Gastritis and Crohn's

My husband was diagnosed with crohns 15 years ago.
We have a 6 year old daughter that is healthy, but has been diagnosed with delayed growth as has dropped from the 40th percentile in height from birth to age 4. Since turning 4 each year has dropped considerably and now at 6 is not on the chart at all. My husband is 6'1" and I am 5'6". We are average height. This prompted the doc to order some growth hormone testing. Which was in normal range.
So.... We were referred to peds gi doc that ordered a colonoscopy/endoscopy to rule out crohns since daddy has it. After procedure doc said her colon gi tract was as beautiful as her face. ((Relief))
Three days later doc called with abnormal biopsies showing gastritis. He prescribed Prilosec for 30 days. We didn't want to medicate her with out any symptoms. Now we are 60 days post procedure and she's been complaining of tummy aches. Have call into doc regarding tummy aches.
Wondering... Could the gastritis be an early sign/symptom of Crohns??
Thanks!

gastritis is inflammation of the stomach. I had that a long time ago and was put on a medication similar to prilosec as well as Bentyl for the spasms.

Seeing as the tests were negative for Crohn's, it could be just what the doctor told you, gastritis aka an inflamed stomach. If he did tests in the stomach to rule out crohn's he would've told you if it was. You can ask if he plans to do an endoscopy to recheck the lining of the stomach and to do another biopsy to rule out Crohn's.

Normal folks get gastritis as well due to different causes. Ask the GI when he calls you back if it's an early sign. He'd know more as Crohn's symptoms vary in each person.

I hope she feels better.

Sorry you have worries about your daughter! I can't answer you re the gastritis, however, if she is not growing/losing weight, I would speak to the doctor re further image testing. Scopes will not show inflammation in the small intestine but there are a number of other tests that can check for inflammation in the small bowel - MRE, CT scan, pill cam, SBFT. As well, stool tests can help identify if inflammation is present (lactoferrin and fecal calprotectin).

I'm sure other parents will be along with more info, hopefully, someone can answer your question re the gastritis.

:ghug:

Hi,
Yes Grace has that and is on the same meds. Prilosec takes time to work. Once it starts it helped Grace a lot. If she's in pain that might mean inflammation is in the stomach and will cause problems. Don't let it go untreated. I did almost all my life and now I'm paying for it.

HUGS

I totally understand your worry being IBD is so genetic. PPIs like Prilosec (omeprozole) are great for healing the stomach. My daughter took them for 6 months and they really helped but once she didn't need it anymore she got terrible stomach aches. I was hard getting her off of them. I wouldn't use it as a long term crutch in my research long term use can exasperate disease. According to the FDA PPI increase the risk of developing c.diff, and I know two people that didnt have IBD until after being diagnosed with a super bug, one had H.Pilori the other C.diff. Also PPIs can thin bones increasing the risk of bone fractures.

Just suggesting once things are healed maybe trying to control symptoms with natural ways to treat her gastritis. Eating frequent meals throughout the day, bananas and apple cider vinegar reduce stomach acid naturally. Supplementing any vitamin deficiencies, like B12, E, C and D. I also read that Aloe Vera Gel help with this. Avoid NSAID pain relievers like Motrin and Advil as they can irritate the stomach.

http://www.fda.gov/drugs/drugsafety/ucm290510.htm

Glad she had a beautiful GI tract and that no Crohns was found. I really hope you can figure out why she is not growing much though.

My son took PPI's for about 6 months. They helped his stomach pain tremendously. He had a lack of appetite from the pain which led to weight loss and lack of growth. Hopefully clearing up the gastritis will be enough to get your daughter healthy and growing again. The PPI's do take a while to work, but I would give them a try. You can always take her off them if you feel they aren't helping or you are concerned about her being on them too long. Once my son's stomach was healed he had no problems stopping them. He has been off of them for a year now.

Good luck and let us know how your little one is doing. ((((Hugs))))

Thanks for the input everyone!! Now that she's been complaining of pain, think I will have to medicate. The doc recommended for 30 days, so we will start there. Unfortunately, the original prescrip was for Prilosec delayed release capsules and she would never swallow them. Talked to the pharmacist last night and he said there are disolvable tabs that are easier for small kiddos. Hoping to get those this evening and get her started.
So hard to decipher if she's really having pain or immitating Daddy. Daddy just got home from the hospital after a 11 day stay from a flare and she is a HUGE Daddy's girl. Seems she only complains before bedtime and right when she wakes in the a.m.
Also, when they did blood work she had an elevated SED rate & Lymphocyte percent. This to me is like a foreign language though...
Alot of you are saying that the prilosec takes awhile to work. Should I expect to see improvements in about 2 weeks?
Thanks again!
Lisa

I was told one week or less for it to work. Grace has the pills compounded into a liquid form. I won't lie, it's HORRIBLE tasting but Grace has a feeding tube I can put hers into.:smile:

The sed rate means inflammation is present in the body. Did your doctor tell you his thought on why it was raised? I would suppose that gastritis could do it but I'm not sure.:yrolleyes:

I want to second Tesscorm about getting a small bowel study done. That is where nutritional absorption happens and cannot be seen with endoscopy/colonoscopy/biopsy. And you have an elevated blood SED rate result? My son's symptoms were the same, but he had a fistula/abscess that alerted us to the others before we noticed his growth failure, which you still need an explanation for. Hope she feels better on the Prilosec soon though.

I definitely am on the team that says push for more testing of the small bowel. Most of the absorption in the body happens in the small bowel and if there are such big signs of nutritional deficiencies (low weight, etc). Take it from one who didn't push for more testing with my daughter when she was little. Now she is 13 and is just being diagnosed and has a lot of catching up to do. Her main symptoms were abdominal pain, diarrhea and low weight. I wish now we would have had the colonoscopy and MRE back when she was little and the doc was hesitant to do "invasive testing" on a little one. In December when my daughter had her scopes they were almost completely normal, her MRE was normal too. My doc had a huge suspicion for Crohn's and kept knocking. The video cam showed all her inflammation in the small bowel. I hope they can get down to the bottom of your daughter's problem. Don't stop until you have a clear diagnosis of why she is not gaining weight properly and why she has an elevated sed rate. Ask for a fecal calprotectin test too - that will help show if the inflammation is coming from the bowel.