Fussy eaters and spit-up on your shirt are expected when you become a parent. What can be difficult is trying to interpret when those subtle symptoms are a sign of something more serious. One Sioux Falls woman is thanking her mother’s intuition for helping identify a rather unique condition with her son.
Like most 3-year-olds, Conrad Gaspar is always on the go.
“Conrad is a very energetic kid and we like to say he's kind of a bull in a china shop. He is loving is what I would say is the biggest thing about Conrad, he loves big,” said Laura Gaspar.
Identifying Triggers
His big personality is pretty clearly seen, but Laura started noticing there were a few other things about Conrad that just didn’t seem right.
“As an infant, he spit up a lot. And when you're a parent of an infant, you just don't even really realize that it's happening until he was getting older. When we started to introduce solids, we noticed that he was having trouble swallowing. And there was a lot more gagging, and there was choking and vomiting associated with that,” said Gaspar.
Like any concerned parent, they took Conrad to his pediatrician and started documenting the foods and instances where Conrad had trouble with meals, with that information he was referred to pediatric gastroenterologist Dr. Sarah Cole who did an endoscopy and discovered the cause.
“Eosinophilic esophagitis is abbreviated EoE. Eosinophils are a type of white blood cell that can essentially migrate to the esophagus and can cause inflammation in that area, which leads to further issues with eating and vomiting and other things down the road. Essentially the body is overreacting to some of these allergens,” said Sarah Cole, MD with Avera Pediatric Gastroenterology.
EoE is typically triggered by a food allergy like milk or wheat — and if left untreated, the esophagus can become permanently narrowed and inflamed. For Conrad, he started on an antacid and continued to stay away from reactive foods.
Breakthroughs in Treatment Options for EoE
“His vomiting improved on a proton pump inhibitor, but those allergy cells were not gone completely. And so family wanted to pursue Dupilumab, and that has been working very well for him,” said Dr. Cole.
“It's not an everyday, it's a every other week shot, which is great for those of us that are busier in our lifestyles. We've seen a huge increase in his lack of spitting up, lack of puking, eating different foods. Before, if something had any sort of acidity to it, he did not want it, he'd try it once and he'd move on. We've seen a huge difference in his behavior in terms of food,” said Gaspar.
He’s not entirely in remission, but with this new treatment, his condition is controlled and improving. Meaning Conrad can focus all his energy on just being a kid.
“When we knew it was going to be a lifelong condition, it was really intimidating, I would say, and really scary knowing, because he was so young, that it could lead to detrimental effects the further we left it. So getting a treatment that works and is shown to work has been such a relief as a parent to know that we have the ability to help him hopefully live a long, healthy life,” said Gaspar.
Getting the diagnosis can be the biggest challenge for parents, so don’t be afraid to talk to your pediatrician or family doctor if something doesn’t feel right. Treatment options can vary from patient to patient.
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