We got the results of his stomach, esophagus, and intestinal scope biopsies today, a normal count is 0-15 and his is 45! Now he'll have to do more testing, food elimination diets, more scopes. Apparently the high white cell count is being caused by a food allergy! And it's adding to his stunted growth, lack of absorption of nutrients, and a lot of pain over the years.

Blundervibes sent for Michael..))))))))))...Get well soon!!!

Prayers just said for him, you & the family. And vibes sent. Hope he gets better soon...

I'll be praying for Michael and for you to have the strength.I'm sure it'll be a long road but at least you know which way you're headed now.

Best of luck to Michael. My sister (64) has had a high white-cell count all her life. After exhaustive testing over the years (every new doctor was alarmed at first), they all decided it wasn't really causing anything else, and the final word was "You just naturally have a higher white cell count than most people." (She now has a letter and packet to give each new doctor so she doesn't have to go through the testing again.) I hope Michael finds relief from the problems he has and a similar "no big deal" result on the white-cell count.

Thanks. What Michael has isn't a high white cell count in his blood. It's something that's causing him to be short (not that heredity had any role in that one), grossly underweight, and a lot of stomach and bowel problems. They show up as some kind of growth in the esophagus, stomach, and bowel. His are not in his stomach, but are in the biopsies of the other two. They are triggered by an unknown food allergy that could have been ingested as far back as 3 weeks prior to pain. Since he's been in a lot of pain for many years, coupled with his uncontrolled asthma, this might finally be the answer!

He'll have to do a patch test over a 72-hour period. Then, if we're lucky, we eliminate from his diet whatever the patch shows as the allergen. After a few weeks, he has to go through surgery again, scoped upper and lower, with more biopsies taken. Then we wait a week or so for those results. If his count goes to 0, we have our answer and eliminate whatever food(s) from his diet. If he's not at 0, he has to go onto a special non-allergenic diet (what is that anyway?) for several weeks, then be rescoped and biopsied. If his count is 0, we get to add a food into his diet. If not, then I don't know what they'll come up with.

But we need to get to the bottom of this because the kid doesn't eat properly, is about 80 pounds, and the only reason he's now taller than I am is because of a year of growth hormone shots. Then again, there's still his asthma and all the steroids he has to live in... so finding the food allergen is of utmost importance.

The Eosinophil granulocyte is what they found in his biopsies.

Poor kid!!!!! I hope they get him figured out soon!!!!

I'm glad they're doing the extensive testing to finally get to the bottom of what Michael's problems are. I sure hope that whatever they find, it will be something that you can deal with without too much trouble.

Sending vibes to Michael

sending vibes to Michael!

We're (Ellen and I) betting it's corn... as in corn syrup, corn starch, etc. He was VERY allergic to corn as an infant and it took years to get him to the point where he could eat something that was sweetened with corn syrup without breaking out. Now just about everything he eats is corn-based (candy, gum, cookies, etc)... so it wouldn't surprise us one bit!

Thanks for the well wishes. I'm hoping they find the "culprit" quickly so he doesn't have to endure those scope biopsies much longer.

More prayers & vibes headed his way and yours too...

I read somewhere that corn syrup has mercury in it. Don't know if that's true, but at least he won't be missing anything if it has to be taken from his diet.

Best hopes for finding the solution to Michael's problem. You're absolutely right about corn being in everything. I'm in the middle of reading The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan. Very eye opening (and scary) about how corn is everywhere (even in our gas tanks!) and how food is "manufactured". There's also a documentary, Food Inc., which I have yet to see, about the same subject.

Corn and soy are everywhere! Just try to but a loaf of commercially baked bread that doesn't have soy in it! Just about anything that comes in a package/box from the grocery has soy or corn involved.

I'm so sorry to hear Michael is having so much trouble....but it's great that food allergies are finally recognized in Western medicine... there are serious and painful and may be treated with the right diet.... we are not all the same size, or suited to eat the same thing or nourished by the same food....and the pollution... well...
it can be a challenging path... but following it will lead him to alot of good,nourishing stuff....
vibes and prayers to all of you, Terrie....