Ellie's Stomach Problem

I'm not sure if I have mentioned that Ellie has frequent stomach aches.  In fact, to say frequent is an understatement.  Her tummy has hurt her pretty consistently for the last 3 years.  It started shortly after we moved to Tennessee, so I thought it was the trauma of moving and it would go away.  After a few months of not going away I took her to our family doctor.  We went through 2 or 3 medications trying to find a solution.  Nothing.  We ended up in the emergency room one night cause it was hurting her so bad.  The doctor still couldn't find anything wrong.  The aches would come and go, but always seemed to sort of be there.  When we moved to Florida it was the same thing.  She started to miss a lot of school days, and I even had to pick her up from school cause it was so bad one day.  I thought it was maybe her appendicitis rupturing.  I took her to our family doctor and he did a bunch of blood tests and prescribed the exact same medications she had taken in Tennessee with no luck.  So he suggested a Pediatric Gastroenterologist.  I took her there and they did a bunch of the same tests.  Allergy's, worms, giardia, etc.   I got so sick of the doctors asking the same questions, no she's not constipated, no she doesn't have diarrhea, no blood, no heartburn, no throwing up, no it's not emotional.

I had a friend and my sister Athena, both mention food allergies.  Really it was the only thing that made sense.  So even though the blood tests came back negative I told the doctor I want to take her to an allergist.  He reminded me that they had done a lot of blood tests on food allergies, but I insisted.  So he gave us a referral to a Pediatric Allergist.  They did the skin test, which was easy and painless.  They rank the reactions on a scale of 1-4.  She got a 2 on a few things; milk, eggs, pistachio, shrimp, strawberry, rye, cocoa, salmon, grapes and potatoes, and a 1 on wheat and tomatoes.  The allergist said, "looking at this I would say one of these food is what is causing the stomach pains, you just need to find out which one.  Cut out all milk, eggs and wheat for 6 weeks and then start slowly introducing them back into her diet."  I thought, "What?? That sounds like a nightmare! No milk, eggs or wheat for 6 weeks? No thanks!"  I didn't say that out loud-  I just said, "ok." Then after we left the office I told Ellie we would just start out with cutting out all dairy, since that just made the most since, and it was the number one food allergy that kids have.  So guess what, we cut out milk and her stomach aches went away! It was the first time in years her stomach hasn't hurt.  Then we had her drink a glass of milk, and sure enough- stomach ache came back.  No milk, no pain. She's allergic to cow milk! 

Three years of stomach aches, 2 Family Practice doctors, 1 Emergency Room doctor, 1 Pediatric Gastroenterologist, 1 Pediatric Allergist, 5 prescriptions, and she's allergic to dairy!  Am I crazy or does that seem like it should have been an easy find?  I mean, aren't food allergies common in kids, and shouldn't she have been tested from the start?  How is it that my friend and sister knew more than the doctors?  Whatever, it's water under the bridge.  I am just so grateful that we found out what the problem was!! The next step was to have a colonoscopy and endoscopy  preformed. I am glad we didn't get that done and then found out it was milk or then I would have been really ticked!  I am so thankful it wasn't something more serious.

So, to make a long story short,  Ellie is allergic to dairy.  It has been so nice to not have her stomach hurting all the time.  And it hasn't been that hard to cut out milk for her.   We love Ellie and she is beautiful.  The end.