Eosinophilic Esophagitis

Michael has Eosinophilic Esophagitis. It makes eating quite a challenge for him. I found it interesting that many symptoms we thought we separate disorders like GERD are actually all related to this. According to the American Partnership for Eosinophilic Disorders at http://www.apfed.org/ee.htm ,

"Common symptoms include:
Reflux that does not respond to usual therapy (medicines which stop acid production in the stomach)
Dysphagia (difficulty swallowing)
Food impactions (food gets stuck in the esophagus)
Nausea and Vomiting
Failure to thrive (poor growth, malnutrition, or weight loss) and poor appetite
Abdominal or chest pain
Feeding refusal/intolerance or poor appetite
Difficulty sleeping

The reactions to foods are not always ‘immediate hypersensitivity’ (IgE-mediated). This means that a food can be consumed with no obvious reaction to it, but over a period of days to weeks the eosinophils triggered by the food will cause inflammation and injury to the esophagus. For this reason, food logs (keeping track of foods and symptoms) may not identify the offending food."

Testing is in progress to determine the best treatment for Michael, and we will know more at the end of the month. I pray whatever the treatment is helps relieve his symptoms, the gagging, the food getting stuck, and the choking on food that he deals with every day. Michael has every single symptom on that list, and I was amazed they are all related to this EE.

Jennifer