What could be wrong?

[EverybodysCryEyed]

My DS is 5 and has always loved fruit and not been a fan of many other foods. He has always been slim and has always had reasonably loose stools which we put down to the fruit. As a baby/toddler he was a big milk drinker.

In the past 3 months his food intake has reduced. He frequently has diarrhoea and on 2 occasions he has vomited with no other symptoms (I think he may have had gastric flu the first time though). He often complains of feeling like he's going to be sick.

I weighed him tonight and he weighs the same as he did 12m ago and 1.5kg less than he did 5m ago. He is on the 9th centile when he has always been 25th.

In a day he eats a yoghurt and cereal, a fruit for snack (can't be anything else at school), a school lunch (I don't know what he has but he says tomato cucumber and bread today) and for dinner it is a battle to get him to eat more than a handful of food.

Due to the diarrhoea I have banned all fruit except banana (and what he has at school).

I have an appointment at the GP for him but I'm not sure what they will say about the above. I don't want to be fobbed off because I am concerned about him.

Does anyone have any advice or suggestions as to how I should proceed? Should I be going to the GP?

Having recently been diagnosed coeliac myself at the ripe old age of 40 I would say get yourself Phil Vickery's seriously good cookery book and become a label reader. I didn't realise my guts were a problem till they stopped being a problem.

Well obviously I'm hoping he doesn't have coeliac but if he does I will look for that book!

I'll update once I've seen the gp.

Thanks to everyone for suggestions and advice - really appreciated.

I just want to get to the bottom of it - especially if he is feeling it like you were lonecat. Glad you are feeling better

I seem to remember pale floaty poor (bleurgh, sorry) when we all had giardiasis too. And atrocious wind. And indigestion/ acid reflux ...

Hope you get to bottom of it.

how long did it last? DS has been funny on and off for the past 3 months

Hmm, probably not 3 months. I seem to remember an acute phase of about a week, with nausea and hideous diarrhea, and then a kind of less-bad-but-still-there phase of poor appetite, (ongoing, but less bad) diarrhea and nausea for another 5-6 weeks or so. I think giardia can go on for a while.

I do know pale stools can be a sign of coeliac as well, though. A friend of ours' DD has it and had that, as well as FTT and general off-ness for, well, years actually.

I was the only one in the family who had untreated giardiasis BTW - e.g, where it ran its natural course. The DCs and DP had treatment for theirs so I think it was shorter-lived.

interesting. will definitely mention it. want to check all options!

You can get giardiasis from unwashed fruit and veg. Just a thought. I hope it's that as it's easily treated, and not coeliac.

Although our friend's DD is now totally fine and thriving on a gluten-free diet I should add, so it's def not all doom and gloom if it is :)

I think it may be worth looking into food intolerance, could be lactose or wheat intolerance.

Good luck x

How do they find out what the food is if it is an intolerance?

So went to the doctor and as expected he was pretty rubbish. chatted with ds to start with and then i went through his symptoms.
GP said he had a food intolerance and we should take things out of his diet on a 3 weekly rota until we find out what it is. He said there was no other way of testing because it is not an allergy.

I mentioned the weight loss and he looked at me like an idiot and said that was normal with a food intolerance.

Then there was a long silence while I seethed and DH jumped in and asked for a referral to a paed gastroenterologist which we now have.

So we will see how that goes.

I spoke to his teacher and she said that he was quite sluggish compared to the other boys.

Hope all goes well with the gastroenterologist. How long is the waiting list? Maybe if the culprit is one of the things you try first (milk, wheat, eggs...?) then hopefully it won't take too many weeks before things start to improve.

I need to do a good google of how to do an elimination diet properly

My gut (no pun intended!) tells me it isn't dairy or eggs so I am thinking of starting with wheat.

I think we will wait to see the paed and keep a food diary in the meantime.

I'm gf (family history of coeliac but tested negative 10 years ago but experience symptoms, feel better gf and gastroenterologist suggested avoiding damage given history was sensible). Could you ask your ds to rate his energy, stomach pain, appetite on a 1-5 scale? You might find out how he's experiencing it then. When I knocked wheat/gluten out after three days I 'woke up' properly one morning and was so excited! I realised that was how everyone else felt! A good blogger for recipes/info is Gluten Free Girl, lots of her food are lactose free too. If it is a problem with food then you will adapt. And he possibly won't need to eat like that forever depending on the underlying problem.

For the recently diagnosed coeliac, try 'Healthy Gluten Free eating' as well (I've used Doves Farm flours to good effect in all their recipes) and the 'Red Velvet Chocolate Heartache' by Harry Eastwood; not specifically gf but she prefers rice flour and uses lots of veggies in the cakes which replaces the starches etc. dh says he can't tell the difference between those and 'normal'.

Good luck all!

Thanks MsP

I think a gf diet would be ok for DS. I will give it a go but need school on board as I don't have the option of a packed lunch

Quite note to say trust your instinct and DO NOT let anyone fob you off with generic food intolerances!

Food diary is the way forward, but I would (personally) be hesitant to start any elimination diet without speaking to a dietitian. Ensure you get an accurate idea of what he has eaten at school, and maybe get him to write down if he is tired, tummy aches etc

Hope you get some answers soon

I have to say that the more I read the more everything seems to be falling into place wrt DS and a food intolerance.

His teacher or TA sits with them at lunch so should be easy for her to help with the diary. He is communicative so should be able to guide on how he feels and DH and I are obsessed with his poo anyway!

Another thing the doctor said which annoyed me, I mentioned that DS had soiled his nappy in his sleep and he hadn't done that since pre potty training. he was puzzled why DS still had a nappy at night. I asked when we should be worried and he said he should have been out of them by 4 but it is down to how hard the parents work at night training them. I've tried bloody hard to get him out of night nappies and he just isn't ready!

If you are thinking of going gluten free ask your gp if you can have a prescription for gluten free foods. My sister gets pasta, bread, flour etc prescribed by the doctor for her ds who has a wheat free diet. There are a lot of products that you can buy in the supermarket but they are quite expensive.

Good luck!

Good tip - although my GP will probably laugh me out the room!

OP, how long do you have to wait for the paed?

My 3 year old DS went through something very like this last year... suddenly lost his appetite and became sluggish. We assumed a virus, took him to the GP who fobbed us off completely, but after a month or so realised that he had actually lost a lot of weight and it might be quite serious. We went back to the GP and REALLY pushed for a referral to a paed gastro (Dr. Thomson at the Portland) who first tested for celiac. When that was negative, he said the most obvious cause was giardiasis, although it's very difficult to test for definitively. DS was treated for it (a type of antibiotic) and within 2 weeks started eating like a HORSE. It was such a joy to suddenly see him stuffing his face all day long!

It took him a long time to catch up the weight and he has been left with a wheat intolerance (often giardiasis leaves a wheat or dairy intolerance) but we hope that he will grow out of it.

We were so massively relieved that he was cured but felt so awful that we had let him suffer with it for a month before doing anything, and another few weeks before he was actually better.

I hope you get some answers for your DS soon, and keep us posted.

That's interesting. i hope it isn't anything life long!

Your G.P. is wrong about the night nappies. He will be dry when he is ready so one less thing to worry about.

I would defiantly keep a food diary. Did he have any reflux problems as a baby?