Several years ago, my son started complaining of feeling like he was going to throw up – a lot. Once it became clear it wasn’t a simple bug of sorts, we went to the doctor. Our physician was thorough and believed what he was saying, but could find nothing wrong. Time passed and we were back at the doctor. After some additional tests, it was determined he had a ‘slight’ case of acid reflux – take these meds as needed. Time passed with good days and bad days. Eventually, he stopped the meds.
By the time he was in middle school, there were complaints of headaches and stomach aches. Back to the doctor we went. The doctor could find nothing wrong, so the questions began – is he doing okay in school, is there anything going on at home…? He was doing great in school. Grades were good, no peer issues. Things were fine at home as well. We were looking in from all angles, but finding nothing.
As the headaches and stomach aches continued, his mood started to drop and he became easily distracted. At the advice of our family physician, he started an anti-depressant and I took him to a counselor. We worked on some of the attention issues and some minor things, but nothing came out that explained the moods or the headaches and/or stomach aches. Once again, we stopped the meds.
The headaches turned into migraines – a day here, a day there. Then they increased. He would miss days of school at a time. Several more doctor appointments led to trying several migraine medications. Most didn’t work at all. One would give him some relief only to have the pain return within a few days. When days turned into a week or more at a time, we took a trip to the neurologist. Lots of questionnaires, an MRI, and other tests and examinations later and I was told my son had a beautiful brain. No abnormalities that explained the migraines. He was missing so much school, that I eventually pulled him out during 8th grade and enrolled him in an online home schooling program.
One day, I mentioned to my chiropractor the migraines he was having. She told me she treated children as well and asked if I’d be willing to bring him in to see if she could help. YES! He was in so much pain he was willing to try anything at this point. Though not 100%, he felt much better after just the first appointment. I was thrilled and figured we had it all figured out. As the migraines became less intense, shorter in duration and fewer and further between, his mood – obviously – improved. He was still complaining of the stomach aches, but those weren’t nearly as bad as the migraines – yet.
We both felt confident he was well enough to go back into the public school system for his Freshman year. He still missed a good amount of days, but since he had doctor notes for much of the time missed and he had made up all of his work, the district gave him an exemption. The days he didn’t have notes for were more stomach related.
As these days increased, we finally talked about going to the doctor once again. By this time, he had a new general physician (I decided it was about time for him to see a male doctor since he was getting older). At first, there didn’t seem to be anything overly wrong. As they talked, the doctor noted him mentioning eating fast food more frequently. The times seemed to coincide with his stomach pains, so they discussed cutting back on that. As time went on, it was a toss up on any given day if he would feel somewhat okay, have bouts of diarrhea, or days of painful constipation. Enough was enough and back to the doctor we went. This time, the doctor was a bit more concerned and did some tests.
That visit led us to a specialist. She took some x-rays and found he was severely impacted. Take this, drink that, come back. He did as instructed, missing more days of school. Several more appointments and instructions later and she deemed him “well” again. Though his bowel activity was somewhat more normal, he was still complaining of the stomach pain.
By this time, we were fighting the public school due to his absence level again. After much research prayer and tinkering with my monthly budget, I pulled him out and enrolled him in a private academy. He was able to work at home and only go on campus for testing. Due to the issues with the public school, he was a semester behind. This got us through the remainder of his Sophomore year.
A bit more financial re-arranging and he started his Junior year at the same private academy, but on-site. It’s a mastery program, so school is only four hours a day. Since he was having stomach issues again, I was hoping this would be the better option. Unfortunately, he had days that even four hours was impossible. We were both at our wits end.
Mid-school year, he noticed a spot that seemed to be getting more irritated. Thinking it may be sweat related, he tried powder. Then he tried ointment. Finally, he told me it didn’t seem to be healing. Back to the doctor we went. At first, the doctor thought it to be staph – antibiotics. The next appointment revealed no change and the doctor recommended treating it for strep while we waiting on the results of a culture – a different antibiotic. Awful side effects meant switching to yet another antibiotic. Culture results led to a combination of two antibiotics. When none yielded any results, we were sent to a dermatologist. A biopsy confirmed a few things it wasn’t – whew! But not what it WAS. Try this cream – nada.
I finally called our general physician and asked for blood work to be done, including an allergy test. BINGO! The doctor was almost excited when he personally called with the results. My son showed a sensitivity (not allergy) to wheat, peanut, soy and mold. I was actually driving when I got the call and pulled over to take this in and ask some questions.
While we will never know if this was the root cause of this unhealing spot that eventually had to be surgically taken care of, we were both certain it was the likely cause of his stomach ailments – WHEAT!
