My child has vomiting, whitish stools, failure to thrive and we can't find out what's wrong.

[mtbear]

My daughter is 15 months and has been very sick.  When she was born she had bad reactions to folmula - pain, diahria and excessive gas.  We found Nutramagin and it worked fine.  When we introduced solid food the problems began again and have gotten progressively worse.  It started with excessive painful gas, diarhia and she started losing weight.  She was refered to a pediatric gastroenterologist and had a biopsy for celiac and other conditions. All test came back normal.  Then the vomiting started and she ended up in Seattle Children's Hospital for 5 days and left there with a feeding tube.  They totally cleaned out her colon and for a few days she seamed to be doing better.  After 8 days it started all over again.  She starts vomiting, has diahria amd screams in pain.  Her stools have always been very pail, sometimes a chalky white.  Never brown.  She excessively sweats at night to where she soaks the pillow and sheets.  Nobody can figure out what's wrong and I am very scared.  It's hard to see her in so much pain.  Her stools are so stong that she gets a horrible rash.  Does anyone know what this could be?

[mammo]

Have they checked her liver? Light or white stool indicates a problem with either the liver or biliary tract. Bile is what gives poop it's brown color, sounds like she isn't making any bile. A bile duct could be blocked causing the pain. I'm not a doctor, but I would find another doctor and demand answers!  I learned the hard way how important 2nd, 3rd, and 4th opinions can be.  But GOOGLE "white stools" there is a lot of information out there on this.  Don't wait, there is obviously something wrong with your baby and do not allow them to send her home with not having any answers as to what is wrong.  Do you live near a teaching hospital or a good Children's Hosp?  Please don't rest on this, and do not wait on these doctors, they obviously don't know, and won't refer you to someone who may!  I've had this experience with Dr's, there are good and bad ones.  Your child should not have to endure this, please seek help elsewhere.  Best of luck to you.........

[CalGal]

Mtbear, you may want to try to chat with a person on another board. She's a woman who has food allergy/intolerance issues herself and her children also have the same problems. She's had to work though some of the same issues, but perhaps not to the degree that you're experiencing it - I'm not sure. She goes by the name of TrudyGERD and she's found on the WebMD common digestive issues and IBS boards.

You also do need to check out the possibility of bile issues as the other poster suggested.

[mtbear]

Thank you for your advice!  They did check her liver through a blood test and said it was fine.  Can they check any other way?  I get tired of them saying everything looks normal when something is so very wrong.  We were referred to Seattle Children's Hospital where she was admitted but we live in Montana so it's hard getting the follow up care.  We do it through phone calls which isn't very effective.  I would be happy to stay in Seattle until they figured it out!  If you know of any tests they do for bile issues please let me know.  Thanks....

[CalGal]

An MRCP is a decent non-invasive test that could be done to look at the overall structure of the biliary system. A HIDA scan with CCK injection - another non-invasive test - can also be done to see if the gallbladder is functioning properly.

[mtbear]

Thank you so much!  I'm waiting on the dr to call and I will request these test.  If you think of anything else please let me know.

[CalGal]

Please ask them to check for celiac disease.

Of the commercially available serologic tests that aid in the diagnosis of celiac disease, no one test is ideal. Using multiple serologies increases the diagnostic yield. Therefore, in the United States, screening in patients with possible celiac disease should consist of a panel of the following serologic tests (but typically doesn't so make sure to ask them to do all the following:
1. Anti-gliadin antibodies (AGA) both IgA and IgG
2. Anti-endomysial antibodies (EMA) - IgA
3. Anti-tissue transglutaminase antibodies (tTG) - IgA
4. Total IgA level.
5. Allele (gene) test.

The reason for the use of the panel to detect celiac disease is several-fold. They include selective IgA deficiency (SIgA deficiency), lack of concordance of endomysial antibody and tTG, and the occurrence of seronegative celiac disease.

Without the 'answers' to whether or not all of the above are positive or negative, a result can't really be drawn. And in a baby it can be more difficult to pinpoint because of lack of exposure to a variety of 'foods.' You also want to do the genetic (allele) test. Even if all the tests above come back negative, if someone is carrying the genes, it could still play a role in what is going on.

Discuss all of this with the doc.

[mammo]

Please let us know what you find out about your baby.  I love this forum, as you can see so many want to help!  Our thoughts are with you.....................

[mtbear]

Thank you for your advice and support.  The Dr. has ordered a CT scan and an ultrasound.  I hope this shows what the problem is.  It's very comforting to know there's people out there who care!  I don't know what these test are looking for, if you know please let me know.