Hi,
I'm new to Coleiac diseas
I'm 16 this year n found out after a blood test about 2 months ago
I have kept well away from gluten foods which i'm really proud about
but i need help understand what lies ahead of me

How long will it take for me to start growing again?

I lost many years of my growth and i still think i have a few years left, do i get extra growth years to pay back the years i didn't grow?

I read it says if u start the treatment before stopping growth, you MAY have a chance of having "catch up time", i dont understand!?!?

as well as them mentioning "delayed growth" meaing, it justs pauses my growth? or wat?

Please sumbody help me! i have a hard time understanding...especially me n my physical features....such as my "tool" which seems to be "shorter" than usual i dont get it n i need help! sigh

thankyou

Hi Rolland, and welcome to this board. You know, even kids that don't have celiac disease can grow late. Two of my brothers and my son (who may or may not have celiac disease, I don't know at this point) were extremely short until about 16 years old. In their sixteenth year they just shot up and grew a foot or more in a year. My youngest brother, who was a 'little boy' until he was 15 grew to be the tallest of my six brothers (and none of them are short by any means).

My son was despairing when he was 15, because he looked like he was 12 and still had a soprano voice at that time. People considered him cute, which he resented. He is now six feet tall.

So, try not to be too upset at this point, stick religiously to your gluten-free diet, there is certainly still hope for normal growth for you. I advise you to also eliminate dairy right now, for at least six months. And whatever you do, don't substitute with soy products for either gluten flours or milk products! It would not help, due to estrogen type components in the soy beans.

You should also get yourself tested for vitamin and mineral deficiencies, as these are common to people with celiac disease, due to malabsorption. The most important ones are vitamin D, calcium, magnesium, ferritin (iron), hemoglobin, vitamins B6 and B12, vitamin K, potassium.

All the best.

Hi,

Thankyou so much for your reply, on behalf of my family and me. I will be seeing a professional coeliac dietian n consultant in a week and would double check on what i should eat, or not, if i would grow and stuff. Thankyou once again for the reply, it really lifted up my day :-)
God Bless you!

Thankyou

i just turned 16 this year too. Just the other day i was asking my dad if he thought i would get any taller and stuff like that. i'm only 5'2" and it seems like i have been that height for a while, but then we found out about my celiac. Now i am just wishing i will have a growth spurt...at 16

I was diagnosed at age 13 and my growth was severely stunted. I was 5'3' when diagnosed and 70 pounds. I'm almost 19 (next week!) and am now 5'9" and 108 pounds. It took about a year after going gluten-free for me to start growing and putting on weight. Since then I haven't stopped!

Just be patient. It may take a while but hopefully you see some improvement.

hey thanx, dat really gave me more courage, faith n confidence = ]

I've been very delayed in growth, and have finally been starting to grow this past year. I'm just up to 5'4'' but I am really hoping I grow taller than that!! I seem to be growing a quarter inch every couple months, so hopefully I'll continue in my growth spurts. Though I'm not sure about how tall I might get, because all my female relatives are pretty short, and I'm taller than everybody except for my sis, who's 5'6''. My goal is to at least reach 5'6'' so i can beat my sis. lol.