Hi Laura,
Wow! It's hard to believe that she's starting school already, and it's impressive that's she's not intimidated by this big change in her life. It's great to see that she continues to do so well in managing her MC, too. That's interesting that her reaction time has shortened so significantly. I wonder if that might suggest a mast cell reaction to gluten.
Regarding the comments about kids outgrowing gluten-sensitivity: While kids sometimes outgrow other food issues, such as lactose intolerance, and/or gastroesophageal reflux, and even a wheat allergy, they never outgrow gluten-sensitivity in the form of a food intolerance, (which results in an autoimmune reaction). If you want a reference:
# Children don't outgrow celiac disease and so must continue the gluten-free diet their whole life.
http://pediatrics.about.com/od/diseases ... ac_dis.htm
Here's another:
Even though some people are able to resume eating gluten, without immediate symptoms, they do not “outgrow” celiac disease, and it is not “cured”. The gluten free diet treatment should be continued for life.
http://www.cdhnf.org/user-assets/docume ... eliac2.pdf
While Camryn doesn't have celiac disease, per se, the mechanism of the reaction in the gut is very similar, except that much of it is centered in the colon, rather than in the small intestine, (as with celiac disease). Please don't let anyone pull the wool over your eyes, with their quasi-scientific sounding mumbo-jumbo. Here's why so many people are confused about this issue. According to some allergy specialists, about 80% of children outgrow allergies to milk, eggs, wheat, and soy, by 5 yr of age, while the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America is a bit more conservative, and claims that 50% of children with allergies to milk, eggs, wheat, and soy will outgrow their allergy by the age of 6. With such a difference in statistics, it sort of appears that there may be a lot of guesswork involved, with these numbers. At any rate, this is all in reference to a classic allergic reaction, involving anaphylaxis, (an IgE reaction), and it has nothing to do with autoimmune reactions to proteins in the gut, (which is an IgA reaction), nor do classic allergies, in fact, have anything to do with the digestive system. Allergies are a totally different breed of cat, than the food intolerances that we have to deal with, with MC. The type of gluten-sensitivity that Camryn has, is non-IgE mediated, and it's not an allergy, at least not by the classic definition. The reason why children outgrow egg allergies, for example, is because typically, they are allergic to the yolk, (which causes an IgE reaction). With MC, those of us who are sensitive to eggs, react to the albumen, (the white of the egg, not the yolk). We can usually safely eat the yolk, (provided that we can completely separate it from the albumen. For us, the albumen causes an IgA reaction.
The bottom line is, you are quite correct - Camryn will not outgrow her gluten-sensitivity.
Congratulations on the up-coming addition to the family.
Thanks for the update, I always look forward to them,
Tex
