4MKfam
05-29-2007, 11:36 AM
Okay, so my 6 3/4 year old daughter has always been prone to the pukies. Worst was three years ago when we lived in a house with major mold problems caused by a wet basement. Last winter in AZ was fine. Only one obviously-virus-caused episode. This year, it's baaaack :(! Here are her symptoms:
Waking up vomiting, always between 4 am and 5:30 am. This never comes on any other time of day. It's always early morning. Rarely it is followed by loose bowels, but not what I'd call real diarrhea. Usually it's only one or two episodes of loose bm's in 2-3 hours. She doesn't complain of abdominal cramping. It doesn't seem to happen with any one particular food, but it does seem to happen more often when she hasn't eaten much for dinner the night before. When I ask her, her stomach aches don't happen then, though. They come on in the morning. By around 7 am, she's thrown up anywhere between two and four times, her system is cleared out, and she's absolutely fine. This morning she was literally dancing around the living room at 10 am :rolleyes. I sent her to school, because she said she felt fine (obviously :lol), and this has been her pattern, so I don't think it's either viral or contagious. She expressed no concern about going to school. This happened a month ago, two weeks ago, on Friday and Saturday morning, and this morning.
My list of possible solutions (so far):
1) FOOD ALLERGY
She had chocolate milk yesterday and another glass of milk for breakfast that morning. Her attitude was TERRIBLE yesterday, but I just chalked that up to being tired from traveling and late bedtimes (we got back from g'ma's house last night). Now, I'm thinking maybe it could be a dairy thing. She loves all things dairy, which would also be a red-flag in terms of kids craving what they're allergic to...
2) OVERTIRED/NERVOUS STOMACH
This would explain why she always gets it in the mornings... Friday, we figured it was due to the upcoming trip to grandmas. Saturday ...I don't know. This morning, she was short on sleep, and her stomach problems often happen Saturday night after a long day with a late night...
3) POOR IMMUNE SYSTEM
Well, she's always been prone to catching whatever comes around...
4) and I think this is the culprit, personally.... MOLD ALLERGY
Since her main problems were at the old house, and again here in this house, I really think it's a mold issue. That would explain why mornings and why on an empty stomach... it could be postnasal drip irritating her tummy and making her system all out of whack. Last night and Friday her nose was very stuffy. My mom has serious mold allergy issues, so it would be possible. The other "smoking gun" is that when we walked into the house last night, you could smell an overpowering mold smell coming from the bathroom (which is adjacent to the girls' room) produced by some wet towels that had been thrown into the hamper. I washed them, and now it's better, but there's still a mold problem somewhere in the bathroom... I'm thinking that this is it, personally, since it would also explain why she was fine in Arizona and fine in our other apartment here in WI.
I'm taking her in to the doctor tomorrow and I'm going to request an allergy test be done, specifically for dairy and mold. I think it may be a combination of the two. Any other suggestions I may be missing?
Waking up vomiting, always between 4 am and 5:30 am. This never comes on any other time of day. It's always early morning. Rarely it is followed by loose bowels, but not what I'd call real diarrhea. Usually it's only one or two episodes of loose bm's in 2-3 hours. She doesn't complain of abdominal cramping. It doesn't seem to happen with any one particular food, but it does seem to happen more often when she hasn't eaten much for dinner the night before. When I ask her, her stomach aches don't happen then, though. They come on in the morning. By around 7 am, she's thrown up anywhere between two and four times, her system is cleared out, and she's absolutely fine. This morning she was literally dancing around the living room at 10 am :rolleyes. I sent her to school, because she said she felt fine (obviously :lol), and this has been her pattern, so I don't think it's either viral or contagious. She expressed no concern about going to school. This happened a month ago, two weeks ago, on Friday and Saturday morning, and this morning.
My list of possible solutions (so far):
1) FOOD ALLERGY
She had chocolate milk yesterday and another glass of milk for breakfast that morning. Her attitude was TERRIBLE yesterday, but I just chalked that up to being tired from traveling and late bedtimes (we got back from g'ma's house last night). Now, I'm thinking maybe it could be a dairy thing. She loves all things dairy, which would also be a red-flag in terms of kids craving what they're allergic to...
2) OVERTIRED/NERVOUS STOMACH
This would explain why she always gets it in the mornings... Friday, we figured it was due to the upcoming trip to grandmas. Saturday ...I don't know. This morning, she was short on sleep, and her stomach problems often happen Saturday night after a long day with a late night...
3) POOR IMMUNE SYSTEM
Well, she's always been prone to catching whatever comes around...
4) and I think this is the culprit, personally.... MOLD ALLERGY
Since her main problems were at the old house, and again here in this house, I really think it's a mold issue. That would explain why mornings and why on an empty stomach... it could be postnasal drip irritating her tummy and making her system all out of whack. Last night and Friday her nose was very stuffy. My mom has serious mold allergy issues, so it would be possible. The other "smoking gun" is that when we walked into the house last night, you could smell an overpowering mold smell coming from the bathroom (which is adjacent to the girls' room) produced by some wet towels that had been thrown into the hamper. I washed them, and now it's better, but there's still a mold problem somewhere in the bathroom... I'm thinking that this is it, personally, since it would also explain why she was fine in Arizona and fine in our other apartment here in WI.
I'm taking her in to the doctor tomorrow and I'm going to request an allergy test be done, specifically for dairy and mold. I think it may be a combination of the two. Any other suggestions I may be missing?