EnteroLab results in

DebE13 · Post by **DebE13** » Thu Jul 31, 2014 5:01 am

A-1) Gluten/Antigenic Food Sensitivity Stool Panel

Fecal Anti-gliadin IgA 13 Units (Normal Range is less than 10 Units)

Fecal Anti-casein (cow’s milk) IgA 11 Units (Normal Range is less than 10 Units)

Fecal Anti-ovalbumin (chicken egg) IgA 4 Units (Normal Range is less than 10 Units)

Fecal Anti-soy IgA 9 Units (Normal Range is less than 10 Units)

I am glad I had my son tested but almost wish I didn't know. I'm trying to focus on the good news that eggs and soy are ok but I am now terrified of what this means since I doubt he will be willing to go GF. Do I recommend he avoid dairy too?

His staples are bread, pasta, and fruit. Sigh. I've had brief discussions before with him in the light of "I don't want you to go through what I am/have...." Always with the response of a good natured chuckle and "I'm ok mom."

He is also dealing with other issues which make him 70% more likely to develop UC. He will be returning to college soon and that will make it more challenging too. I could never get over the feeling that I was poisoning him every time I made him a sandwich or a bowl of pasta. My fears are correct. He doesn't have issues now but it's a time bomb waiting to go off and I may be the only one concerned.

Not sure how to handle this one?

MBombardier · Post by **MBombardier** » Thu Jul 31, 2014 9:58 am

My son is 27 and has psoriasis. He jokes about how he never gets sick because of his over-active immune system. He's married to a gal whose family is all either GF, DF, EF, or a combination of them. But suggesting he go gluten-free is like asking him to jump on board with the latest diet fad and he ain't gonna do it. His wife seems to think that they will dodge the bullet from both sides of the family.

They will be paying us an extended visit around Christmas time, and my goal is to feed them seriously good GF food. My DIL has already commented that my cookies are better than any her mother makes. So... a suggestion is to make him good food so that he is favorably impressed with what's available. Maybe make him goodie baskets for college? It may help, can't hurt...

Other than that, I dunno. I am basically there with you.

dfpowell · Post by **dfpowell** » Thu Jul 31, 2014 10:59 am

My daughter, who is 27 and in medical school, has had "IBS" symptoms for the past four years as well as low iron. I'm thinking she has IBD, but with her training she does not buy into any thoughts of being gluten intolerant. In fact she bought a 50# bag of flour, against my advice, and for the past several years bakes as a hobby!
I'm leaving her alone to find her own way, I figure when symptoms get bad enough she will search for answers.
By letting go of trying to control her life, it has decreased my stress and I figure by managing my diet and lifestyle I can indirectly influence her if she chooses to make any changes.
It can be hard when they are our children and we want the best for them.

Zizzle · Post by **Zizzle** » Thu Jul 31, 2014 11:27 am

I doubt he'll find a 13 for gluten compelling, when the cut-off is 10.

JFR · Post by **JFR** » Thu Jul 31, 2014 12:08 pm

dfpowell wrote: By letting go of trying to control her life, it has decreased my stress and I figure by managing my diet and lifestyle I can indirectly influence her if she chooses to make any changes.
It can be hard when they are our children and we want the best for them.

This is the attitude I try to have about my children. They are adults and they make their own decisions. If they ask my opinion about things I am glad to offer it and if I can serve as an example that's good too, but it was hard enough getting them to do what I thought they should when they were young. Now that they are adults I simply try to let go and allow them to lead their own lives. My mother found that impossible to do and it always drove me crazy. I keep that in mind when dealing with my own children. Of course, Deb, your son is still in that in between age, not quite an adult but not really still a child. It's always hard to see our children acting in ways that are not in their best interest, but they do have to figure stuff out for themselves.

Jean

Gabes-Apg · Post by **Gabes-Apg** » Thu Jul 31, 2014 12:23 pm

You can lead a human to knowledge, but you can't make them think.

My mother had crohns for 20years and now has stoma.
My sister has 3 celiac genes, I have 2. I have Pyrrole gene mutation.
I haven't been well enough to work full time for over 18 months. Aged 44.

I had been gluten, lactose, yeast free for 9 years BEFORE my MC Dx.
Now GF, DF, SF, YF for past 4.75 years
My sister has been gluten and dairy free for 3 years, and has flourished health wise since doing so. Best she has been for over 10 years

My sisters young adult children (31, 24) have ibs, gerd, skin issues, asthmatic childhood, - they won't consider going gluten free, never mind any other diet, lifestyle changes.
I hope they maintain good private health insurance!

Post by **tex** » Thu Jul 31, 2014 12:54 pm

Gabes wrote:You can lead a human to knowledge, but you can't make them think.

Amen to that! Part of the problem (IMO) is that most conventional education programs tend to stifle creativity and imagination, by teaching uniformity and mediocrity. Students typically learn that there is only one correct answer/solution to any given question/problem.

Maybe things are different now, but back when I was in school (an eon or 2 ago

) even graduate level college courses were taught as if virtually all problems had a single correct solution, until one got to the very top (at the PhD candidacy level), and then you were allowed to "discover" that most problems actually have many solutions, and the trick is to focus on the best solution. At least that was true in engineering, mathematics, etc. The problem is that by the time they get to that level, most students seem to have a real problem adjusting their way of thinking, so that they subconsciously cling to many of the limiting concepts that they were taught over the lion's share of their education.

The bottom line is that most people tend to believe authority figures rather than to think for themselves, even when they can see that what they are doing isn't working.

Tex

JFR · Post by **JFR** » Thu Jul 31, 2014 1:21 pm

Gabes-Apg wrote:You can lead a human to knowledge, but you can't make them think.

I was going to say the same thing. My father used to say that all the time (substituting horse for human) so it tends to enter my mind often.

Jean

Gabes-Apg · Post by **Gabes-Apg** » Thu Jul 31, 2014 1:48 pm

My observation is that there is a no consequence type mentality,
She'll be right mate, I will be ok, take a med, deal with it later.
Do high risk sports, get broken bones, so what???

There is no focus or encouragement for an individual to have a pro-active preventative /preservative approach to their health.

The media is filled with breakthroughs (not all are real breakthroughs) scientific developments, 15 years ago it was cloning body parts on mice, now it is a 3d printer reproducing organs.
As cancer, autoimmune conditions, rare debilitating gene mutations get more nasty and more complex, big pharma release a drug to bandaid the complex symptoms.

For every media article saying coffee is good, there are just as many saying it will cause health issues. One week red wine is fantastic, two months later, it will kill you.
All the scary articles about cholesterol, eggs, animal fats, 20 years later not true...

Majority of the developed world population have lost the ability to 'listen to their bodies' and doctors are trapped in a system that no longer encourages them to assess and diagnose issues.

Then, an Ebola outbreak in Africa, and some wake up, take note and are keen to know how they can protect themselves.
For most the horse has bolted, the body is in constant inflammation, on the edge of multiple chronic illnesses. Ineffective digestion, leaky gut, the immune system and the adrenals don't have the ability to fight a nasty virus.

Marcia K · Post by **Marcia K** » Thu Jul 31, 2014 3:49 pm

I can relate to the "poisoning" him. My son is in to weight lifting and eats a very healthy diet but he thinks whole wheat bread and bagels are healthy. He doesn't eat a lot of it but every time I prepare one of them for him I want to gag. He's 19 so I know he's not going to change that habit unless something would happen to him health-wise. I can only hope that it doesn't. I have a brother with C.D. and a nephew with Crohn's so time will tell.

Marcia

DebE13 · Post by **DebE13** » Thu Jul 31, 2014 7:40 pm

Thanks for the support in a situation in which is not mine to control.

Marliss, goodie baskets are a great idea. I already do that when he comes home with mostly fruit and ready cooked meat dishes to heat on demand. I will have to look into snack type items to send too. I used to spend my weekends cooking and baking. I loved it! Now I can barely stand to make dinner(s). I am still eating basically meat and veggies for my meals so any additional efforts seem more complicated than I care involve my time in. I feel very guilty about it since I'm basically telling my family I don't want to cook for them because there's nothing in it for me. I'm getting better with coordinating foods that tie into what I can eat. My thyroid issues threw a wrench into the mix because it drained me horribly. That's improving too so I will have to set my sights on planning better.

I've at least got him thinking. After work today he asked what foods had gluten in them.

Donna, I agree. It's hard wanting the best yet letting them find out things on their own.

Zizzle, I'm sure that's exactly what he is thinking yet the damage has started and won't get better from here.

Jean, he has shown himself to a very mature 19 year old. He was forced to grow up rather quickly. He received a dx of PSC for his 16th birthday. Being told you have an incurable liver disease that is fatal at that age shifts all of what you believe to be important. He handles his issues much better than I've handled mine. He is very open with me and seeks my advice and I've always tried to give him space to make his own choices. I know this will be a tough one. I just hope he can head it off before it becomes something much worse.

I'm at least thankful he has the tools he needs to make informed choices about his health even if it isn't immediate. I've picked up some GF ronzoni pastas so hopefully I can start an easier transition by making them readily available for him to pick off the shelf.

No easy answers.....

Gabes-Apg · Post by **Gabes-Apg** » Thu Jul 31, 2014 8:26 pm

is this the son that takes the Vit D3, cause 'it makes mum happy' ?

he will come to a level of acceptance in his time. Having the GF options available is a good start.
as you said, you have provided him with the tools and information. If week by week, he adjusts one meal to be GF that is fantastic progress.

C.U.B. girl · Post by **C.U.B. girl** » Fri Aug 01, 2014 7:21 am

Deb, I feel for you. It's so hard to "parent" adult (or almost adult) children, especially at that transitional age when they think they know what's best for themselves when in reality, they are clueless…..

My son is 31. I had a feeling he likely had celiac (as I do) but it was difficult to convince him to get tested, since he didn't think he had a problem. (Or maybe he had more problems than he was willing to share with his mother!) He was working as a contractor in Afghanistan on a military base, and there were no GF options anyway, so he figured there was no point. But once he returned home about four years ago, he "humored" me and took the blood tests. Like mine, they were off the charts, meaning there was already significant damage done.

It was a slow, gentle process getting him to understand why he needed to go GF. Every time he came home for a meal, I made sure that whatever I fixed was really, really tasty -- even if it meant making a GF chocolate cake from scratch, or killer pasta, or whatever. I'd show him the ingredients I used, and tell him where he could get them. I have a "cheat sheet" of GF items in every category that I keep on my computer for friends who need to go GF for whatever reason, and I e-mailed it to him so he could see just how many options there were. I also gave him the name of a phone app he could download (Gluten Free Restaurant Items) so he'd have plenty of GF menus to choose from when he went out. Then I found a blog written by a young, hip guy who has celiac, and sent him the link ( www.glutendude.com ). He liked it because, unlike so many other GF bloggers, it wasn't somebody's mom writing it, but a young guy like himself, who addressed all the issues a guy that age might have with being GF in a gluten-filled world….. things like finding a decent GF beer, or kissing your gluten-y girlfriend….

Four years post dx, he is now eating strictly GF. That's no small feat for a young, single guy who works full time and likes to go out frequently. Of course, sometimes it means he is eating green beans right out of the can (oh, yuk!) but I've learned to choose my battles with this thing. When faced with a big annual family fish fry on vacation last month, he took his fish and broiled it with lemon juice, and skipped the hush puppies. I'm really proud of him for how far he has come, but he had to find his own way, and his own motivation for doing it. There's only so much a mom can do and say; all we can do is offer plenty of support, encouragement, and resources, and then let them make their own choices.

Hang in there, Deb. If, as you say, he is open to you and seeks your advice, that's a very good sign. He just needs to find his own motivation for changing, and at his age, it can't be "because mommy said so"….

lisaw · Post by **lisaw** » Fri Aug 01, 2014 10:08 am

Hi Deb:

It sounds like he is open to learning more, and it may be slow, but hopefully he will get there. At that age, you can give him the info, but it's up to him to implement (and difficult to watch if he doesn't). Introducing GF foods that he will like while he is home, is a good idea. Is he in a dorm or apt-responsible for making his own food or not? My younger son is 20, in college, has a metabolic disorder, in which he must eat a low protein diet (and has many food aversions). Pretty much the opposite of what I eat. I get what you say about burning out on cooking. I feel like I am cooking much more to have foods on hand for me, that I just don't want to bother cooking more than that very often.

Cindy, glad your son is doing well managing his diet.

Lisa

Sheila · Post by **Sheila** » Fri Aug 01, 2014 7:25 pm

Gabes hit the nail on the head. I know my youngest son, age 43, probably has CC and almost surely has celiac disease. My mother had CC and WD until she died at 92. I have the celiac genes and CC. Chris's IBD has been getting worse by the year. He's a tennis professional and has had discussions with fellow pros who are gluten free. Because he's hearing about it from contemporaries, he's listening. He is finally giving it a try. It is sporadic, but getting better. I gave him a simple GF cook book, try to suggest safe food to order when eating out, etc. He's single and eats out a lot, not much of a cook.
He knows he shouldn't eat gluten. He has D almost immediately after eating it. I have talked to him repeatedly and can only hope he follows through.

Sheila W