Tell me I'm not the only parent with a kid that does this......

[Loganberry]

My ds2 is 4 yrs old. If he doesn't eat enough on a night, he'll be sick the next day. He wakes up with breath smelling like he's been drinking nail varnish remover (I don't have any in the house) he's pale as anything, and will be sick continuously through the day. It's a fight to even get water to stay down. He's been doing this on and off for two and a half years, and he's ended up on a drip twice from dehydration. He's been seeing a specialist for 18 months, but he's just been signed off because they don't know what it is.

He's currently ill right now, after not wanting much dinner last night. He's been sick all day today, and only managed to eat two small biscuits (which he later threw back up.) I think he's over the worst of it now, because he hasn't been sick since 5.30pm and he's actually had about a half a pint of juice while dozing on and off. So with any luck, he'll be ok tomorrow.

It drives me crazy that after 18 months and a dozen of tests later, that the docs don't know whats causing him to be like this.
Does anyone else have children that have these symptoms? If so, what is it, what do you do to control it, and do they grow out of it?

hi loganberry. no help, have never heard of this. just wanted to reply! you must be so fed up and i hope they find out the root of the problem soon. nothing worse than seeing your child sick. poor little man. best of luck...

How horrible not to be able to know what to do to make it all better.

A complete shot in the dark, but has he been checked for Coeliac Disease? Although it has classic symptoms, it can apparently present with a huge range of different symptoms.

Thanks for replying MLM, it was getting a bit lonely here!

It's so frustrating - the only advice I got from the docs when they signed him off was "feed him what he wants to eat!" in a bid to make sure he wasn't sick - so we can't encourage him to try other food - he just says "NO!" and HAS to have something else, otherwise it all starts over again!

My ds1 who is 8.5 is not as bad as this.But there are times when he won't eat enough or properly and wakes up at night being sick or in the morning.He does not have a prob eating choc etc just at times decent food.He has been like this since around 4.He is getting better now..it happens less frequentlyIt is awful though.
I don't know what to say except could you push again for him to see someone..maybe he can explain why he won't eat.I know with my ds it wasn't anything physical preventing him.
Good Luck.

Pretty Candles, no, he hasn't - isn't that to do with carbohydrates or something? He adores pasta, rice, bread and cereal, and thats about all he'll eat apart from some fruit and snacks. Refuses meat and veg full stop. It's literally "don't eat on a night, be sick all next day" and we only narrowed it down to that after several months of incidents! Will check out coelic online though....

loganberry, has he been tested for diabetes?
i am absolutely not an expert on this at all, but I know diabetics get "alcoholic" breath when they're hyperglycaemic.

carbs can raise blood sugar levels too,

some stuff here

if you think it's a possibility put out a shout for spidermama, her ds is diabetic so she'd be able to tell you a lot more about it than I can

SOME illnss and i cant think wht possibly diabetes leds to pear drop breath??

my ds3 who has food llergies his breath hums if hes aten stuff he shouldnt

Hi Loganberry, how awful for you both I really feel for you. I really have no experience of this at all but when you mention that his breath smells of nail varnish remover it brought back a thought about diabetes and how sometimes their breath can smell this way. (My dad has diabetes) It may have nothing to do with it but wanted to mention it. Hope your Ds feels better soon.

Thanks for the suggestion, Fingerwoman, will try and get hold of her!

One of the times my ds2 was in the hospital on the drip, they gave us a blood sugar tester to use on him, and its always low when he's being sick, like 3.2 or something, but the doc said it was ok, and it wasn't diabetes. And thats what throws it all akilter - he gets the varnish remover breath with the lower sugar levels, and hits nearly all of the signs on that link you put up, but his blood sugar is low!

And to top it off, he was 10 pounds 2 when he was born, and they made us stay an extra night to check he was ok for diabetes and so on!

His breath will smell of acetone because he is not eating as ketones build up causing smelly breath.

Well, ds2 is a lot better today, after managing to hold some juice down for long enough to get the energy to eat his breakfast. He's started talking to us again and is playing with toys, which is a great sign that he's recovered! When he's in his sick stage, he just moans and rolls his eyes at us, and doesn't say anything at all, and just lays on the settee dozing on and off. But right now he's well enough to complain that he wants his train track built, so I better go and help him!

3.2 blood sugar sounds low to me. I can't help thinking diabetes with all of the symptoms you've described. Lack of food = vomiting. Weakness/confusion, peardrop breath. I would want to see another GP to get it ruled out. Or does your practice have a practice nurse who specialises in diabetes (my mom used to do this before she retired and was far more knowledgeable than the GPs in her practice on the subject).

I would push to see a more specialist specialist.
Dd's connective tissue disorder was more or less dismissed by the specialists down here and we only got some real treatment after the paed down here had been in contact with the real, national specialist at Great Ormond Street.
I would pursue the diabetes lead; it may not be diabetes, but if you can get hold of a real expert they may know about other things with diabetes similar symptoms. And diabetes nurses are often very knowledgeable too.

It sounds low to me too, when we took the test in the first place, so I was surprised when it was dismissed so fast.

I think thats what we are going to do - try to see a more specialist specialist, that is - I'm going to take him to the doctors in our village again on Monday when they are open and start pushing at them, because its just daft that its been left this way, its very much a "we don't know what it is, so don't bother coming anymore" sort of attitude and isn't really helping us to help him.

He's flaking again now, (he's curled up on the floor beside me, looking pale and sorry for himself) and we're doing everything we can to stop him from being sick, because when that happens, its a downward spiral. We don't really know what we should be giving him to stop it, which makes it more awkward.

Sounds like your child needs to be referred to as paediatrician with an interest in metabolic and endocrine diseases- there are loads of unusual illnesses which can present in this manner and require specialist investigation to explore it further.

Sounds odd to me, and if I were you I'd be pushing for higher referral.

My daughter has Type One Diabetes and had a bg of 32mmols at diagnosis (should be between 3.5 and 5 in a normal non diabetic person.

Type 1 symptoms: thirst, frequent urination, lethargy, pear drop breath, weight loss. If you really think it could be this please go to A and E as left untreated can be life threatening. My daughter was misdiagnosed by 2 GPs and was eventually diagnosed in A and E in a state of ketoacidocis.

....she is doing well now by the way, on an insulin pump and has fairly good control most of the time....

Oh you poor thing. If that was me, I'd demand a referral to see a Paediatrician either through the NHS or privately, if you can afford to pay the consultation fee. For the peace of mind of a quick referral and hopefully an answer, this would be money well spent.
Best of luck