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Olivia's Story
From an early age, Olivia was never a settled baby. She was always screaming and unsettled. They [doctors] tried different formulas thinking that it was reflux at first, but then found that she needed surgury for a narrow anus, so the theory of reflux was put to rest. They changed her formula to a lactose-free type, and it was left at that.
She continued to be unsettled, but the doctors put it down to it just being her. Once she started solids, she could not tolerate any lumps and would gag or choke on food.
One night, my eldest daughter found her blue and whimpering in her bed. She was taken to hospital for monitoring and we were told that it was a virus. She didn't sleep and screamed every time we laid her down. She drank copious amount of fluids (milk). She had a wheezy chest and a runny nose constantly. She was a very unhappy child.
I demanded to see an ENT as a first step to make sure her tonsils were okay, as her sister had enlarged tonsils. The ENT doctor sent her for a barium swallow x-ray and found that she had Moderate Gastric Oesophageal Reflux. She was then forwarded on to a pead. gastric doctor at PMH in Perth, who did an endoscopy and pH studies. Her diet was changed. Still, she didn't get better, so I took her to the paediatrition in Kalgoorlie, who thought she had coeliac disease, because I noticed a change in her with wheat. So she changed the formula, and put her on a coeliac diet and her life changed dramatically. She started gaining weight and became a happy child. We didn't give her anything with wheat, gluten, milk or milk proteins in it.
She then went to a paediatric allergist, who said that she doesn't have coeliac disease, but a condition call eosinophilic esophagitis and should be able to tolerate milk and wheat again in the future.
We have currently moved to Turkey and her condition has deteriorated dramatically. She has lost over 3 kg in weight. From about midnight every night, she starts screaming and its not an attention seeking cry, as that's what I first thought. It's an "I'm in pain" cry. I am currently getting up with her between every thirty minutes to every two hours, which is exhausting. You can hear the stuff going up and down and churning around in her stomach during the day. Her breath is shocking. It makes you want to be sick when you smell it. Her behaviour and mood is extremely bad--throwing a tantrum one minute and then the next dissolving to tears for no reason. She has been coughing a lot also--a lot more than usual. Also she has been coming up to me and saying that she feels sick and rubs her tummy. She doesn't usually do that. You can ask her if her tummy hurts and usually she says no, even though you can see by her facial expressions that it does hurt. The last couple of days she has been saying that it's burning. She cries and says, "It's burning me," and asking for her medication.
She is taking medication every morning and night: 20mL Losec Mups Omeprazole. She was on an extremely strict diet. She was not eating wheat, gluten, dairy, soy, tomatoes, onions, mint, caffinated beverages, fizzy drinks or fats for the most part. But since moving here, it is impossible to get the food that she needs, and it has to come from England. She was taken off Pepti-Junior formula and put onto a normal diet. Since then, she has been loosing weight.
We went and saw a doctor at the Great Portland Street Clinic in London. This doctor was fantastic. We are due back there on the 12th of February for a follow up due to the extreme weight loss.
Written by: Marie, marieashworth
Read more about Children's Stories:
Zac's Reflux Success Story,
Noah's Story,
Emma Claire's Story,
Evan's Story,
The Story of Andrew,
Owen's Story,
Raeden's Story,
Hannah's Story,
Samuel and Jennifer's Stories
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