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Gastric outlet obstruction: Worried about my 6 year old
My 6 year old has been complaining about epigastric pain since July. This was new and abnormal for him to complain. It progressed to intermittent vomiting every week or so to daily vomiting.
Were told it was constipation until we had an EGD and they found his pyloric sphincter was extremely tight with some nodules next to it. The GI doc was able to push the smallest neonatal scope through after multiple attempts.
Currently waiting on our Mayo referral as our Peds GI doc said my son needs to go to a larger center... no official diagnosis yet. I'd been saying the whole time I worried about some type of obstruction or hypertrophic pyloric stenosis - everyone dismissed me saying how rare that is.. well.. here we are.
I'm not finding much information from others parents as this doesn't seem too common. Anyone else have similar stories?
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@rnmom26, you must be so worried about your son. I'm glad that you followed your mom's intuition and persisted in getting answers. You will be in good hands at Mayo Clinic's Children Center.
Here is some information from Mayo Clinic on
- Pyloric stenosis https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/pyloric-stenosis/symptoms-causes/syc-20351416
- Intestinal obstruction https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/intestinal-obstruction/symptoms-causes/syc-20351460
@rnmom26, I've added your question to the Digestive Health support group as well as the About Kids group and am tagging @astaingegerdm and @jmmb who may have experiences to share and support to offer.
How are you keeping your son comfortable until he can be seen by a specialist? How are YOU doing?
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1 Reaction@rnmom26
I hope you get your Mayo referral soon. It must be stressful to see your son vomiting so often without a diagnosis.
It’s true that pyloric stenosis is more common in infants- especially boys- but one should not dismiss the possibility just because it’s so rare in older children.
Mayo is a perfect place for him.
There may be other causes why the pyloric muscle is tight in an older child but surgery would relieve the stenosis just as in an infant.
Is your son able to tolerate liquid nutrition such as Ensure?
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2 Reactions@astaingegerdm yes we are sticking to a pretty pureed diet - smoothies, yogurt drinks, yogurt, applesauce, cream of wheat, cocoa wheats, pudding. We've tried some Ritz crackers with peanut butter, and he does okay with those but they about disintegrate with any liquid :).
He's done well but he's been eating this way for 2.5 weeks so he's dying for a sandwich, granola bar, or fruit all of which he loves.
Yes, I think that's a large part of my frustration - I said 10 weeks ago "something is wrong, this is not constipation." and I was dismissed. I commented at the specialist and even in pre op for EGD and said "oh that's so rare" when I talked about some type of obstruction or pyloric stenosis or pseudo-obstruction - would this have happened sooner if I would've been listened to? I'm a parent and an ER nurse. I worked in PICU prior to the ED but felt very ignored in my concern.
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1 Reaction@colleenyoung - thank you! He's doing well on a pureed diet but is a little tired of it after 2.5 weeks. But it has kept his abdominal pain and vomiting at bay thankfully.
I'm feeling a little defeated at this process - trying to be patient 🙂
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1 Reaction@rnmom26
I worked in Peds and learned early on to listen to parents. Not all physicians do- even when we as adults go to the doctor and explain what’s bothering us.
You are on the right track now. Please give us updates!
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