Crohns Disease In Children...?

[jagw]

You may remember my post last year asking about IBS in children. We saw my daughters paediatrician and she said that although all her symptoms suggest IBS, it’s extremely rare in children and there is usually an element of anxiety in adults with IBS – this just doesn’t apply to my daughter. She said she would like to have her tested for Crohns Disease with a blood test. Usually people lose weight with Crohns don’t they? My daughter hasn’t lost any weight and has actually gained weight. She is suffering from stomach ache more or less daily now and her stomach swells up throughout the day. She is going to the toilet every day and her stools are normal, however, she does feel quite ‘blocked’ so I’ve been asked to increase her movicol medication to give her a ‘clear out’. She has had mucus in her stools on about 5 or so occasions but never any blood. She eats well and is an active girl doing swimming and dancing throughout the week. You may remember she suffers from rectal spasms but she has not had one now since October 2013. This happens frequently – she’ll have a few months of nothing and then will have one, maybe a few on consecutive nights. She is still on the mebeverine. My question is this – does this sound like Crohns or not? If this is negative then she’s going to refer my daughter to a dietician to see whether there is anything she is allergic to e.g. wheat etc.

[Sqad]

In a word...NO......this is not the picture of Crohn's disease.

But in medicine........you never say never.

[jagw]

Thanks Sqad. That's what I thought. I don't suppose you have any idea what might be the problem, please?

[Sqad]

Sorry......I don't.

However she will need endoscopy and biopsy of her intestine before a biopsy can be established.

I know that this is not very scientific, but I shall mention it anyway, one often comes down after investigations to " just one of those things."

[jagw]

Many thanks

[Sqad]

;-)

[Eve]

Is there any harm in having her tested, just to make sure? Crohns can be very destructive so a good thing to at least rule out or have a baseline result so, if the problems continue and more scans are needed, any change can be measured.

What blood tests out of interest? Inflammatory markers maybe? I know that blood tests can help diagnose things like Coeliac but I've been tested for Crohns (or other things) and, albeit I'm an adult, have had all kinds of scans including camera ones, MRI and a barium meal. They have find signs of inflammation in a stool sample too I think.

I've read that Crohns can often make people not want to eat due to the symptoms which can cause weight loss as well as complications from the disease itself. I believe it's common but not definitive.

[jagw]

Thank you Eve. She actually had a blood test on Wednesday. She's already been tested for coeliac disease as family members have it but this came back negative. The test was for all different things and did include inflammation. To be honest I think it may be a wheat allergy. A friend of mine told me she knew a little boy with very similar symptoms. He too would have to wear trousers at a bigger size as his tummy would swell so much over the day. It turns out he had a wheat allergy. She had toast and sandwiches yesterday and was upset at school because of her tummy ache. I'm about to have a look at different things that contain wheat because obviously its not just bread. It may be worth trying a wheat free diet for a couple of weeks whilst waiting for the dietician to make contact. Thank you for all comments. I'll comment again once we get the results.