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[luckyacorn]

Hi Everyone,

I can't tell you how happy I am to have found this board! I have an 18 month old who has had chronic diarrhea since he went on table foods. Actually, he has never had solid stools. He was breastfed until 13 months and was told that his runny stools were normal for a breastfed baby- but I don't know if that is true. We are a military family and have been dealing with military doctors, which in my opinion are not very good. The doctors blow me off when I tell them he has diarrhea several times a day. Thinking it was allergy related (because he is allergic to milk and I thought he may have other allergies), I put him on an elimination diet, but he still had diarrhea. After eliminating this and that, along with journaling, I figured out that the diarrhea is related to consumption of sugar and fruits and veggies. So, I Googled and found out about fructose malabsorption and HFI. I have changed his diet and it consists mainly of rice, potatoes, plain meat, and baked goods made with dextrose, oat and rice flour. If he eats just these items, his stools are solid. If I add any fruits or veggies he gets diarrhea. He can handle about a tablespoon of brocolli or cauliflower with his meal- but, not too often. So I'm thinking he might had FM. J.J. was finally referred to a GI doc and I brought it up, but he blew me off as well. He tested J.J. for celiac disease, which the test came back negative. Nothing else has been done. I don't know what to do. We're going to see the doc tomorrow, but I don't know what tests to ask for. Any suggestions?

[charlie]

Hello, nice to meet you and hear this. You have come to the right place for advice if it is a fructose problem, your story sounds so familiar. Have a look at the top link in miscellaneous if you haven't already, it is exactly the same as mine so far except I didn't breastfeed that long, so symptoms kicked in much earlier.
Did he have any vomiting, this is often an indicator of how severe the problem may be although not necessarily.
Where in the world are you from as this may depend on what tests are available.
If you think its a straightforward malabsorbtion then you need the hydrogen breath test but if he is showing signs of being very ill on fructose you need to be careful as it can make them very ill.
Unfortunately alot of medics haven't heard about this or take the routine answer that your child would be seriously ill therefore it can't be but you need to persevere, keep a food, mood and poo diary and get anyone else eg a nursery or childminder to make notes too. I found it was only when the school got involved that they took me seriously.
In the meantime, for the sake of your sons health and well being stick to your instincts about it.

Good luck
Charlie

[luckyacorn]

Thank you so much for responding. J.J. had his appointment today and they drew some blood. They also are planning on getting a biopsy of his lower intestine. The doc wants to look at the structure of his lower intestine, and also check to see if he is lacking the enzyme that processes sugar. Does that sound familiar or make any sense to you? I'm not sure what that exactly means. The biopsy procedure is scary to me- he'll have to be sedated. To answer your question, J.J. does not vomit or act sick when he has fructose. He has diarrhea and then goes about his business, happy as a clam- so, I'm thinking he doesn't have HFI (but I'm also very ignorant on the subject). My biggest concerns are weight loss (from when he has too much diarrhea) and him not getting all his nutrients. I'm trying to find a safe multivitamin and calcium supplement (he's allergic to milk). Oh, I forgot to mention, he is able to eat small amounts of banana (a little over a tablespoon) without any problems (I put it in his rice cereal every morning and also in baked goods). Any thoughts or suggestions are welcome and appreciated. Thank so much!

[colormist]

Definitely doesn's sound like HFI, but it's not horribly common to be born with DFI. Not unheard of, but not common. I don't think you have anything to worry about with the biopsy. The instruments they use nowadays are so tiny that his recovery time should be very short--especially for a biopsy of his lower intestine.

I'm not that knowledgeable on DFI myself, so I'm not sure what they do to test for it. Maybe some other members can help.

[lisa]

We did the fasting 3-hour hydrogen breath test with Nate. The hospital had not done it on a child his age before. He practiced blowing in the tube for 2 months before he got it well enough that they were comfortable administering the test (at 20 months old). Hearing what others have experienced I would probably be a lot more concerned/cautious now and push for an alternative test. It is definitely a miserable thing to go through!

Nate started having the diarrhea after introducing foods and got worse after weaning at 1 year. The ped had him on various antibiotics for 4 months before they referred us to the GI doc. The GI doc took another 4 months to diagnose.

I'd love to hear how the blood test and biopsy go if you decide to do them. I wonder if that is the alternative to the breath test for determining DFI/FM? In the meantime, the diet seems like it is working so far, so keep at it!