update on Lydia

We've had a rough couple weeks with Lydia being sick, and we think we have some answers now.  Last appointment, the pediatrician had me keep a fairly extensive log to see if we could see a pattern in her vomiting.  A pattern did emerge in this, showing that typically she would vomit with acidic and dairy-heavy foods.  As a result, we are trying medication for reflux and dietary changes that eliminate highly acidic foods and all dairy.

This is not a new diet for me, as I was on a similar one in high school for similar symptoms.  I was instructed to stop Zofran once we get her started on the Zantac pills, which is going to be difficult for her I think.  We also did blood work to test her thyroid, liver and kidney function, and look for markers that would indicate a gluten intolerance (celiac disease).  They also ordered some other tests in the lab that I don't remember right off the top of my head.  We will have results of all her labs in the next few days, and can adjust as needed from there.

At this point, we aren't going to pursue a referral to a specialist in GI up at Children's Hospital, but we are going to be following up with her pediatrician again next month to see how the dietary and medication changes are helping.  If she has a complete turn around with the full combination, at that appointment I'll bring up challenging her with dairy again to see if that is in fact a factor or if it is just coincidence.

She's a bit overwhelmed, obviously, at all the changes that we're making to her diet (dairy alone is a big change, but to add in acidic foods too and going cold turkey is hard for her to process mentally right now).  I did decide that while she's on this diet, I'm going to join her 100% so she doesn't feel left out of all the meals for the rest of the family.  Also, if this works well we will as a family be on this diet to support her fully.  I'm also teaching her how to make things as we go, so far she's learned how to make homemade spaghetti sauce and cut the acidity without changing the flavor.