Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Diagnosis

We have good news and bad news. Ronny was diagnosed with Eosinophilic Esophagitis (EOE for short). This is a rare allergic condition that causes the esophagus to swell after coming in contact with an allergen. It is treated with Flovent. However instead of inhaling the medication, you swallow it. Ronny will probably do this for the rest of his life in 4 week cycles. He will have another endoscopy in the next couple of months to make sure the treatment is working.

We asked why the doctor didn't pick up on this with his last endoscopy 7 years ago and were told they have only started testing for this condition in the last 2-3 years as this condition is so rare. At the same time due to this condition it is very dangerous to do dilations as your esophagus can very easily be perforated. So he was very lucky to not have had that happen in his first dilation and has been advised to never have another one. Ronny may be referred onto an allergist to find out what is causing the problem but even with the testing we may not ever find out.

So this is all the good news. The bad news is that this is a rare condition but that it is hereditary.
We were also told to watch our children for the same condition. The article they gave us said those who typically have asthma, hay fever, severe allergies, and food allergies may have a higher chance within in the family of having this. (That only includes all of our children so far.)

1 comments:

Blake said...

also associated with eczema. One study I read stated that there was a family history of EOE in 7%, however, because this is a relatively new diagnosis, not really recognized before 1990, most people do not have a family history because their families have not been tested. There is no indication for testing asymptomatic people and I would assume that the inheritable component is similar to that of eczema, allergic rhinitis, and asthma.