He Has EoE: Another GI Visit

Thursday, September 30, 2010

Another GI Visit

Today's visit to the GI went much better. Based on information Jordan received at the conference and things we have read on an email listserv we both belong to, we feel like we really do have a good doctor working with us. Jordan feels much better than he did after the last visit.

The doctor wants us to wean Oliver off the flovent now. He suggested a very, very gradual weaning. We are currently at two a day, but he wants us to go to one a day and stay there for several weeks and then go to every other day for awhile and go from there.

There is still no plan for another endoscopy to check progress.

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Who is he?

He is Oliver and he is three years old. Oliver was diagnosed with EoE two weeks after his first birthday. He was diagnosed as failure to thrive at nine months old at which point we pursued some blood tests. His celiac panel came back somewhat positive so we were referred to a pediatric gastroenterologist. We met with the GI on Oliver's first birthday at which point we scheduled an endoscopy to find out exactly what was going on. The endoscopy showed no signs of celiac, but instead a multitude of eosinophils in his esophagus. So celiac was ruled out and Eosinophilic Esophagitis became his new diagnosis.

What is EoE?

An eosinophil is a white blood cell that is an important part of the immune system, just not when found in large numbers in one's esophagus! Eosinophilic Esophagitis (EoE) is the result of an abnormal amount of eosinophils in the esophagus. These eosinophils are often caused by food protein and the eosinophils cause inflammation in the esophagus. Treatment options are dietary management (removal of trigger foods) and topical corticosteroid treatment. The steroids control the inflammation in the esophagus and suppress the eosinophils, but once treatment stops, the eosinophils will return unless the trigger foods are all removed.