Taking My 18 Month Old to GI Doctors, Anyone with Info....

My daughter had a rash and tummy problems and vomiting uncontrollably from the time she started solids and a dairy intolerlance. We had her tested by a GI, allergist and scoped and biopsied she ended up with Celiac disease. A change of her diet to gluten free and removing soy(allergic) she now can drink milk, eat cheese and has no more pain. I am not saying this is what is wrong but just saying it could be a possiblity. She has been on the diet for 5 years now...no more rash, gained to an appropriate weight and feels good.

Sorry you and your child have to go through this.

I can give you a little advice: Have three manila folders with you.

In one, list what you have tried (eliminating certain foods, for example, and be specific; over the counter medications, vitamins and supplements, and again, be specific), and what doctors you have seen (names and contact info) and what diagnoses your son has received and what tests he has had (Xrays, scopes, etc). Have these on separate pages. Be neat and concise so when the GI specialist asks questions about previous medications or foods you can quickly refer to your proper page.

In the second folder, have your observations. Starting now, begin taking notes. What time of day, the environment (loud, quiet, dark, etc), before or after a meal (and what the meal consisted of), in the car or at home or in the store, the hiccuping, was he laughing at something funny, etc.,: start logging his crying or vomiting episodes: when they occur, what is going on around him and what he has eaten, and how long they last.

These will be important when you face the multitude of questions and have to write the entire history. Believe me, it's hard to think of all this stuff when you see the paperwork and have just a few precious minutes with a specialist and all their technicians.

Also, in the third folder, have a separate blank page and a pen. You will hear a lot of terms and they'll say things like "children with _______________ [long medical term]". Write it down, even phonetically if you can't spell it. You can look it up later. And they'll suggest trying ____________ [a vitamin or a supplement] and it will be hard to remember all of it later. Even if they give you paperwork, there will be some things you heard that you wish you could think about later. Write your questions down, too. You can ask the nurse later. I sit and take notes like crazy. Things that pop into my head, something I remember, something I want to follow up on, etc.

There's no telling what tests your child will have, but a well-organized informed parent who provides good details to the dr in brief concise ways is of invaluable assistance. You may not need all the info at the appointment but you never know. Think about all this stuff now while you're home, instead of trying to rack your brain in the rush at the hospital.

We thought that my daughter had bad reflux because she spit up and vomited a lot. It actually got worse when she transitioned off of formula and it took us six months to transition her. That should have been our first clue that she was lactose intolerant.

Your son could be lactose intolerant and maybe even have a milk protein allergy (these are two separate issues... lactose intolerance is an inability to digest lactose, a milk sugar and can cause diarrhea or constipation, stomach upset, excessive painful gas, nausea, and more gastro issues; milk allergy can cause vomiting and eczema). Since there's eczema I believe that your son has at least a milk protein allergy.

With a pediatric GI ask them to do the breath test for lactose intolerance. They would give the baby a lactose solution, which is just a clear sugary drink that he would have to drink within 15 minutes or so, and then every 30 minutes breath into a tube that catches his breath. If he's breathing out nitrogen then he would be lactose intolerant.

If he has a milk protein allergy they could do a test where they can test the blood for antibodies to dairy with an ELISA Food Allergy Panel.

They're pretty non-invasive tests and they're worth going through.

Hi Kim, I think you already have received some great responses. I agree with taking notes, keeping a folder etc.. my son struggled with the same issues and it seemed to have resolved itself but then years later-he is 16 now-we were faced with some very serious health problems-only to discover that they have been manifesting all this time. So def get to the root cause and listen to the drs but also don't be afraid to question them and get more advice and go with what you feel is right for your child. We also, like another mom who responded, found out it was gluten-if it is something like this, finding out when they are young is a lot easier than trying to get a 16 year old go gluten free!! Here is a lab I recomend that does stool testing. They do gluten tests, tests for dairy and other common allergy causing food. Their website is enterolab.com If eczema runs in the family, there is a good chance that your family has a food sensitivity that they are unaware of. Now that my son had the gluten test done, I am getting it done as it my other son.

I hope this information helps you-sometimes it seems like a long process and a struggle but you are doing all the right things and stick with it! If something doesn't feel right, question it or research it! Good luck!

Hi--
I am wondering if you've ever considered going an alternative route? He might have a hiatal hernia--this is when the stomach is shoved up under the diaphragm. No amount of medicine or diet change will help it, but a chiropractor can do a simple adjustment that will put the stomach back in place. This is not too strange for babies---their stomach muscles aren't strong enough to keep the stomach in place all the time. It even happens to adults when they are under stress. As for the eczema it could be a toxicity issue with the liver or kidneys. If they are overwhelmed the next place the body will dump toxins is through the skin. Finally, sometimes children will manifest their parents stress through physical symptoms. If you or your husband is under a great deal of stress then the symptoms could all be manifestations of emotions and dealing with that will relieve the symptoms. (Yes, I've been here before with my youngest). If you'd like information on what we've done to help him I'm happy to talk further. But I know sometimes the alternative route is not one that people want to take.
Good luck with whatever happens!!
J.

Hi Kim,

While my son had reflux as a baby, we were able to manage it through our pediatrician - so I don't have GI advice. But, since he also had some kidney valve issues at birth, I found myself at Children's Hospital with him when he was three months old. While there, they noticed he a bronchial cleft duct and he wound up having surgery for that a week later. Anyhoo, long way around the bushes to offer my advice on meeting with new doctors about scary medical things.

Do try and stay calm - really hard to do when they are poking and prodding your baby - but your being calm will help your baby stay calm.
Bring another adult with you, to be your support.

Do go with a written list of symptoms - preparing this list in advance will ensure that you don't forget anything. This should include prior medications with dosage etc. What has worked and what has not.

Do keep a journal of when your baby has episodes and what he was doing immediately before the episode.

Do go with a written list of questions and concerns. Again, preparing this list in advance will help you organize your thoughts and not miss anything.

Good Luck
God Bless

I am a medical researcher.

What you need to know is that most, if not all, anti vomiting medicines work by affecting canniboids, dopamine, histamine, serotonins, and choline. ALL of these are in some way connected to the endocrine system. The kind of doctor you need to see is probably an endocrinologist.

All of my ideas are based on that assumption, except for one. I noted that there was a nurse that shoved a tube down the baby's throat very early after birth. That is a possible and very easy way to deliver bacteria into his stomach area. There is a bacteria called H. Pylori that WILL cause gerd type symptoms (vomiting)and hiccups in babies. So one test you should ask for is H Pylori.

My other thought is, blood sugar deregulation, ie: hyperglycemia. Hiccups, eczema and vomiting are all symptoms in hyperglycemia.
Hiccups are a muscle spasm of the diaphram caused by low sodium, low potassium and / or high glucose, or stomach inflammation caused by stomach bacteria (h pylori). Eczema is seen in high blood glucose and low sodium. Cow's milk is very high in quickly absorbed sugar that causes blood glucose to soar. Some milk intolerance can be due to this fact. 25% of those with hyperglycemia/diabetic ketoacidosis will have vomiting.

Gluten intolerance is now very common, is typically rooted in celiacs, and celiacs is typically rooted in adrenal disease because it is adrenal hormones that affect how you metabolise foods and blood sugar. Hyperglycemia will be seen with HIGH CORTISOL hormones.
Adrenal hormones also affect blood pressure issues, and high pressure in the head can cause vomiting issues.

Tests that you should be very agressively pressing for should be:
Cortisol levels , aldosterone, renin, sodium and potassium levels (test all at the same time) a 24 hour glucose tolerance test, and blood pressure. If there is no way to get a cuff reading for blood pressure, an eye doctor can see high BP in the eye. His urine should be tested to see if he is dumping protien, sugar, sodium, or calcium.
Testing for metabolic alkalosis should be done also. When someone is vomiting that much , they will get quickly depleted in potassium...in fact probably massive potassium losses. When that nurse suctioned his stomach, she removed all his gastric juice. This will cause exactly what I just mentioned,low potassium, which can affect blood glucose and sodium levels, and to boot leave a person susseptable to infections exactly like h pylori because all of his good biotics were removed.

You should definitely start some sort of probiotic. Accidophilus, lacctobaccilus...and also low dose naltrexone (LDN). Ask your doc for LDN prescription. If you can't get it , there are ways to purchase it online and make a liquid yourself. LDN helps repair gut biotics. Try to get some bananas and potatoes (high potassium foods) into a regular daily spot in his diet. Magnesium citrate might be good also- it will help with absorption of potassium. Watch for hyperglycemic symptoms after milk and carb foods!- look them up online.

The gagging and coughing he is doing is actually a normal, automatic trigger the body does when there is vomiting- it keeps the person from inhaling the vomit into his lungs.

Gail

It never hurts to get him checked out by an expert. My daughter still had reflux at 18 months so we were referred to a GI specialist. I was glad we went. he didn't end up doing anything, but give me advice. He said that we could do an esophageal exploration but we would have to put her under, and I wasn't ready for that. He said as long as she isn't vomiting or pooping blood, we could wait till she was older. Around her second birthday she began to improve. she is 2.5 now and no reflux symptoms. Some children take longer to grow out of things. But it never hurts to have him checked out. I would be really hard it in a few years you have him looked at and there was something that could have been done now.