness of the disease and its multiple symptoms?

By talking about it...with friends, or new people we meet, and by sharing symptoms checklists on social media.  We need to get the info out there to get a simple blood screening before going gluten free.  So many people I know are doing this...they are going GF and feeling better, but don't get screened first.

Caleb, you are a handsome young man, thank you Mom for sharing Caleb's story with us. 

Thank you mom for reminding everyone, to PLEASE GET A BLOOD TEST FIRST BEFORE GOING GLUTEN-FREE. An autoimmune disease is something you don't want to mess with.