★★★★☆
Hi Nydad:
My son who is 12, was diagnosed with Eoseonophilic gastroenteritis via endoscopy in 2010, which eventually also manifested into esophagitis as well. It began after he was placed on a heavy round of antibiotics last February for an upper respiratory. My guess from what I have learned through research is this: the antibiotics caused an overgrowth of candida, which perforated the intestine walls, and caused small holes through which food and environmental allergens were passing through.
I believe many children diagnosed with EE or EG, probably all have some sort of fungal issue from past antibiotic use or processed foods-you can check this through a spit ph test or simply look at the tongue for a white coating. By March, he had lost 15 pounds, was anemic, vomited everyday, was only able to eat approximately 5 or 6 different types of food, had a constant body pain, and slept for hours throughout the day, his body had become extremely toxic and seemed to be shutting down-this disease was taking over our lives. He missed all of the Spring school semester, so we eventually withdrew him and began home schooling while searching for a doctor with a cure. We spent countless hours and thousands of dollars on different specialists, doctors, naturopaths, and even an acupuncturist to try and understand how to function day to day. I never was told specifically what caused the sudden eosoniphil increase, but I wanted to give you some insight as to what I discovered worked (and what did not work) for us and how my son has improved over the course of a year. (We too were quickly reaching the point of feeding tube and I was desperate to help him get his life back).
Because his food and environmental allergies grew increasingly worse every single day, we guessed each day as to what foods he could and could not eat. The things the others are saying is true, your child probably has leaky gut syndrome-there are many causes besides just antibiotics-the most prevalent being processed/fast food and high sugary foods. I changed my sons diet to whole organic foods-primarily leafy greens which helped tremendously regulate his digestive system-and in moderate amounts allowed *some* dairy because he is a child and this was very difficult to balance to keep him from being stressed. I completely eliminated bread for several weeks and then when I reintroduced it, I used all gluten free products or made the bread at home, being cautious about the ingredients I used. I also added in 1 cup of Kefir a day-this completely eliminated the constipation issue associated with EG. I then began researching drastically on rebuilding the immune system. He started taking the following supplements: Colostrum (3 per day), Vit. D3, Flax seed oil (2 tbls. Mixed with a 1/2 cup of organic cottage cheese), Zinc, potassium, Selenium, Probiotics (over 10 billion per pill) and a whole food liquid. I gave him digestive enzymes during meals.
Over the course of the year, he very very slowly began improving-very slowly. We continued on this routine faithfully over the course of the year - then in about December began experiencing problems again. We visited with an allergist this time to specifically identify his food allergens-in December, skin testing revealed he was allergic to approximately 64 different food and environmental allergies, while a food allergy test from a Naturopath identified his primary food allergies were milk and eggs. We finally decided on a steroid anti inflammatory in January. He received a prednisone injection which significantly helped, and began taking Singular (but not without either causing side effects), as well as began sublingual immunotherapy aka SLIT. The injection in January helped significantly, however if you read up on the side effects of steroids, they are pretty horrific, however I did find a clinical study from the Mayo clinic showing there was an 86% cure rate from a steroid injection for people with EE and EG. We continued on with the Singular which appeared to be hiding symptoms, but not curing-at this point the disease prevented him from swallowing in the morning. The allergist informed me to give him a salty drink or to have him eat a salty food first thing in the morning and it will reduce the swelling-a nifty little trick that works well. The allergist also surprisingly prescribed Vit. D3, fish oil, probiotics, and pomegranate fruit juice along with his SLIT therapy (the same old vitamin supplementation we had already been doing over the past year)-he said if you keep going, you will see a 90% recovery by the end of the year.
I then found earth clinic by just looking for information on how to help him as it seemed we were not doing enough and was not happy that we were back to Rx's again. I discovered the apple cidar vinegar cure and began drinking it myself first. I then incorporated it into my son's diet for two weeks and all of a sudden his allergies and asthma were diminshing. I would not say he is 100% cured, but it is getting better and better each day. I believe it is working because it is killing off the underlying root of the problem-the candida. We continue to take the supplements mentioned above, especially the colostrum and kefir as they both rebuild the intestinal lining and drink the ACV everyday and he is continuing on his immunotherapy drops. For him, I use 1 tsp. of ACV in 12 oz. of spring water with a small amount of honey. We also oil pull with Extra Virgin Coconut Oil in the mornings and have seen improvement from that as well (he has had a skin rash appearing-a common detox reaction as the candida leaves the body-I just rub coconut oil on the skin where the rash shows up until it goes away). Since the oil pulling and ACV, he has no longer had to take any prescriptions-this is the first time all year, and is actually eating what is considered "normal" food again-the bad stuff, but is not having any adverse effects and has even ate a few nuts the past few days without any problems (I normally carry an epi pen for just in case situations). Because of the supplements, probitiotics, and whole food vitamins, he has not been sick in over a year-not even a low fever or sore throat. I believe his immune system is on its way to being rebuilt.
I believe we are finally on our way-it was a very very long road, there were many days of frustration, but I wanted to encourage you to not give up and keep searching-you are on the right track. I also purchased two books that helped me understand the whole body tremendously- one is written by a very popular nutrionist, Doug Kaufman, called the *Fungus Link* which deals with systemic candida and inflammation and the second one is by Gary Huffngale, Ph. D. Entitled *Probiotics Revolution*. Both will help tremendously. I believe what worked for us was a combination of many things-diet change to all organic, heavy vit. , mineral, and probiotic supplements, the immunotherapy along with traditional medicine under an allergy specialist.
I hope this helps and my heart reaches out to you, this is a terrible terrible disease, but I can assure you if we can bounce back from where we were last year-everyone can. Use every resource you have to throw at it, attack the symptoms with scripts until you can find the root cause, then start identifying the nutritional deficiencies, along with any pathogenic organisms that may be lingering around.
Elimination Diet
★★★★☆
I am a 33 yo Female diagnosed EE 2 years ago through biopsy. This led me to get skin prick allergy tested and I was shocked to learn that at 31 I had 14 food allergies I had not had in my teens when I was 1st tested. My allergies including wheat, onion, chicken, peanut & green beans comprised about 90% of what I had been eating. My doctor put me on budesinide and the compounding pharmacist made it a suspension liquid that is easier for me than puffing the inhaler and swallowing the medicine. I've been asthmatic so long I totally kept inhaling every time I tried to take it. It was a GOD send!! Dysphagia and nausea was eliminated almost immediately and I only had to take it a week or 2. Now I just take it as needed.
Elimination diet helped with alot of my symptoms- no more headaches (Daily, debilitating stress headaches $thousands of dollars in meds, MRI's and testing only to find no known cause and was on Lortab 10's 2x a day just so I could hold a job), less asthma, less fatigue, less anxiety and also it increased the range of motion in my neck by reducing the inflammation in my neck and shoulders. Before I felt so bad all of the time I didn't realize how inflexible I had gotten. My Dr.s just kept saying exercise more, that I was getting older and was out of shape. :(
I still have insomnia, anxiety, IBS symptoms, occasional dysphagia and I am always bloated with water retention- I mean BAD bloated whether I am taking the steroids or not. It hurts to sit for more than an hour because I'm so bloated with water. After 2 years on elimination diet- my food allergies have mysteriously disappeared as quickly as they came. I only have a slight allergy to peanuts, but still have EE symptoms because I have many inhaled allergies like pollen and dustmites- but I have always had those allergies. My Dr.s don't know what has reversed my allergies (Lord knows it wasn't anything they did).
Last year I started eating only organic foods, much more whole foods- no processed stuff (Mainly because processed foods are all made with wheat and things I am allergic to) I wash my fruits and veggies religously and I try to grow a couple of veggies on my patio when I can. That way I know what's on them. My husband is a hunter so we ate mostly meat he killed which is very organic and untreated with antibiotics. I also started eating yogurt pretty regularly because it was convenient for me to pack for lunch since sandwiches were out of the question. I believe that my diet accidentally becoming more probiotic and less antibiotic and that along with getting away from the allergens has helped my intestines heal. This started me reading about leaky gut syndrome. Intestinal wall is damaged- leaks large protein molecules of food you eat across into bloodstream- white blood cells attack that protein and instantly you have food allergies. Before you are identified EE/ or allergic your Dr. may treat the symptoms with antibiotics, anti-inflammatories and antacids all of which further destroy the flora in your GI tract that is thought to protect your guts from leaking and you have a perpetuatal cycle. Stress, processed food diet and antibiotically treated food are also thought to destroy flora in the tract.
So elimination diet made me better- next I decided to start an actual probiotic regimen. 2 weeks in and I am not bloated AT ALL!! Since I've been sick I gained 30-40 Lbs. I felt hungry all the time, I craved sugar, I was exhausted so I didn't excercise and my body was in anaphylactic shock daily for years before I was diagnosed. The day I started elimination diet I was so sleepy for 3 days all I did was sleep. I hadn't taken a nap in almost 5 years my constant adrenaline rush made me too anxious to rest well. It was hard for me to diet because I would eat chicken and whole wheat when I did which was what I was allergic to. I'm still a big girl but Jeans with no bloating and no muffin top is such a blessing for me!!! I'm eager to learn more about the possible probiotic/ EE link and am currently looking into digestive enzymes, but haven't had time to read much about it. Is the probiotic thing anything you have looked into?
