Eosinophilic colitis

....is the diagnosis we've been given for granddaughter, Jasmine. It's a chronic, allergic, inflammatory condition of her large intestine. In simple terms, she is allergic to most foods. There is not much known about this illness. It may be autoimmune. We don't know yet.

She's just 20 months, and has been dealing with digestive upsets practically all of her life.

Diagnosed with GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease) about a year ago, her mother (my daughter) thought at that time "we finally have a diagnosis". Now Jasmine would begin to put on weight, enjoy her food, and maybe even sleep through the night.

Although she did improve somewhat, we knew there was more to this picture. She was not getting better. If she wasn't having diarrhea then it was constipation. The type of food made no difference. Her mother could feed her prunes all day and it wouldn't relieve the constipation. It sounded like she had an underlying motility disorder. Blood tests, x-rays and allergy tests were done.

She gained 2 lbs. from January to August. Not good enough.

We knew there were food intolerances, but the only one we were certain about was milk protein. Not lactose in milk. Protein. I'd never heard of anyone, particularly a baby being allergic to milk protein. Jasmine was and still is. So she drinks rice milk.

She eats chicken and rice. Sometimes fruit, sometimes potatoes. Not much else. Her problems persist. So the next step was to take a look inside and biopsy anything that looked suspicious. That meant a trip to the hospital where she was put under anesthesia for her endoscopy (both ends). You can imagine that a toddler would not cooperate for this type of procedure, hence the need for anesthesia.

We now have another diagnosis. Although eosinophilic colitis is a disease she will have to learn to live with, there are medications to help. Not cure....just help her through.

If anybody knows anyone with this form of eosinophilic gastroenteropathy, I'd appreciate an email.