Eosinophilic Esophagitis

Aside from being hard to pronounce, Eosinophilic Esophagits is an elusive disorder that can mimic indigestion and reflux. Although some children have this disorder so severely that the only thing they can consume is a special formula, others have to listen to their siblings say that they are faking their stomach ache. This is where my ten year old Zachary lives. He always had difficulty eating, even as an infant and was actually diagnosed with reflux when he was weeks old. However, with Reglan and time, he outgrew his reflux and developed into an extremely picky eater. He had approximately ten foods that he survived on, along with liquid vitamins.

Our first indication that there might be a bigger problem for Zachary was when he had an anaphylactic reaction to a white chocolate macadamia nut cookie from Sam's Club on the way to kindergarten. His eyes swelled shut, his throat started closing and at the same time he was vomiting. Luckily, we were right by our pediatrician's office and I rushed him in, where they took him back and gave him epinephrine immediately. Within a short time period, he was reacting to all tree nuts and we now know he is allergic to at least one of the preservatives they use in baked goods.

A year later, Zachary's first grade teacher called from school to say that he was in the nurse's office because he had choked on a cracker. Choked on a cracker? I could see a toddler doing that, but not a six year old child. I was baffled, but tucked it away in the back of my mind until Zachary began having chronic stomach aches that would just have him curled up in his bed crying.

After several visits to Zachary's pediatrician over the stomach aches, our regular pediatrician, Dr. Bruce (who was just as baffled as I was) referred Zachary to a Gastroenterologist because he was clearly unhappy and losing weight. Zachary began seeing a Denver pediatric GI specialist, Dr. Rosensweig in October, 2005. Within two months, he was scheduled for an endoscopy and biopsy to try and determine what these mysterious stomach pains were all about.

The entire time that Zachary was being seen for his stomach, as a mother, I was being pummeled with concern and advice. Very well meaning friends inquired whether Zachary didn't like school, had separation anxiety or just needed to be treated for reflux. I doubted myself as to whether I was taking these stomach aches too seriously. However, about a week before Christmas in 2005, the biopsy results came back and Zachary was diagnosed with Eosinophilic Esophagitis (EE).

Some links that I found useful after being presented with this diagnosis are as follows:
http://www.medicinenet.com/eosinophilic_esophagitis/page2.htm
http://www.apfed.org/ee.htm
http://www.apfed.org/ee.htm

Support groups have been very helpful in helping us deal with this disorder. Here are some links to support groups:
http://njpaeos.org/ee.html