Need to this. 8 year old daughter just diagnosed.

Any advice and help most welcome.
My daughter has had problems for as long as I can remember and has just been diagnosed with GERD and IBS. SHe has chronically inflamed oesophogitis.
She has probably had it since at least 1 as she lost her front top and bottom teeth around 2 and we were told this was as she was grinding - never saw her do this but Gastro has now told us this would have been due to reflux.

When she is in a bad way she gets headaches and night sweats. I also have noticed that she wakes with a croakey voice and often has blocked stuffy nose in the evening and night - is this all to do with GERD?

She was given LOSEC 20mg a few weeks ago but it brought back her IBS symptoms which we'd got under control through strict diet so I stopped them and am waiting to see Gastro again next week to discuss.
Will there be an alternative? Is it common to react in this way? The losec didnt help her reflux either.

I only found out about her reflux when discussing symptoms of her IBS with her and she casually mentioned it She thought everyone had this and it was normal.
She says she has two sorts - one very liquidy and the other lumpy.

Will she grow out of this? As she it so young what does the future hold for her? Might she grow out of it or will it be life long? Having it so young does this mean it increases her chances of it getting worse and leading to Barrets?

She also gets candida on her vagina although GP says not related but steriod cream isnt helping it so the gp is going to investigate hopefully why she gets this. Could it be related?

Thanks. We are in UK btw

Anytime I hear about children suffering it just brakes my heart. The best advise I can give you is get a referral to a childrens hospital! Most local peds just won't admit that they are over their head. Two out of four of my children had health issues that went on far to long because I had too much faith in local peds. I got referrals for both of them to UW childrens hospital in Madison WI, and both are 110% better today. Don't stop until you get a referral to a well known childrens hospital, the locals just can't compare!!!!!!

Best wishes,
Doggbones

Hi

Thanks for responses. We are seeing a children's gastroenterologist although appointments are fairly well spaced out and we have to wait for ages between appointments which can be stressful if we have questions or are unsure of what is going on.

Her voice is hoarse at the moment and she is very nasally when talking. I am sure it is related to the GERD.

It is difficult to extrapolate her symptoms from her IBS and candida which we cant shift. She saw her 3rd gp today for the thrush who said she is still very sore and has given us another cream to try (3rd one). It seems strange that these things are not related but the GPs say not.

 

My daughter started treatment for GERD when she was 10, after a lot of years of problems. We only started getting serious about dealing with it, though, when she completely stopped eating. She took a powerful proton pump inhibitor (called Dexilant here in the US) for about a year to deal with it.

I think a lot of the issues she had at age 10 were due to the onset of puberty. The hormonal changes that girls go through change the way the digestive system works. If you had reflux when you were pregnant you know what I'm talking about! Now that my daughter is 12 and through the biggest growth spurt her reflux is much less of an issue. She still avoids spicy food and big meals, and probably will have to deal with this for her whole life. Her paternal grandmother has bad reflux and I (her mom) have some issues also.

I am confused about part of your issues - if your daughter has candida and thrush, why in the world are you treating it with steroids? You need an antifungal to get rid of that stuff. Steroids will just make it worse.

Hi everyone and welcome new members,

I think an anticandida cream can be combined with a steroid yes, and not the same as taking oral steroids.

Has your little girl been tested for diabetes?

Has a structural abnormality been ruled out (congenital hernia - is that possible?!)

Has she been tested for food allergies? Milk allergy is a proven cause of reflux in children so a trial exclusion diet may well be worth while (apologies if these things have already been done). I think I may have a link on the milk allergy . . .

MMM

Hi
She hasn't been tested for diabetes but has had loads of urine tests done over the years including a very recent one as they did one each time we went to hospital or doctors with her stomach pains. They always showed traces of things but when sent off came back negative for UTIs. I assume they would have noticed if she had diabetes from this?? Also she doesnt show symptoms of being thirsty and needing to wee a lot.

She's had a camera both ways and I assume would have seen any sort of structural abnormality but who knows.

Before taking losec I never noticed a link between dairy and her symptoms despite being asked numerous times over the years. Just before her endoscopy I asked if it could be milk and was told no and assumed they must have tested her as they were so sure however I have checked since with my doctors and they havent. She has been tested for, is it IEG for food allergies through blood tests and been told these are all okay. She's also been tested for celiac.

When she was on losec I did notice a link between her IBS symptoms and dairy and she is much better off losec however it does seem that sometimes milk can trigger headaches, reflux, night sweats and stomach pains. I asked GP today when say her about candida if it could be lactose and she said that it would show symptoms every time she had dairy. I will ask her gastro on Monday though.

There is celiac and gluten intolerance in my family but as she is already on such a restricted diet and only 8 I am not keen to cut out more from her diet without being sure. I am going to ask though if it's worth cutting out dairy and/or gluten.

Thanks. I think I might give it a go next week and try her for a couple of weeks lactose free to see if it helps.

PS: I'm also in the UK. You could ask to see a paediatrician who has a special interest in food allergy, or ask to be referred to an allergy consultant (if you have one in your area). It's also possible for the GP to refer you to a dietician, but that's no use if they aren't specialised in food allergy also. Might be worth doing some internet searching to find who the allergy specialists are in your area - look for your nearest big teaching hospital and if there's an allergy specialist there ask to be referred for a second opinion. Mention that allergy testing doesn't cover intolerances and isn't a 100% guarantee of the presence or absence of allergy and ask about an elimination diet.

TTFN

MMM

Thanks. You've given me a lot to mull over. I suffer from rhinitis all my life, all year round and have never found the cause and I know my father had the same thing so dairy may be an issue. She does crave milk to drink although doesnt drink masses. We are seeing her gastro on Monday so will ask her about food intolerances and exclusions etc. She has had loads of dipstick tests done on her urine in the past.

Thanks again.

Thanks very much. I will probably take you up on that offer.