my six yr old daughter weighs 3stone 3lb and is 116cms tall.She will be 7 in August. She had a rotavirus from a few days after birth and had severe diarrroea and vomiting till at least 3 months old. Symptoms improved when all diary was removed from my diet as I was breastfeeding. At 12months old everyone in household contracted a nasty stomach virus. We all took bit longer than normal to get over it however my daughter remained unwell until we noticed that she seemed to be worse after eating cereals and pasta and toast that were all introduced around this time.Things improved but from time to time my daughter would be unwell for no real reason with vomiting or upset stomach which afterwards would leave her either run down with what we thought were cold type symptoms. We then noticed she wasnt growing too well and drs noticed she was actually losing weight. We also noticed that rye or barley made her vomit, as did egg either on its own or in baked goods. Things remained similar then 1 yr ago after Easter, shortly after having MMR INJECTION she had severe stomach aches and her stools actually went whiter than they had ever been and for about three night s she was cold and clammy with mottled skin on forearms and legs,double vision and headaches. She took all summer to recover properly and it was noticed her platelets were still really high (they had been since aged 2).The situation has been similar with bouts of illness esp following accidental ingestion of gluten or lactose. Following ingestion of 4 marshmellows at halloween last yr she was in considerable pain and went to hospital where antihistamines were given and they did held gradually as did codeine. Her face swelled following a course of antibiotics penicillin and neurofen both given at same time due to joint pain diagnosed as hypermobility syndrome last yr. She is under paeditricians here who advised to try to challenge her with egg.initially she no longer vomited but did get gut pain for two days after and two weeks to be back to her status quo>However all of a sudden as she progressed to a boiled egg her behaviour was manic,she said her heart felt like it was jumping out of her chest and as i felt her chest her heart was racing.I gave her antihistamines immediately and things again went back to previous status but we were warned not to give eggs again. She is generally unwell and it affects her mood and is always low in energy. A short course of probiotics from biocare called mindlix seemed to help her get over stomach upsets quicker but made her stools v loose.However for first time her platelet levels came down but not to normal. Come May 19th this yr things got worse when after accidently ingesting some lactose she took two weeks to get over it but then reported having stomach pain 30 to 40 mins after eating ANY FOOD? She is now one two types of antihistamines one which has to be taken 30 mins before food and helps to reduce gut inflammation. she has been on these two weeks and she reports for first time in her life she can feel the pain is less but when school forgets the dose the pain comes back worse than before. Please advise as no one seems to know what exactly is wrong, the drs just say oh lets try this, they offer no diagnosis or prognosis and say she isnt strong enough for gluten challenge to test for coeliacs. Any ideas what i should be doing to help or what drs should be doing? She also seems to be intolerant to sorbitol and maltisol and certain colourings but havent figured it out as cake icing sugar definately made her current situation much worse. If it helps my mother is allergic to aspirin and something in a local anaesthetic containing ligocaine (i think thats the right word) left her allergic to everything even water on her skin for a few yrs she even had to have asthma pump for awhile till she recovered. My father is allergic to Penicillin and something in Neurofen.I'm sensitive to something in neurofen my mouth starts to swell if I have it for a few days.My son (20mths)has eczema since shortly after birth which seems to get worse after gluten when he has had it intermittantly since reaching a yr. Please advise as my daughter seems sad,lethargic and fed up and really was hungry tonight but would not eat because of the pain.
Optional Information: Person's Gender: Female Person's Age: 6 Already Tried: Excluding gluten,diary,eggs,colourings,oats from diet. Trying to keep soya to low levels as it does give same symptoms as diary if in more than one or two foods eaten in a day. Antihistamines-Cetirizine hydrochloride 5ml morning and night.Recent addition of Nalcrom 100mg (sodium cromoglicate)one capsule four times a day has been most effective thing yet. Codeine for pain relief Codeine for pain relief and physiotherapy for the supposed hypermobility syndrome. Mindlix from biocare - A probiotic
Hello, I am sorry your daughter has been through so much. It is clear that at minimum she has severe allergies and intolerances to a variety of foods. Unfortunately allergy "testing" for food allergies is very difficult ; the only way to really know to what she is sensitive is by eliminating that from her diet and watching for symptom improvement. She does require in my opinion evaluation by a pediatric gastroenterologist and she will need upper gi endoscopy and biopsy to look for the underlying process. On the bllos count issue, what were her cbc numbers, platelet count and white cell differential?
Trouble is you think you have identified the food component but its tricky as when the consultant already has been told sorbitol is an issue yet the drug he prescribes to help her has sorbitol in I dont hold out much hope.When I mentioned she got worse at Easter and was really ill with white stools that was following her MMR injection. She is under a paediatric gastroenterologist but I dont feel we are getting anywhere. He refers me to a dietician and the dietician asks me what we are trying then usually says oh you seem to be managing well and oh thats a good idea keep doing that. When she reviews me she regurgitates my good ideas as if they were her own so we dont get anywhere! I will ask my gp for a print out of the bloods as at one point they were supposed to redo them every three months but didnt send the right forms!
OK, I cannot comment on your daughter's blood counts as "high" platelets until I see the numbers and I am happy to review her labs when you can get the printout. High platelets do not contribute to food allergies. I do NOT think I have identified what food / additive components your daughter is sensitive to!
Haas your daughter had an endoscopy?
Does inflammatory bowel disease run in your or your spouse's family?
Has testing for this been performed?
Apologies - When I say 'you think you have identified the food component' I mean myself as a parent.
An endoscopy has never ever been mention.No-one in spouses family has bowel disease of any kind but one niece on that side of family is allergic to strawberries and her sister to cat fur.
Recommend your asking your daughter's specialist about what s/he thinks about performing endoscopy? Does s/he think it would be helpful in diagnosis? Also ask about testing for IBD. It can run in families but most cases are sporadic meaning not inherited tendency. Food allergy specialists are few in the US anyway since we are only know learning a little about the area but that is a good specialist to seek out as well.
As no one has apparent symptoms no testing has been performed for bowel disorders although I did a pharmacy home testing kit for coeliacs disease and it was negative. What is IBD?
One thing that ive remembered as it was strange was that during pregnancy I was very sick to the point I couldnt tolerate any food and was losing weight. I was told to drink guiness to help iron levels and i found macdonalds milkshakes the first thing that I started to be able to eat. I also developed these strange tiny raised dots all over my abdomen that looked like skin tags I clipped them all off at the time and forgot about it.Then at my next review the midwife commented that when she listened to the babies heartbeat one of us had indigestion and I said I was fine so its been on my mind if she was ill before she was born.I also had to take antibiotics just after the first trimester and i really didnt want to as I had wanted to be drug free as it had taken me 2 yrs to get off lamotrigine for epilepsy and be stable to concieve drug free. Im worried that these things have lead to her being ill.
I am seeing patients and will check back online regularly this afternoon and evening so we can continue to discuss.
Hello, I cannot view your last post.
Please post back with more questions if you have them when you're online.
going to try to get blood test results from gp today.I will repost as soon as I have them.
Hello?
Any news on test results?
Hi got test results.Sorry for delay my daughter hasn't been too well. She missed a dose of the antihistamine Nalcrom one lunchtime at school and since then she hasn't had as much relief as she was initially.
Platelet counts were raised 485,538,467
Red cell distribution width was reduced below range 12%,11%,11.4%, mean cell vol was above range at 89.0fl.on a few other variables she was just about inside range ie serum sodium levels 141.0 mmol/L.