To go to A&E

[Mushroo]

I’ll preface this my saying I’ve never been to A&E in my life so I’m absolutely not a habitual user, and very much in the ‘don’t waste resources’ camp.

However, my daughter has developed a swallowing problem. It started around March as coughing when she ate.

We’ve seen the GP who started out saying her chest was fine, it’s just viral.
We’ve seen a private respiratory doctor who thinks it’s asthma, but steroid and inhalers haven’t helped.
Weve seen an NHS paediatrician who did a chest x ray, she had a chest infection which antibiotics cleared up, but the cough when eating has gotten worse.

It’s got to the point this week she can’t eat at all without coughing / vomiting.

We’ve been referred to a speech and language therapist but the waitlist is at least a month.

Im so worried as she can’t eat comfortably and there’s no pathway to help at all for months. I’m worried there’s something in / wrong with her oesophagus, would going to A&e be wrong?

I can’t sit and watch her vomit everyday for at least a month

I also recommend looking into Eosinophilic esophagitis and mentioning it to the professionals you see.
my friends little boy didn’t get diagnosed until he was close to 5 with it. They kept fobbing his mum off for a long time.

Glad you're getting seen promptly - thought you had a couple of red flags there that would be likely to bump you up a bit if you emphasised them.

As for "why are they sending you to a SLT" - no idea why it originated but (I assume because we do a lot of head and neck anatomically related stuff), the bit that's not in the job title is that we also do dysphagia - well stuff that has an issue in the mouth and pharynx... below that and it's gastro! Not as commonly known about the SLT role and there are constant discussions about the job title (but it's enough of a mouthful already so leave it as it is) but still.

As an update, we saw the SLT today and she didn’t think there were any issues with swallowing.

So either something is wrong further down in her oesophagus, or her repeated colds / coughs have just made her more likely to vomit and it’s become a vicious circle.

We’ve been referred to ENT so it was kind of useful, but at the same time, no actual progress

Well, you're a step forward, and as your little girl isn't losing weight, hopefully it won't be too long before you do get an answer.

@TheBroonOneAndTheWhiteOne yes, and she was so lovely. I felt really listened to and taken seriously and that is half the battle a lot of the time!

Hi OP. I understand you have previously considered reflux, just wanted to share my personal experience in case relevant.

A few years ago, I started coughing as soon as I ate something. I was fine otherwise. When I ate I got really bad coughing fits, at some point I could barely get through a meal. Sounds quite similar to what your DC is going through. For me it was reflux and some short term medication and a change in diet (including avoiding acidic foods for an initial period) helped over time.

Hope you manage to get to the bottom of this. Best of luck.

Has she been seen by a ENT? my DS had to have his tonsils and adenoids out at 20 months due to them both being seriously enlarged. Everyone missed it until i paid for a private ENT.

He had sleep apnoea, choked on food etc. its caused long term eating issues.

@Chucklecheeks01 that’s where we’ve been referred to next, so it’s definitely on my list of potential issues

It's a positive first step - you've narrowed down that mechanically her swallow is working fine - so it's unlikely that she's aspirating or anything like that... now it's just chasing the issue up and down her digestive tract!

And yeah @sapsapsap reflux can cause a load of issues - about 50% of the people I see have some kind of reflux element to what's going on!

@TorturedParentsDepartment yes, my DH said ‘we’re working our way down!’ 😂

She woke up at 4am this morning just coughing and coughing and she looked so sad, shaking her head as she was doing it.

It’s breaking my heart as she’s so happy in the daytime despite it all,

Is there any chance this is allergy related? ( hay fever etc…) and she’s producing mucus which is making her cough and gag?
Has anyone suggested an antihistamine?

@littlemissprosseco we had her allergy tested and nothing came up, and she has antihistamine quite a lot anyway as it helps her eczema itch a little less. So I think we’re covered off from an allergy perspective, but it has crossed my mind as it’s gotten worse as summer has progressed

She’s thrown up again so gone to A&E as I’m desperate.

Settling down for a long wait…

Has she had her tonsils looked at? Dd did this with gagging and choking with all food she had abnormally large tonsils. She had to get them removed

Aw how worrying for you.
I hope you get some answers soon.

When I was 6 weeks old I couldn't keep any milk down whatsoever, sicked it up apparently - long story short it was something called pyloric stenosis and I needed emergency surgery - now 50+ years old with a scar to tell the tale

I'd question pyloric stenosis with the a&e dr

Good luck @Mushroo

This isn't a newborn baby, though.

Did the SALT look at aspiration risk?

(I’ve only read your posts)

Usually coughing when
swallowing is a sign of aspiration and that would also correlate with repeated chest infections.

She could be refluxing and aspirating, so she needs to be seen ASAP.

Aspiration pneumonia is not uncommon in kids with reflux and other GI issues.

I just saw you went to ER, so good luck.

Thanks all. @itsgettingweird the SLT didn’t think she was aspirating based on what she could hear, but we haven’t had an x ray or anything.

A&E were good, we were seen in under 10 mins (there was only one other child waiting to be seen!). The dr basically said he thought she might have swallowed something that’s know lodged in her lungs somewhere, and she needs a broncoscopy maybe as wouldn’t always show on a x-ray.

He’s added a note to push our next paediatrician appointment forward as soon as possible, with a recommended for ENT, and he’s given us anti-reflux meds in the meantime to try and stem the vomiting.

Sorry missed the op update! That’s good op

So, we were supposed to have our follow up appointment today to sort out all the referrals and speak to the paediatrician again, and it’s been cancelled. Rescheduled for over a month away.

I’ve been in tears all morning, I don’t know what to do and absolutely no one seems interested or able to help.

That sucks so much OP I’m so sorry.

Has there been any improvement with the reflux meds?

You can call up the appointments line daily and ask if there have been any cancellations or if any last minute appointments are available. I’ve done that for a couple of things before and I’ve always managed to get an appointment much sooner than my scheduled one.

@TheBerry thank you. The vomiting has calmed down a bit with the reflux meds (thank god) but she still has an awful cough.

It just feels like we’re not getting anywhere at all.

Hello @Mushroo I'm sorry you still haven't had your appointment.

Is your DD losing weight?