Seeking Diagnosis

[wsieving]

Hello everyone! I stumbled upon this board and am amazed at the information that is here! I know you all get a lot of questions and I have tried to read through all of them that I thought came close to the information I was needing... however I think I have one you haven't heard, or maybe not in awhile.

My daughter is 13 months old. Ever since I can remember it has been a fight getting her to eat. Some days are better than others, but most of the time I worry that she isn't ever eating enough. She is breastfed, so at least I know she is getting that much. It never really concerned me until she started having water diarrhea that just would not go away. It lasted for probably 3 weeks and was also (of course...) accompanied by a horrible rash. This was about 3 months ago. She was due for her well baby checkup so we went to see the doc on our regularly scheduled time. She had dropped weight. I still do not know how much because they keep giving me the wrong weight chart (I normally write everything down after the appt, but the last one she had before this was just a pre-op physical before she had lachrymal duct surgery on her eye). Then the doc says, come here Mama, I want you to feel something. He had me place my fingers in her groin area and feel her swollen lymph nodes. I have 2 other children and never experienced this, so it really startled me. He said she looked a tad anemic too, so we had her finger poked (levels were normal), and he said if the swelling wasn't better in 2 weeks come back. 2 weeks later she was still swollen, but we had the diarrhea under control. I took her back in and doc says, they aren't huge so lets give it another month and if they aren't gone come back... Ok so a month later we go back. In the mean time she had on and off diarrhea/constipation, same lack of appetite, etc.. I asked him if it was possible that it was allergy related because she has always also had a rash on her cheeks that I found a bit odd. He thought that was absurd, ordered a CBC to make sure that it wasn't anything serious, and sent me on my way. CBC came back normal. That was a huge sigh of relief, but I still felt something had to be causing this.

Here it is 3 months later and she still has swollen glands. Still has occasional diarrhea/constipation. Still a finicky eater. She has dropped to the 5% in weight which is unheard of for my children... both of my boys were always above average. I started doing research of my own and everything seems to be pointing to a gluten intolerance IMO. At first I thought it was dairy because we have a strong history of that in my family. But I have noticed trends with what she eats and how her stools are. Today she had diarrhea with a rash on her bum, and last night we ate Pizza, she also had mac n cheese for lunch today before she had a bm.

Has anyone ever experienced swollen glands in the groin area as a symptom? Am I just being a crazy mom? And if I am on to something, how to I walk in to a new pediatrician's office and insist to them that I think this is what is wrong without looking like a mom with Munchhausen?

I appreciate any advice you can give!

[slmprofesseur]

Hello and welcome:

My son had a wheat allergy. He had the rash and swollen groin. Especially when day care would give him the wrong foods. He was just tested for celiac last week. But we've been Gluten-free for a while so it probably won't be accurate. The doc says he may be gluten intolerant.

He was born at 33 wks and has been in the 5th % for growth and weight until he was 2 yrs old this May. After going gluten free for one year I noticed normal stools (even his b-feeding stools were foul like diarrhea.) You could try the diet and see how it does for a week or so. Other people may be better than me at advising when and how to go about testing.

[wsieving]

Well I finally got her in to see an actual pediatrician today. He is gathering all of her previous records from our family doc and we will go back in one week. He will do a full physical examination then, also will run allergy panels. DD had a horrid bout of diarrhea in the middle of the night last night. She woke up screaming like she never has before.... we had fettuccine for dinner last night. Her bottom was so rashy and swollen. We felt so sorry for her and helpless as parents at the same time. Thank goodness she had an appointment today.

Are the IGG tests accurate for children as young as she is? Should I be making sure I incorporate lots of glutens before her appointment?