Eosinophilic Esophagitis is not a fun diagnosis especially for a child. How can an infant tell you that their throat hurts all the time, that it hurts to eat and they would rather not eat anything. According to Boston's Children's Hospital,
"Eosinophilic esophagitis (or “EE,” and also known as “EoE”) is an allergic
reaction that causes inflammation and damage to the esophagus, the muscular tube
that connects mouth to stomach.
EE may affect your child’s ability to eat – both physically (a swollen
esophagus makes it hard for food to go down) and psychologically (a child may
grow to associate eating with discomfort). It’s usually caused by a food
allergy. "
In the past the cure was to avoid all allergens, which is difficult at best especially if the main culprit is dairy. Now they use Flonase, which is a steroidal spray that is squirted into the mouth for this particular problem. There is usually no side effects and according to my daughters gastroenterologist it is like putting cream on the skin, it takes out the inflammation and coats the throat so that the inflammation is reduced. Of course with my child, I still need to limit dairy so that it doesn't cause her skin or her bowels to react, but at least now she eats more than I have seen her do in the past.
This is the website I used for the quote above:
http://www.childrenshospital.org/az/Site3093/mainpageS3093P0.html
"Eosinophilic esophagitis (or “EE,” and also known as “EoE”) is an allergic
reaction that causes inflammation and damage to the esophagus, the muscular tube
that connects mouth to stomach.
EE may affect your child’s ability to eat – both physically (a swollen
esophagus makes it hard for food to go down) and psychologically (a child may
grow to associate eating with discomfort). It’s usually caused by a food
allergy. "
In the past the cure was to avoid all allergens, which is difficult at best especially if the main culprit is dairy. Now they use Flonase, which is a steroidal spray that is squirted into the mouth for this particular problem. There is usually no side effects and according to my daughters gastroenterologist it is like putting cream on the skin, it takes out the inflammation and coats the throat so that the inflammation is reduced. Of course with my child, I still need to limit dairy so that it doesn't cause her skin or her bowels to react, but at least now she eats more than I have seen her do in the past.
This is the website I used for the quote above:
http://www.childrenshospital.org/az/Site3093/mainpageS3093P0.html