What is this my daughter is suffering with?

[Anyadvice86]

She’s 8 and for over a year now she’s suffered with a horrible feeling in her throat/chest after eating, like something is stuck. Had to wait ages to see a consultant who referred for chest xray which was clear and we’re currently on the waiting list for ENT and I’ve been told we will be lucky to get an appointment this year.

Bloods are normal. Suffers from bad skin which doctor is classing as dermatitis and not linking to throat/chest.

She used to get this feeling only after meals but now she gets it even if she hasn’t eaten for a couple of hours. In the last month it’s made her actually vomit twice.

I’m so sad for her she dreads eating, it’s horrible to watch

Reflux.

Sounds like reflux.

Didn’t actually think of this as an option. Have always associated reflux with babies. I’ll look into it! Thanks!

Chewing gum for 20 mins after eating really helps when I get it.

Sorry, my first short reply was not super helpful.

I have the same thing with swallowing and it is awful. I'm surprised the GP hasn't picked up on it. I think it's probably quite unusual at her age though. Medication may help. If not, you could look at buying an IQuoro (expensive but helping me). A lot depends on what is causing the reflux.

Identifying if any specific foods make it worse can help (onions and creamy saucea and bread set me off). I find sipping water before I start eating, taking small bites and chewing slowly at first helps.

Keep an eye on food intake, as mine has really affected my appetite and I've lost weight as a result. Keep her calories up withilky drinks and add butter and cheese etc to food.

Look out for related symptoms - heartburn, burping lots, hoarseness or coughing to report to the GP as well.

Could be hiatus hernia

@TeaRoseTallulah will try the chewing gum thanks.

@newrubylane thanks. We got her tested for food intolerances and cut out the ones that said she was intolerant too but unfortunately no change. As of today I’m going to be cutting up her food into small bites in a hope that will help. Yes she’s definitely losing weight and I told the doctor that but he said as she’s very tall she’s a normal weight.

@Butterbeanbutterbo will definitely mention hiatus hernia to doctor, a friend of mine also mentioned this to me recently

There's no test for intolerance and the ones available are not recommended by the NHS or allergy UK as they give false positive and negative results and are too unreliable to give any meaningful insights

My 4 yo still has reflux and is on omperazole which makes a huge difference. It massively impacts her appetite when the medication isn't controlling it. She also has delayed food allergies sometimes termed intolerance and these trigger reflux and she stops eating when there's food in her diet she reacts to. You need a food diary to help identify triggers

@Superscientist thanks for the reply. We paid privately for an IGG intolerance test which showed an intolerance to egg, milk and wheat. We told the doctor about this and they tested for allergies for those 3 items but all came back negative.

We’ve tried making food diaries but she literally has this issue after every time she eats, no matter what she eats.

Her skin is playing up at the moment as well and she’s so upset and itchy. Just wish I knew what was causing everything.

Google eosinophilic oesophagitis…. Rare but possible and can occur in children… ask for paediatric referral and suggest it

@Arthur2015 thank you, I’ll make a note of that.

Paediatrician has referred us to ENT and I called yesterday to ask approx waiting time for an appointment and have been told 2+ years 😭

Could it be thyroid issues? Was that included in the bloods?

No thyroid wasn’t checked I don’t think.

Here are blood results taken last September if anyone is able to decipher. 2 are out of range but Doctor said I shouldn’t be worried about those

My son struggled with similar when he was younger, during Covid and it turned out to be anxiety.

IgG tests are unreliable OP. A scam tbh.
Could the itchiness be eczema?

@Chocolateporridge That's exactly what i thought. It also sounds like her symptoms could be linked to the onset of 'emetophobia'

Have been told by numerous GPs that her rashes/bumps are dermatitis or eczema. They are sometimes fluid filled and have once been tested for shingles as the rash looked very similar to a shingles rash. She’s wearing gloves in bed at the moment to stop the scratching.

She is an anxious child but the symptoms of the indigestion/food feeling stuck in her throat is so obvious I don’t see how it could just be anxiety

Does she eat fish, could it be a fish bone stuck?

@LadeOde definitely doesn’t have emetophobia, but I do!

She was sick a couple of weeks ago after really struggling with her throat after having some chocolate and she was absolutely fine being sick and felt amazing afterwards because her symptoms stopped. She doesn’t like sick but definitely hasn’t got a phobia of it

@LavenderFields7 she loves fish however I don’t think it’s a fish bone. She’s had a chest X-ray which is all clear, surely that would have shown up?

I have had this feeling for a long time. It wasn't so bad as you describe for your daughter but would have it regularly and was worried it was a lump. Finally went to the dr, was referred onto ENT. After a couple of year wait (with delays for covid), I had 2 nasal endoscopies. During the one that went right down into my stomach the consultant said they could see some areas on my oesophagus which looked like it may have been eosinophilic oesophagitis, which is an auto immune condition. They took biopsies but actually the result was not that, and instead they diagnosed reflux, but made worse due to a hiatus hernia. I hope your daughter doesn't have to wait too long and gets some answers.

Possibly achalasia? https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/achalasia/

Also where on her body is her skin bad? Coeliac is a possibility too and some people have dermatitis herpetiform (skin condition) as a symptom.

@Missikat13 I wonder if there is a link between eosinophilic oesophagitis and an eosinophil blood count, as that showed up on my daughter’s bloods as being out of the normal range. Thanks for the info.

@HelpNeededBeforeIHaveABreakdown says on NHS website achalasia is usually picked up on a chest X-ray which she has had but will definitely keep it in my notes. Skin is bad on hands, elbows and top of thighs. She has had a coeliac blood test done but because we had cut out some gluten before hand I’m worried that it may have influenced the test so I’m tempted to ask for a re-test.

I don’t know if she’s back on gluten now, but it’s not a great idea to cut out foods on the basis of IgG tests as they are not valid tests.