Our Diagnosis

 E ....(I choose to keep her name private for now So I will call her "E") 

....E....ever since I can remember,  has always had issues with gas. Thinking back, when she was a newborn I had such a hard time with her because she was very fussy and was always making her little grunting noises. It was almost as if she had gas and couldn't pass it. Of course, we all believed she had the usual infants colic. However, now that I look back I can see how she may have had lactose intolerance since birth perhaps. As for the fructose malabsorption, I can only speculate that she had it at birth as well or just developed it as she grew. It is of course her stomach's inability to break down a specific kind of sugar (fructose) and I believe lactose is a  type of sugar. So just understanding that part of her diagnosis, I can kinda of see that maybe she was just born with this condition. I had also breastfed E for the entire 2 years of her infancy and into toddlerhood and cut out dairy in MY diet to see if her symptoms improved. They did but not by much and I think this was because of the FRUCTOSE I was still consuming. This is another reason why I believe she may have had this since birth. 

As E got older, about 2 years old. That's when I we stopped nursing and introduced her to WHOLE Milk. Now I didn't think much of it because at this age she wasn't as fussy anymore and just had a lot of gas whenever she slept. At this age she never really complained nor did I notice anything about her to make me wonder or alert me of anything out of the ordinary. As I mentioned , when she napped or went to bed she let out a lot of gas but in my mind I thought this was normal for a toddler. 

Now fast forward a couple years and E is four years old and entering Preschool. At this point she is having her favorite snacks all the time and lot's of candy during holidays and at school events. I'm now aware that she is more gassy at night and for longer periods during her time asleep. When she had any bowl movement's she was very gassy and her stools were more on the mucusy side than normal. E is also showing a new symptom as time went on. Bloating! E's bloating was a constant thing and I was in the midst of eliminating gluten, and dairy but to no avail. Her symptoms were always there because I obviously didn't know to eliminate fructose at that time. Eventually, she was feeling more discomfort and her symptoms were more persistent and it urged me to see a specialist. It wasn't as easy at first because we were moving and seeing different doctors in two different states trying to pin point what she had. I would explain her symptoms and of course had all these labs and stool tests done and was even sent to an allergist...all to no avail. So at this point, we saw her pediatrician (once we got settled into our home after a move across states.) We were referred to see a Pediatric GI and from there, long story made short, got our Fructose Malabsorption and Lactose intolerance diagnosis! Its been a long journey for us with a lot of food logging and eliminating dairy completely and some fruits and vegetables but we finally got it down to where she finally had relief from her symptoms. 

And that's that! Our story, our journey. But it doesn't end here. We are still learning what her tolerance levels are and what works for most wont always work for us and vise versa. Its definitely a thing you have to tailer to your specific needs or that of your child. However, I highly recommend keeping a food journal to always track what has been eaten and what caused certain symptoms. E can enjoy some guilty pleasures once in a while and in moderation. She also knows her limits and is VERY aware of how she will feel when she consumes those foods. But in the end, you make the best of what you got and remember that things could've been much worse. We are not over the moon excited with the fact that she has to live like this her whole life but we are hopeful maybe one day she can tolerate more as she gets older. We choose to make the best of it, and are grateful that she can for the most part, enjoy some foods containing fructose (in moderation )and also just staying informed with research on the matter. Another way we found support is by connecting through social media and forums with families who share the same diagnosis. It's been a great help in our journey with recipes, remedies and so much more! 

That is the very purpose of this blog. I hope you have found this place useful and helpful for your journey and I hope it can offer you support with the little bit I have shared with you through our story and our daily meals that I share from time to time. 😊