Food Allergies or just gut pain? *update*

[mekat]

We saw GI today. He thinks Alec just didn't digest the spinach well. He said from the timing of the pain the spinach would have been in the small bowel. He also is testing for c-diff and doing other cultures of the rectal discharge and ostomy output. He said if he didn't come up with anything we will need to consult a pediatric surgeon because it is likely the mucous membranes in the anus have thinned due disuse and are just bleeding profusely at the slightest strain.





My son has tons of gut pain due to a poor motility and reflux but tonight I saw a new pain symptom, heart wrenching crying. It sounded like how someone cries when the person they love most dies (that is just how it sounded no one has actually died). That is the only way I can describe the sound.

His normal pain ques are clingyness, frantic motions trying to get my attention (non-verbal), hitting & acting out and his normal crying. This heart wrenching cry alarmed me so much skipped over the Carafate & Motrin and went straight to the hard hitting Tylenol with Codeine after confirming on his augmented communicator his tummy was hurting him. I rarely ever reach for the narcotics (the bottle is still half full and it was dispensed in December) but this crying scared the crap out of me.

His motility seems to be okay, good pooping, no formula breath, no foamy spit (from silent reflux), no slightly elevated fever (usual sign for intestinal blockage from dsymotility) and no breath that smells like poop (again sign for dysmotility) so the only thing I can think of is that during feeding therapy today we introduced a new yogurt, Raspberry, spinach & greek yogurt. Feeding therapy was from 3pm until 4pm. He didn't start giving off pain ques until 7:30 where he got extra clingy and then 20 minutes later that heart wrenching crying started. Is it possible for him to have a food allergy reaction that delayed?

[reneaumommy]

I'm not sure of I'm allergic to pork or just intolerant. I have never actually been allergy tested but I know I can't eat it. It makes me very ill. Several hours after eating it I get horrible stomach pains (makes me want to SCREAM!) and sometimes I vomit.

I wouldn't assume its an allergic unless it happens again. I would definitely pay attention if I gave it again.

[jennyfa]

Yes, food reactions can be delayed. My daughter reacts to gluten, and her pain reaction tends to be 24-36 hours after exposure. Has he had all of the things in the yogurt separately? It might not have been t hat, but I'd be cautious with doing it again.

[l_Kimmie_l]

Sounds like my son's dairy allergy. He used to scream like that every time he ate anything with whey and caesin in it. Sounded like he was dying.

[ssand23]

That is how I get after having dairy. If I ate yogurt, I would get pains like that. They come & go but really hurt in that I have to stop what I'm doing & rest. It's like nasty menstrual cramps. I hope you can get to the bottom of this & that the pain stops. My son has severe food allergies, he doesn't eat any food so I know this can be so tricky. Good luck!

[mekat]

Thanks for the replies. We will be seeing his GI on Wednesday. *Quick explanation he is non-verbal so most communication is yes/no on his communication app* I asked if the pain was worse then normal the next day and he said yes. I asked him if he thought it was something he ate at therapy and he said no. I asked him does it hurt to poop and he said yes.

I think spinach is the only thing he hasn't had in the ingredient list. My son's intestines do not work efficiently and I am wondering if it is possible the spinach was too hard for it to break down since the only symptom was pain.

I suspect GI will be ordering more testing on Wednesday anyway since he has had rectal bleeding on and off again for 6 weeks now. I did mention the bleeding to GI last month but at that point it was only going on for 10 days or so and ds tends to have bleeding when he strains.

I feel tremendously guilty about all this. I took him off his Relan in March because he was doing so well and ever since then it has been one long slide into GI instability. I have added the Reglan back but no matter what I do I can't seem to get his reflux and motility stable again. I definitely won't be doing any drug weaning trials for a good long time and have been debating on whether to drop feeding therapy completely since his GI system is such a mess.

[wyoming butterfly]

Spinach is high in iron. Could be too much for him.

[mekat]

*bump* because I updated. I didn't ask specifically if the spinach being rich in iron is why it didn't digest well, Thrisha, but you may be right. I will have to be more careful next time and pick things that are more easily broken down.