DD refuses to eat

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op, thanks for the update! For those of us dealing with similar, would you mind sharing what the medical condition was? Celiac?

Still no definitive diagnosis. It’s upper GI, not lower. Started with loss of appetite and mild heartburn, progressed to more serious heartburn with vomiting. Over the counter heartburn meds have helped, but symptoms resume when she goes off of them, and we’re maxing out how long the ped is comfortable having her on them. Next up is a GI visit, and the ped suspects they’ll have her do an endoscopy. There is IBD in the family, but no celiac.

[Anonymous]

Op, I’m glad you know it’s not an eating disorder! . My 10 year old (boy) started refusing to eat and we were worried. Turned out he was severely constipated. Hope you find out the root cause soon.

[Anonymous]

NP - I wondered if there was a physical issue. My now 12 year old DD has a nonspecific GI issue that feels like severe reflux, but the endoscopy showed there is no accompanying physical evidence of actual reflux. She was also chronically constipated. At 9, she became very resistant to eating and refused to eat. We finally figured out she had stomach pain; she said she had had it her whole life and thought it was normal to feel that way. What has helped - low acid diet, completely gluten free (even no gluten free oats), plus digestive enzymes. She takes two Klare Labs chewable Vital Zymes before every meal, and I pray they never stop making them, because they have been a godsend.

[Anonymous]

^^ and she tested negative for celiac, but can’t have even a little gluten or the pain comes back.

[Anonymous]

OP thank you for the update and so happy to hear you started with your pediatrician and that they helped!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NP - I wondered if there was a physical issue. My now 12 year old DD has a nonspecific GI issue that feels like severe reflux, but the endoscopy showed there is no accompanying physical evidence of actual reflux. She was also chronically constipated. At 9, she became very resistant to eating and refused to eat. We finally figured out she had stomach pain; she said she had had it her whole life and thought it was normal to feel that way. What has helped - low acid diet, completely gluten free (even no gluten free oats), plus digestive enzymes. She takes two Klare Labs chewable Vital Zymes before every meal, and I pray they never stop making them, because they have been a godsend.

It can be really hard to even recognize chronic issues. This DD has good pain tolerance and rarely complains of pain. In fact, she didn't even register the reflux as pain - more as a "weird feeling," and that only after the pediatrician asked the question a bunch of different ways.

My other DC had chronic constipation for years when they were younger. They have always had very low pain tolerance and complain pretty much constantly, which also makes it hard to know when to take things seriously.

[Anonymous]

It is very obvious she is using food to punish you for something. Does she feel unloved or what has happaned other than food recently?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is very obvious she is using food to punish you for something. Does she feel unloved or what has happaned other than food recently?

OP here. I think you missed the update. It turned out to be a medical issue that reduced appetite and made eating uncomfortable.