My son Aidan has had a cold the past couple of days and all he has been doing is throwing up like crazyyyy!!!!! I feel that all I get done is to wipe up vomit and spit up and listen to him choke and gag and there just isn't anything I can do about it!!!! Does colds and sickness make GERD and DGE worse??? Do they get worse when they are sick? Can allergies also make it worse?
Would it be a good idea to go ahead and get him tested for allergies???
Luv ya
Courtney

Put simply... YES!

Vaccinations, illness, allergies... and many other reasons, Oh an no reason at all... can make it worse.

I hope things get better soon for you!! I hate when my daughter gets sick... it throws EVERYthing out of whack!

Yes, everything seems too, I really do feel that Elis DGE would be worse when ill, maybe it is the elevated temperature or the digestive track slowing down, or do they produce more stomach acid? but it definitely does. As if, it isn't bad enough already, right?

A big time yes for that question. It does make them more refluxy to be harbouring an illness, but teething, excess crying, vaccines, allergies, etc. as previously mentioned all contribute to a roller coaster plumment for many.

Bear in mind that allergy testing is not very reliable in very young children. You can get both false positives and false negatives until they are nearly 5 years of age. Skin prick testing is the most commonly done testing and really, it is the least accurate. RAST testing is done via bloodwork, so it is considered more invasive as blood must be drawn and results can take up to 2 weeks to come back, depending on your lab and allergist. This is considered more reliable than skin prick, but as the children are so young the rating of the RAST score may not give a full indicator as to the severity of the allergy. The gold standard for allergy is the biopsies, but it is the most invasive and involves scoping of the child under a general. Not reccommended unless a scope is being done anyway, or if severe allergies are suspected.

Truly, at this age an elimination diet is reccommended as it is considered accurate since you are looking for reactions, is not invasive, and can give you an indicator of sensitivities as well. Rotate your foods in 4 day cycles and check and see who the culprits are. A great book for doing this is "Is this your child?" by Doris Rapp.

The digestive system slows down naturally when your body is fighting a virus. Hence the reason you vomit when sick.

Connor also had a bad cold this past week and was doing the same thing. He kept gagging and choking and seemed like he couldn't swallow. He was even gagging on mylecon drops. He also has a bad cough and would cough so hard he would throw up. We actually ended up taking Connor to the ER last Monday because he acted like he couldn't swallow and kept gagging and throwing up. They suctioned out his nose and throat and said he had a ton of thick mucus :? They told me that the increase in mucus can cause them to throw up more. Have you been using saline drops in his nose and suctioning it out? That has really helped Connor. We also put a humidifier in his room. Hope he is feeling better real soon!!!

A definite yes here! About allergy testing, most doctors won't even consider it before a child's 2nd birthday b/c the results aren't too reliable...and they have to already have been exposed to foods in question before being tested.

How old is your little guy?

Just to let you know I am moving this topic to our new DGE forum. :D

hang on!

Thanks Leigh!

My son AIdan is a year old. I was tested at 6 months and it was very reliable!!! The reason they think it isn't is because children can outgrow allergies or gain new allergies as time passes. I started allergy shots at age 2. Currently, I am allergic to 80 diff things. Aidan certainly gets it honestly. They were going to test Aidan at 6 months in AL because his allergies were sooooo bad!!!!
I haven't been using a humidifier, but have been using an air purifier. What humidifier is the best to use? The mucous has been going down his throat. Poor baby :(

My son AIdan is a year old. I was tested at 6 months and it was very reliable!!!
Hmmm...That's strange, as the doctors here have told us the exact opposite. I know that Leigh and a few of the others on here have been told the same thing. Evan when Evan started projectiling his whole milk, and I suspected an allergy, the doctors wouldn't do it.

My son AIdan is a year old. I was tested at 6 months and it was very reliable!!! The reason they think it isn't is because children can outgrow allergies or gain new allergies as time passes. I started allergy shots at age 2. Currently, I am allergic to 80 diff things. Aidan certainly gets it honestly. They were going to test Aidan at 6 months in AL because his allergies were sooooo bad!!!!
I haven't been using a humidifier, but have been using an air purifier. What humidifier is the best to use? The mucous has been going down his throat. Poor baby :(

What form of testing was suggested at the age of 6 months? I do agree that children can outgrow and gain allergies over time ( I have a 4 year old that is overcoming a peanut and tree nut allergy at present), but true accuracy is not acheived until the child is around 2 years and often 5 years is considered the standard for truly reliable testing, biopsies not included. That is not to say they do not test under 2 as my youngest was tested at 14 months, but even then our ped allergist told us it is not a full indicator. For example, my son showed a HUGE welt for peanut and his RAST backed it up, but not as severe as the skin prick indicated, yet he reacted to peanuts. His milk was negative for skin prick and extremely low for RAST, yet he reacted very strongly and is on soy for over 2 years now. The only animal he tested positive for via skin prick was hamster and although a strong positive he has never had a reaction ever while handling them a few hundred times a year. When he is 5, we will retest and have our indicators for sure. I am reading up on IGG testing that is available now as opposed to the IGE method.

I was on allergy shots at the age of 3 and took them until I had an anaphalactic reaction around the age of 7. In my late teens I outgrew most of my allergies, thankfully.

Any humidifier will suffice. All they do is increase the humidity in the room and thus help with secretions and dry throat. Just get one that will cover the footage of his room and if you can put one in the living room as well or wherever you spend the most time.

I hope that the wee one feels better soon! It is so scary when they are so filled with mucous. Iain has been up several times tonight between refluxing and coughing, his little nose all packed up. :cry: Breathing difficulties are scary.

Actually think I was tested using a type of blood tests rather than the skin prick tests. Now they use the skin prick tests on me, but at the age of 6 months they didn't. I have some strange allergies. I'm allergic to carrots..... How strange is that???
I was so lucky I never had a major reaction to allergy shots. Just local reactions and those wasn't tooo bad. Just used ice and they went away. Thanx for all of your help!!!
Also they had said sometimes there is an intolerance to foods rather than an allergy as well. That is why allergies don't show up to dairy in some people but they just can't drink milk ....

I have some strange allergies. I'm allergic to carrots..... How strange is that???
If you had told me that 2 years ago, I would have been shocked, but I've met a couple of people since then with the same allergy. We actually have a parent volunteer at my son's school with a severe carrot allergy...we're talking anaphalactic reactions to carrots cooking in a soup in the staff room...Ambulance and all. That was the first time I had ever heard of such a reaction to carrots.

Actually think I was tested using a type of blood tests rather than the skin prick tests. Now they use the skin prick tests on me, but at the age of 6 months they didn't. I have some strange allergies. I'm allergic to carrots..... How strange is that???
I was so lucky I never had a major reaction to allergy shots. Just local reactions and those wasn't tooo bad. Just used ice and they went away. Thanx for all of your help!!!
Also they had said sometimes there is an intolerance to foods rather than an allergy as well. That is why allergies don't show up to dairy in some people but they just can't drink milk ....

Curran does have a low RAST for milk. As we have been slowly doing nut challenges with him these last couple of months (main ones for peanut were in the ped office, but now we are left with many others to test) we have not had time to really explore his milk problems. It could very well be more of an intolerance despite his registering an allergy to it. We really have not challenged it yet since he has enough going on as it is. I on the other hand LOVE milk. :D