Advice? Support!?

twiztdsista

Hello All--

 I'm hoping someone out there can offer some advice and/or support.  My 29 month old daughter has been battling food related issues since 12 months old.  At 12 months her ImmunoCap testing showed she had allergies to shrimp, milk, and shell fish.  She was put on Lactaid milk which obviously did nothing to help her.  She was switched to soy which made her GI issues insanely worse.  I took her off both of them and tried hemp and rice milks.  Currently she is having issues with wt gain (for the past 13 months she's only gained 1 lb with clothes on), severe constipation despite eating non-stop fruits and veggies, will say she's hungry but refuse to eat or barely eat, eczema/asthma flares, and a noticiably distended stomach (she looks like one of those malnourished babies on TV).  She does have a large ventral hernia the length of her abdomen which to date hasn't seemed to cause her any issues.  At her 24 month visit they repeated her ImmunoCap test and it showed zero allergies.  They told me to put her back on milk slowly and see how she reacted.  Her asthma got insanely worse, her eczema flared, and she refused to eat for weeks she lived on Pediasure type products.  Last week her pedi put her back on reflux meds for the first time since 12 months old and gasp my picky eater who has never eaten meat is woofing food down though still in very small amounts.  I'm at a complete loss as to where to go next.  She has never had any type of GI testing. 

Lil Kate

Maybe a milk/soy protein intolerance rather than an actual allergy?  GL...It is tough when you can figure theses kids out.  DS has issues with his GI system as well and we can't figure it out as well.  Stick with your gut...don't let the doctors have you try somehting if you know it is not working.

magdusia

poor baby!

You may need to go see someone new for a second opinion.  I would first make an appointment with a GI... 

if she's only eating fruits and veggies, that might be the reason for her constipation.. probably due to the large amount of fruit intake. 

But it sounds like the ventral hernia in her abdomen may be the cause also.  I just did some quick reading on it (since i'm clueless about hernias) but from the quick google searches i did, it sounds like she may be in pain.. abdominal pain.

I really wish i could help but i don't want to give the wrong advice.. But the only thing i could suggest is for you to take her to a GI as soon as possible so that they can do more testing.

hope you get some answers soon! 

julandjo

I would press for Celiac testing.  The first step is a blood test.  If that's positive, some doctors will also want to do a biopsy via upper endoscopy.  But a positive blood test alone is enough for a firm diagnosis.  I'm sorry you're dealing with all this stress and I hope you get answers soon!

DandelionMom

julandjo:

I would press for Celiac testing.  The first step is a blood test.  If that's positive, some doctors will also want to do a biopsy via upper endoscopy.  But a positive blood test alone is enough for a firm diagnosis.  I'm sorry you're dealing with all this stress and I hope you get answers soon!

Ditto!  

magdusia

julandjo:

I would press for Celiac testing.  The first step is a blood test.  If that's positive, some doctors will also want to do a biopsy via upper endoscopy.  But a positive blood test alone is enough for a firm diagnosis.  I'm sorry you're dealing with all this stress and I hope you get answers soon!

I agree with testing for celiac, especially b/c of her distended stomach.  But i though if you have celiac you would never be constipated?? (I just remember my friend going through that and they had the worst BM issues ever! and it was the opposite from constipation but they toddler had a distended stomach also).  

DandelionMom

magdusia:

But i though if you have celiac you would never be constipated??  

DD was frequently constipated.  Some people tend toward diarrhea, some toward constipation, and some have both.   

magdusia

DandelionMom:

magdusia:

But i though if you have celiac you would never be constipated??  

DD was frequently constipated.  Some people tend toward diarrhea, some toward constipation, and some have both.   

makes sense.