Delayed Growth, Vomiting For 2 Months

[sez]

My son is 6 years old and has been vomiting every day for about 2 months now. Some days are better than others. It doesn

[Ursa Major]

I agree that your son's problem could be celiac disease. Failure to thrive (or failure to grow, really) is one of the most common symptoms of celiac disease in young children. Since the blood tests are extremely unreliable in young children, your son's test results could well be false negative. Since one was elevated, I would either demand an endoscopy with biopsies for celiac disease (within a week), or put him on the gluten-free diet to see if it helps. You have to do something, as vomiting so often could damage his stomach and erode his esophagus.

If you go for the biopsy, put him on the gluten-free diet as soon as it is done. The diet is really the best and most reliable test, especially in kids.

[Guest Rosany]

Dear Sez,

I agree with Ursa Major It does sound like possible celiac disease. I am really new to this as well but wanted to stop in and send big hugs your way. I hope things work out for your little boy. Hugs and have a great night.

Rosa

[gfgypsyqueen]

I would recommend getting the formal biopsy test for Celiacs and gene tests. If those come back positive, the child will not be able to argue with you when he is older about whether or not he really has this disease. If the tests are inconclusive or negative, I would still recommend trying the gluten-free diet for 6mths or so. Keep a log to see the changes in behavior, growth, etc.

In my case, I have Celiacs so I was more aware of what to look for in my kids. My youngest had barely grown for over a year. She ate non-stop and was tiny for her age. The Drs said she was just petite. With the amount of food she ate (always starving) she should have been tiny and way over weight! After insisting that she be tested for Celiacs, getting the biopsy (inconclusive) and the gene test (DQ2 positive) the Dr insited that she did not have Celiacs and could not possibly have it. After many arguments with that Dr and family, I put her on the diet. EVERYTHING has changed. She has reactions to gluten. She has grown several inches and gained about 5 lbs since going gluten-free in August. Her rashes are gone and her behavior has done a 180 degree change for the better.

So IMO, you seem to be taking drastic measures for you child now. Try the testing and then the diet for Celiacs. It is only food and no side effects. It may be the answer you have been lookng for.

Ask more questions or ask for advice on this site. Everyone is really helpful and someone has usually gone through the problem before.

[kenlove]

I'm 50 years older than your son but my sympathies are with him. I went through the vomiting spell for 6 months daily.

As soon as I went gluten free it stopped after 2 days of being off of all gluten. I'm sure someone on the forum could give you the name of some doctor who specializes in children and understands celiac.

Good luck

Ken

My son is 6 years old and has been vomiting every day for about 2 months now. Some days are better than others. It doesn

[Janeti]

My son was sick from the day I put a bottle in his mouth...long story. But at 22, we now know he has celiacs. When he was in high school, he was only 5 feet tall, and wanted so badly to play football, he just was not growing. Today, he is over 6 feet tall, and healthy. No more nausea, stomach aches, running to the bathroom, and that nasty DH that was all over his neck and in the palm of his hands. It is so worth it to have him tested...it could save years of sickness.

[Darn210]

Just wanted to chime in . . . whereas it could definitely be celiac, it may be some other type of food intolerance. My daughter reacts with vomitting/spitting up when she has something with a lot of blue dye in it. I know someone else whose child reacts that way to dairy. Both of those are somewhat of an immediate reacation (within an hour? of ingestion) but I could see a delayed reaction, too. You might want to keep a food diary to see if you notice any patterns . . . always worse on a day after a lot of milk or wheat or whatever. Trying a gluten free diet would certainly answer that question, but if that is unsuccessful, you might try eliminating some of the other big possibilites such as milk. I also want to mention, that foods don't always show up as allergies. The child that reacted with vomitting to milk was Not allergic and an allergist won't even test for a food dye, that is automatically considered an intolerance.

[vanillazeis]

My son is 6 years old and has been vomiting every day for about 2 months now. Some days are better than others. It doesn

[Electra]

My son is 6 years old and has been vomiting every day for about 2 months now. Some days are better than others. It doesn't seem to slow him down though. He eats all the time even after vomiting. He will occasional complain of stomach pain but not every day. He has seen his pediatrician several times and they tried medicine for gastric reflux, did an upper GI and he gave up and was going to refer him to a GI doctor. I did some research myself and ran across some literature on celiac and it sounds like a real possibility. I requested my son be tested and the lab results showed only the IgG was elevated. Everthing else was normal. He has always been underweight and has delayed growth problems. He was even put on growth hormone for delayed growth in which doctors could not find a cause. I am frustrated that no doctors have not figured this out before now. I have spent a lot of money on growth hormone and probably all he needed was a gluten free diet. If you don't mind could you tell me your thoughts on this. Thank you very much

My son has been vommiting since birth often more then once a day. As he gets older it slows down, and we have yet to get a diagnosis. After I was diagnosed with Celiac I was convinced that my son also had it, so I got him blood tested and it came out negative. I'm still afraid he has it, but at this point we can't seem to get a positive result on anything. Good Luck and I hope we both get answers soon!!

Oh and he had a biopsy too back when he was 3 but we need to get that repeated. The Ped GI we had is the only Ped GI specialist in our entire state and he "claimed" that biopsies in children 3 and under are "ACCURATE" which goes against all the literature I read.