Stomach ulcers in child - what else could it be?

[Zebee]

DD has a number of ulcers in her duodenum and stomach. These are healing but at last endoscopy still one remains in stomach months after treatment. Several months later she is still in pain although better than it was. She was negative for H Pylori on more than one occasion. Not coeliac, not used lots (or even moderate) NSAIDS. Been treated for H Pylori just in case and on esomeprazole for >6 months. Off to the consultant again this month what else could it be or what else should I ask the consultant to be doing.

You might want to ask about Crohns disease.

If it is Crohns disease go do some reading up around possible dietary treatments and gut biomes. This is in addition to any drug treatments you may be offered.

Oh and when you said not coeliacs, on what basis?

Crohns?
Diverticulitis?

Sorry completely forgot to add biopsies taken during endoscopys and not Crohns or not coeliac (also tested for blood)

Although consultant initially thought it looked like Crohns

EoE?
Eosinophilic Oesophagitis

My DS has this. Cutting out dairy has relieved his symptoms almost completely.

Her oesophagus (sp) is clear.
Have tried dairy free, doesn’t seem to have made much of a difference.

my daughter had 3 whopping great ulcers in here stomach. Turned out to be Crohn's. Wasn't picked up on blood tests but by colonoscopy as there were ulcers there too ...600+ of them.

Poor thing. Have you been given any guidance on diet?

Grace Jones had ulcers ad a child too.

Crohns seemed like the best fit but the biopsies were negative for it. Colonoscopy was clear.

No diet guidance- hoping we might get more of a plan when we go back.

They haven't asked you to keep a food diary? That may help to see if any foods/situations are triggers.

But the biopsies found ulcers, so why are they "clear for Crohns "? I have crohns and my colon is ulcer free - my small intestine and duodenum are full of them and the endoscopy I had showed villous erosion.

It seems strange to me as there were ulcers in duodenum and stomach but whatever histology they did on the samples came back as it not Crohns. Although in the back of my mind it is hard to shake off the thought that it could be Crohns.

Been no suggestion of it being food related but definitely something to ask about.

So what exactly did the biopsies show? did you get a copy of the histology? And have they done blood tests? Is she seeing a Gastroenterologist? Sorry that's a lot of questions! I would ask the Consultant why they are so quick to rule out Crohn's.

Yes a paediatric gastroenterologist. The biopsies didn’t have the markers for Crohns either of the two times she had an endoscopy. Having been told it looked like Crohns only to be told it is t I have quizzed him to be sure he doesn’t think it could be Crohns.
Have done faecal calprotectin test and raised but not super high like you would see with Had a number of blood tests mainly normal she was anaemic but have managed to get that back up to normal. Vitamin D was low but this summer solved that.

What was the faecal calcoprotein score? Mine is raised above the normal range but nowhere near so high as many Crohns sufferes have. My diagnosis is "atypical Crohns with ? Coeliac disease (blood test negative but cant tolerate gluten)".

Interesting you mention about gluten - we have found a couple of times she feels lots worse if she has eaten lots of white bread, plan to try gluten free.
Atypical Crohns might be the kind of thing she has, I think the faecal calprotectin was 80? (But can’t exactly remember)

What my Crohns consultant told me is that gluten is difficult to digest and if your digestive system is struggling anyway, then gluten can be the last straw.

Just found the faecal calprotectin level and I was a bit out it is 191.