Does anyone have Celiac Disease?

Does anyone here have Celiac Disease or have a child who has Celiac Disease?

• I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease when i was 10 years old. It's a genetic disease so i knew from the get go that there was a high risk of passing it to my children. However, i have a rare case of it. While most who suffer from it are small and have trouble gaining weight, i've always been on the curvier side; while most are severely affected when they cheat on their diet with extreme stomach aches and throwing up...i haven't experienced anything since i was diagnosed with it and i cheat all the time. There haven't even been any negative effects on my intestines anymore...they've fully healed. It's gotten to the point in the last 10 years that they've done 6 biopsies and would re-diagnose me to make sure. All of this put together makes me worry about my children. I currently have a 9 month old son and our doctor has advised me not to restrict his diet until he starts showing signs of the disease. I know that this disease can be latent for a while and not come out until years down the road; like i said, i was only diagnosed at 10. But i don't know the signs an infant or small toddler might exhibit. I have never been faced with that before as i seem to be the only one in the family (at least on my mom's side) with this disease. And what if my children are like me and don't have any physical symptoms like sickness and stomach aches, but have internal symptoms like damage to the intestines? And even if he does start feeling sick...as an infant or small toddler, it's not like he could convey this to me. I guess what i'm looking for is experience from people who've went through it. What are some things i should watch out for? If you have Celiacs, how did you go about raising your children and working their diet, knowing there was a chance they might have it too?

• Answer:

  My mom was diagnosed in her 30s, no signs before that other than she was sick for a couple months before she _requested_ to be tested for celiac's. If you have a type that doesn't display physical symptoms, consider talking to the child's pediatrician about what kind of testing options there are for them, and what you need to look out for. I would not rule out the possibility that they would exhibit the more typical symptoms, just look for a reaction after they have a trigger food. My mom was very nervous about my brother and I having celiac's once she found out she had it, we just didn't have gluten in the house for the longest time. My mom is 100% better now and we can eat all the bread we want :)