Chronic Diarrhea or Enzyme Deficiency?

Does your child have chronic diarrhea? Do you wonder if there is more to it then just having an irritable stomach? Well you might be right. When my son was born he was diagnosed with Duarte Galactosemia and severe acid reflux. We had many problems with his health for quite some time and always thought that the reason he had chronic diarrhea was because of the galactosemia or just tummy issues. However after a long while of him not feeling well, loosing weight while eating like a horse and having chronic diarrhea for so long we decided to take him into the pediatrician.At this time he was about a year and a half.

They ran tests and suggested some tips. Nothing worked and when we went back in a couple days later we were horrified to find that he had lost 4 pounds. FOUR POUNDS! In all of about 2 days! Not only that but over a span of about 6 months he had stopped growing all together. From there they sent us straight over to the hospital where he as admitted and they started running every blood, urine, stool test and MRIs they could. We were in the hospital for what seemed like forever but was only actually a week or so. Every test they ran came back normal and we were all left stumped. They could clearly see that his diapers weren’t normal and that his weight loss was scary and puzzling. He was then diagnosed with Failure to Thrive, we were discharged and told to see a specialist for further tests for things that scared the bajeebies out of me. Test after test with no real results.

Finally we were referred to a Pediatric GI Specialist and were hoping for some answers. They asked us common questions like what kind of foods he ate on a regular basis, drinks he favored, routines, illnesses, tests already run, his activity levels and so on. He then suggested that we take him completely off fruit, sugar, juice and anything that contained fructose corn syrups. I was amazed! After about a week or two of no sugar, no fruits and so on he started having normal diapers and started to gain back the weight he had lost. We went back into the doctor and it was then that he said, “Well that answers that! He has an enzyme deficiency in his GI track. He was born without the sucrase enzyme which is the enzyme that breaks down fruit and sugars.” We kept him on his special diet until he was good…finally! Now 4 years later he is growing, thriving and catching up with his peers. Now that he is back to normal we can let him cheat every now and then but we have to be extra careful to watch his stools to make sure he stays on track with his growth. He does have a long list of food allergies as well so he will be on a special diet the rest of his life. But to him this is ‘his normal’ and won’t know any difference…at least I hope.

His sister (2) also has this enzyme deficiency and has to start the same diet. However, with her being semi special needs this (as I have said before in earlier posts) is proving to be difficult. She is not as bad though, she is not loosing weight and does seem to be growing normally according to her charts, although she is small for her age.

So what you think might be chronic diarrhea could very possibly be an enzyme deficiency. Does your child have any similar symptoms? What have  you done to help your child?