Vomiting Fest

[jcgirl]

I have posted before about my struggles to find out answers to son's GI problems. He has constant D of course and has been going through several episodes of chronic vomiting. He has missed 4 weeks of school so far this year. Endoscopy in August was negative for celiac disease as well as blood work. He has severe acid reflux and 5 ulcers and taking meds for that. Tuesday he had the hydrogen breath test for Lactose intolorance and hoping to get results today. Prior to the breath test he was puke free for 2 weeks. The next morning he starting the vomiting again, doc office said that if it is in fact lactose problem that the stuff he drank for test could have activated the vomiting. My questions are as follows:

Has anyone had hydrogen breath test before and if so what do numbers indicate. His baseline was .044 and throughout test numbers went down to .020, etc .

Does anyone know about eosinophilic esophagitis? I think this may be an issue with his vomiting.

Should I insist on another endo for celiac disease? The doctor is talking about another to check ulcers and also colonoscopy. May be looking for Chrohn's

Any help would be appreciated

[jenvan]

your poor son! unforutnately i don't know anything about that espophagtits... i did read it is usually connected to allergies. had your son tested? i wouldn't think lactose intolerance would be causing his vomiting. what is his diet like? i would recommend keeping a food/symptom journal if you haven't already. that has helped me figure out food/symptom correlations and find some culprits for me. like, what changed before this next round of vomiting started?

i have a friend just recently diagnosed with gastritis, nonbacterial, and her symptoms were frequent vomiting. her stomach was completely inflamed. if you keep hitting dead ends, you may want to ck out the SCD diet? it might be an option for you. it is often an option for those with no improvement. ever seen the thread here for it? Open Original Shared Link

[jcgirl]

Jen,

Thanks for the link, I will check it out after work. The last puke fest as he likes to call it these days was the week of November 7th. I took him off lactose but not sure if that helped. He tends to vomit for about 5 days and then he is back to normal so to speak. The big D never really goes away. Tuesday he felt fine so I am thinking the lactose solution did in fact trigger it but I don't know. It is very hard to keep a food journal with a 13 year old but we will give it a try. I just feel so bad for him and guilty that I can not make it all go away. Thinking gluten-free is the next step after second endoscopy, regardless of results. Being that it is my son and not me, I want to be sure that every other possible cause is ruled out. He may have lactose and gluten intolorance. I hope and pray that it is not Chrohn's.

[jenvan]

I understand guilt is a natural reaction to your son’s struggle…but it seems like you are doing all you can at this point… If it turns out to be crohns, then definitely look at the SCD diet. Go here on amazon to read reviews of the book, and the countless people with crohn's, celiac that the diet has helped... Open Original Shared Link

[jcgirl]

My son's doctor called with the test results. He is definatly lactose intolerant and he also has some major bacterial overgrowth going on. I asked if this met caseine free as well and the nurse said no. She also indicated that the vomiting this time around was definatly brought on by the lactose he drank for the test. The doctor wants to wait to see if things settle down with the new diet and Flagyl. Here is my thinking however, the kid has missed 4 weeks of school already this year so I am going to request that they do the tests during the Christmas vacation. The doctor had told me that he wanted to check out how the esophagal ulcers were doing. This way I can ask that they do biopsy for eosinophilic esophagitis, celiac (again) and also look for inflammation. The poor kid got jipped on his genes pool. Mom is gluten intolorant, and Dad's side has the acid reflux and lactose intolorance.

[darkangel]

So sorry to hear about your son... bless his heart!

As severe and debilitating as his symptoms are, I'd definitely try him on a gluten AND casein free diet - regardless of what the nurse says. It took eliminating both to make me feel dramatically better.

I've had experience with the Specific Carbohydrate Diet. It is totally gluten free... even completely grain free. However, one of the important parts of this diet is the home-made yogurt with its good flora. The yogurt is very helpful for a lot of folks on this diet, but it's definitely something you'll want to avoid with your son. I even tried making mine with goat milk, as some of the folks on the listserve suggested and I still couldn't tolerate it. Instead, your son can take a probiotic supplement and get the same benefits without the casein. I highly recommend Custom Probiotics' six strain blend.

Open Original Shared Link

The Web site for the diet is Open Original Shared Link. The book can be ordered online or found in your local bookstore. You can sign up for the listserve and talk to the folks there about your son's symptoms. The author herself was on the list at one time, but she's elderly and I don't know if she's still active or not.

[jenvan]

Wow...I've never heard of lactose intolerance doing anything like that...usually just gas, bloating etc. ...but I did read in a few articles it can, just surprising to me. He still could be allergic or intolerant to milk though. I would try and get him to be cf for a while and see if that helps. Or just take out the lactose, not all dairy and see if there is a difference. I used to drink Lactaid milk, so you could try that. I have cut out pretty much all dairy now though. I figured out from my food journaling that it causes me issues. It also came up highly intolerant on my allergy test. Milk is one of the worst culprits for food allergies. Going cf can be hard, but its doable, even with a child. A helpful resource for you might be Open Original Shared Link Also, some good cf/gluten-free snacks/desserts are namaste and enjoylife. Hope the mystery is revealed over break and that he improves soon!

One other thing I just thought of...since Flagyl is an antibiotic, I would put your son on a probiotic during that time...since antibiotics can't distinguish between good and bad bacteria. I always take acidophilous (lacto) when I am on an antibiotic. I think this is very important...

[jcgirl]

Jen, the ulcers are from his acid reflux. I read that Eosinophilic Esophagitis can be aggravated by lactose if you are intolerant. My brain is so fried right now trying to keep up with researching possible causes, the doctor trips, the diets, the meds, the school work, etc.......

I plan to put him on complete dairy free diet and take it from there. He is dreading the thought of gluten-free and can't blame him on that one. It is hard for me, but, I have no problem with dairy.

[zip2play]

Does anyone know about eosinophilic esophagitis? I think this may be an issue with his vomiting.

Esophagitis is what occurs when stomach acid is present in the esophagis. It tears it down and makes the esophagis vulnerable to cancer and other major issues.

I pray your son finds something that will make him well!

Monica