I am worried about my nauseous child

[elia1806]

I've been reading many of the post related to eating, anxiety and nausea and I thought this might be a good place to continue my search for answers. My 11yr old son has been suffering from nausea and at times vomiting for the past 12 months. At first it only occurred once a week or so after eating, however, it has progressively gotten worse and  he is now experiencing nausea almost everyday.  He's fine in the morning and throughout the day but by about 7pm he starts to feel the funny uncomfortable feeling in his stomach.(As a result he refuses to go to bed because lying in bed makes him feel worse, so he sits up till very late into the night infront of the T.V, to take his mind off the nausea, until sleep overcomes him, and the nausea passes or he vomits.. We try to manage the problem by making sure he has eaten before 7pm otherwise he gets to the point where he refuses to eat anything.(As  parents, our child's nutrition is so important to us and him refusing to eat alarms us terribly). We have nailed it down, we believe, with a problem he has digesting meat protein as it is particularly bad if he eats a meal containing meat though that can be a bit 'hit and miss'. Ever since he was a baby, he has suffered with allergies related to proteins,ie: milk, soy, goat's milk (he had rice milk as an infant), egg and nuts (he is currently severely allergic to nuts).
For several months we were taking him to a naturopath (he was underweight, above average in height)  and she gave him lots of digestive enzymes and other digestive helps but we stopped going when he got to the point that he was refusing to take the naturopathic aids because they didn't seem to be helping.
Then we came across a product sold by Neways called LactoFlora. It is a product containing both a prebiotic and a probiotic and at first it was like a miracle cure and we would give him the pleasant tasting LactoFlora before he ate a meal and he could eat anything without feeling ill! It was amazing, and the effects lasted for several days before he needed another dose. However, it appears that the product is now losing its instant effect it originally had on the 'indigestion' so my current stategy is to give it to him more often - it's still very 'hit and miss.'
He was diagnosed with 'high functioning autism' and I've read that apart from being typically anxious, these children with this condition also suffer from 'leaky gut syndrome' where they have trouble digesting certain foods. It makes me anxious to see him suffering almost everyday with the nausea. Does anyone else have a family or friend suffering similar symptoms?

[Paxiled]

I can't say this with scientific authority.  My experience is 18 years managing health food stores and all I had to learn to do it.  But that supplement, LactoFlora, isn't one that would be recommended for your child.  For one thing, you say he as a dairy allergy.  Actually, most humans can only digest mother's milk anyway, but a few ethnic groups do have the enzyme necessary to digest animal milk as adults.  LactoFlora has milk in it.  Second, it's taken with food.  Probiotics have to bypass the stomach to really work, that's why the best ones are in enteric capsules or liquid that contains so many organisms that some will get into the intestinal tract, which is where probiotics live.  Once they move in, they should stay there; if they keep disappearing, that would indicate something going on that's causing a die-off.  One possibility is a chronic candida yeast infection.  Another would be if too many sterioids or antibiotics were used.  But still, eventually, one would hope the organisms would permanently lodge in the intestinal tract again.  The prebiotics are good, they are sugars that provide food so the body can feed its probiotics.  What's working is the bifidus, the beneficial bacterium most beneficial for the intestinal tract.  You might want to try the Bifidus formula from Nature's Way.  It doesn't have the prebiotics, but it's got two types of bifidus instead of just one, and doesn't have the dairy problem.  

But the fact this is fading in effectiveness, and the fact something that on its face doesn't look to be a very good quality product (always be careful about direct marketed products -- and this one says if you don't refrigerate it, it will degrade.  It doesn't degrade, the organisms die if unrefrigerated because they aren't in a place they can live.  Under refrigeration, they will hibernate until they find a nice home.  But it does have the prebiotics, so at least while it's being shipped they have something to eat.  I just don't trust direct marketed products -- always wonder why they avoid the judgment that comes from trying to get into stores, past suspicious knowledegeable eyes like mine) -- for your son and it worked anyway suggests a possible placebo effect that's wearing off.  I assume you've been to doctors to get this diagnosed?  Naturopaths are good at treatment, but don't have the diagnostic tools a gastroenterologist has.  I usually tell people, get diagnosed by a doctor, then get treated by a naturopath for digestive problems.  (Doctor's treatments usually make it worse in the long term with rebound effects of the medications they use).

Good luck.  

[somemonkey]

Acid reflux is worse when laying down.

[kalie1979]

It sounds a lot like my daughter, but all of her symptoms were when she was a baby. She would not gain weight always crying, poor thing she was miserable. We were in and out of the doctors office. She woulf vomit often to. Finally after all the test, they ran one more and it turned out that her small intestine was malnutritioned. You are suppose to have these things in your intestine to sock up the nutrients but hers was just nubs. So after about 3 months of tube feeding her she is complely normal. But they would have never  found it out if they did not put her to sleep and get tissues from her stomach and intestines. Hope I have helped..

kalie