I wonder if I also have celiac.....

I am slowly coming to the conclusion that I need to be GFCF as well as Andy. Since we do not bring any non-GFCF food into this house, most of the time I am. I have a confirmed dairy allergy, but I am starting to wonder if perhaps I also have celiac. I certainly do much better on a GFCF diet. My entire life I have suffered from constipation and bowel issues. I have suffered unexplained rashes and practically lived on antacids and I always had canker sores in my mouth. Once we went GFCF for Andy I started to feel much better - but I was still getting both gluten and casein when at work. I was unemployed from June of last year through January this year. During that time since I was home with Andy I had very little chance to consume anything that wasn't GFCF. My BM's were never so normal as they were during that time and I never ate one single antacid. In the fall we took a trip out of town and I had some ice cream. Within minutes I was heading to the bathroom and had the runs all weekend. I got a runny nose and thought I was coming down with something - it was followed by the most terrible (and itchy) rash a few days later. Two months later I decided see if it really was the dairy (I had been tested for a dairy allergy years previous and it was positive, but it was too hard for me to stay away from dairy - I was still in denial) so I repeated the ice cream experiment with the same results. Once I returned to work at the end of January I again had many more opportunities to eat gluten and casein. I found I could eat small amounts of dairy and be OK - but no chunks of cheese, no pizza and no ice cream. Gluten didn't seem to bother me - but I really didn't eat it that much - maybe a few croutons on a salad. I was out of state all week this past week at a conference for my job. I avoided dairy - but it is impossible to avoid gluten at these sorts of things - and there was plenty of gluten everywhere. I got so sick. I still feel sick and I have been home for two days. I have eaten a whole huge Sam's Club bottle of Tums, my bones hurt, my skin is itchy (a rash is just appearing), my mouth is full of canker sores and I've had a runny nose. Something triggered a migraine (something I thought maybe I had finally gotten rid of for good). My son is adopted - I am not genetically related to him - what are the odds that I would have celiac as well? Regardless, I think I need to stay GFCF as much as possible. I think I will enquire into a special menu at the next conference I attend.

Should I test my child for celiac before starting the diet?

This is my opinion and only my opinion.

I believe every autistic child should be tested for celiac disease. On many websites you read that it is OK to just go ahead and try the diet - what do you have to lose? I believe that is bad advice. There just appears to be too many kids that have both autism and celiac to not be tested for it.

You must be actively consuming gluten when you are tested for celiac. Knowing that my child has celiac affects how I approach the diet. This is a life long diet. This isn't something I can try for awhile and then drop if I see no results. The consequences of continuing to eat gluten for my child are huge in the long run.

But my child shows no symptoms of celiac. Mine didn't either.

I had a urine test done to test for GFCF and it came back fine. The urine test is not for celiac. You can have a negative urine test and still have celiac. The celiac test is a blood panel - if all 3 panels are positive, then you need to have the intestines scoped for a diagnosis.

Again - this is just my opinion, but I feel quite strongly that celiac is not something you want to go untreated. Ask your doctor to test for it before you start the diet.