Saw The Gastro Yesterday

[Nic]

Hi, as some may know I have been on a quest for a cause to my youngest son's medical problems (older son is a Celiac). His symptoms are insomnia, weight gain, constipation, frequent stomach aches, leg pains, and heart burn. I took him to see the gastro that diagnosed my other son. I told him that our pediatrician tested him for the antibodies 2 years ago and it was negative. I also told him how I had him genetically tested through Enterolab and he was negative for the gene. He had never heard of Enterolab (no surprise) and went on the say that if he tested negative on bloodwork 2 years ago then that is good enough for now, no reason to check again. Went on to say that since he is overweight it is even less likely because most celiacs are underweight (yet when I brought my other son there he was 4 and 45 pounds, hardly underweight). He said Lucas' story is strange , and that the constipation might just be simply constipation so he will treat it as such. Gluten intolerance, even though I suggested it, seemed to not even be a consideration. He said he is concerned about the heart burn as children who are overweight with hypotonia (poor muscle tone, he has had it since infancy) tend to have acid reflux and he suggested he scope his esophogus to make sure there is no damage and to help determine if they should treat it. He also said while he is doing the scope he will go down farther and biopsy for celiac. Is scoping for acid reflux a normal procedure? I was surprise by this. I have always liked this doctor and had a lot of faith in him but now I just feel more confused then when I went into the office. What do you think?

Nicole

[cruelshoes]

Is scoping for acid reflux a normal procedure? I was surprise by this. I have always liked this doctor and had a lot of faith in him but now I just feel more confused then when I went into the office. What do you think?

Nicole

From my experience, scoping for reflux is a very normal procedure. Reflux can have many causes (celiac being one of them). For example, the scope allows the doctor to check the condition of the sphincter muscle between the esophagus and stomach. Sometimes, if this muscle doesn't close all the way, acid leaks out and reflux results. They also do it to look at the level of damage that has resulted from the reflux to help strategize a treatment.

Hope this helps. I am really sorry your son is having such trouble.

[Darn210]

My daughter was scoped for acid reflux. My pedGI initially thought she had Eosinophilic Esophagitis which requires a biopsy of the esophagus to diagnose. It can also occur in the stomach and small intestine (also requiring biopsy). It is a form of an allergic response where the main symptom is heartburn/acid reflux. If he's scoping, I would have him checked for that while he's there. They did want to see the level of damage also.

I have to ask, since you've already got one Celiac in the house . . . have you tried a trial diet to see if it aleviates the symptoms? We did that with our son (with the pedGI's support) in order to avoid an endoscopy . . . however our GI wasn't really wanting to do an endoscopy as my son's only symptom is his small size.

[Nic]

My daughter was scoped for acid reflux. My pedGI initially thought she had Eosinophilic Esophagitis which requires a biopsy of the esophagus to diagnose. It can also occur in the stomach and small intestine (also requiring biopsy). It is a form of an allergic response where the main symptom is heartburn/acid reflux. If he's scoping, I would have him checked for that while he's there. They did want to see the level of damage also.

I have to ask, since you've already got one Celiac in the house . . . have you tried a trial diet to see if it aleviates the symptoms? We did that with our son (with the pedGI's support) in order to avoid an endoscopy . . . however our GI wasn't really wanting to do an endoscopy as my son's only symptom is his small size.

I have not done the trial yet, I was waiting to see the doctor first. He said he would biopsy for celiac while in there so I don't want to take him off until then. If it comes out negative I will do the trial. Thank you for the help.

Nicole