Progress!

A few weeks ago my little engineer had his 3 year well check. I seriously cannot believe it's been 3 wonderful years since the Lord graciously gave him to my husband and me. It's been 3 years with plenty of ups and downs and the challenges are changing constantly but I love it and wouldn't change a thing! We've been gfcf for one year now and I refuse to challenge the diet until his bloodwork comes back normal so we sent for labs again. To give you an idea of what I'm talking about here I'll do a little explaining. IGE antibodies indicate a true allergy such as one that would lead to anaphylactic shock and a positive test at an allergist office. My little engineer doesn't have that kind of reaction to gluten or casein (praise the Lord!). My guy has an IGG response. His body attacks the gluten and casein proteins when he eats them much like your body attacks a cold virus. His body attacks gluten and casein and creates IGG antibodies as his body makes antibodies for viruses he comes in contact with. This kind of reaction can lead to all kinds of symptoms which for him include chronic yeast infections, eczema, diarrhea, and some behavioral issues. For a normal person, IGG antibody levels for casein are less than 2. My precious boy had antibody levels of 28 last year when they tested him which was in the severely high range. This year his levels came back at 5.6!!! Even better is his gluten antibodies. Normal people register antibody levels of less than 11. Last year his antibody levels were so high we didn't get an actual number. The labs came back saying more than 100 so really it could have been 101 or the highest number you can imagine. This year they came back at 14!!! How awesome to hear! We've taken the offending proteins out of his diet which has allowed his body to handle the antibody load it accumulated the first 2 years of his little life. Both levels are still slightly high so we are continuing to remain gfcf without a challenge. We will run labs again next year then go from there. We are hopeful that his little body is busy healing itself with this break from gluten and casein and that one day he'll be able to enjoy gluten and casein foods in moderation but for now, gfcf we remain :).