What Causes Stomach Pain When Diagnosed With Gluten Intolerance?

Posted on Thu, 13 Oct 2016

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Thu, 13 Oct 2016 Answered on

Wed, 9 Nov 2016 Last reviewed on

Question : My 11 year old daughter was recently diagnosed with a wheat allergy. We have gone 2 weeks gluten free. She still has terrible stomach pain. Her absolute eosinophils are 792. All other blood work is good. Now she has a UTI. Doctor is waiting for stool test. He is also allergic to dust, grass etc. She feels best lying down and is not able to go to school. dr. Mentioned allergies, parasites. I am getting concerned. What advice can you give me/next steps, specialist, etc.

Answered by Dr. Diptanshu Das (1 hour later)

Brief Answer:
Deworming suggested.

Detailed Answer:
Thanks for asking on Healthcaremagic.

I have gone carefully through your query and understand your concerns. Your daughter seems to be allergic to a number of things including wheat. So, mere exclusion of wheat or gluten will not solve the problem for her. An eosinophil blood count (absolute) is expected to be somewhere between 30-350. It is much more in case of your daughter. There are two things to be done. Firstly, there is a possibility of intestinal worm infestation and hence deworming with a single dose of albendazole 400 mg would be advisable. Secondly, the eosinophils need to be brought under check and monek LC tablet (monteleukast + levocetirizine) [prescription medicine] needs to be given to her once daily if and when the problem persists. Subsequently, it might be a good idea to use steroids to control the aggravated immune reaction (aggravated eosinophils).

There is reason to get concerned. But getting concerned will not help. Approach the situation systematically and a solution can be reached.

Feel free to write back.

Regards

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Nagamani Ng