Stephanie
Stephanie was about 2½ years old when she was suddenly taken ill, we thought she had a sickness bug but things became really bad, she seemed disorientated so we took her up to our local hospital. To our horror we were told that she was very badly dehydrated and would need to be admitted. Stephanie had to have a blood transfusion because she was anaemic and was put on IV’s until well enough to go home.
Things settled down for a short while but then Stephanie became ill again, she just could not stop being sick, she was so bad that acid would start to burn her mouth, she would not drink any fluids at all, so back to the hospital we went again and again, tests were done over and over again, but nobody knew what was wrong with her.
We eventually went to Leeds and they diagnosed her with Migraine of the Stomach, adding that there was no cure and hopefully she would grow out of it or it could cause her to have headaches. We went back to our local hospital with this news, as Stephanie was still being sick, but nothing seemed to happen, just more tests and that was that. When Stephanie was ill she was put on IV’s until well and then sent home.
My mother-in-law saw an article in a magazine about Cyclic Vomiting and rang us to tell us that the little girl in the article had almost identical symptoms to Stephanie; I thought this could be it. I went on the computer and looked on the web site. Stephanie became ill again, so armed with this new information we gave it to her Consultant. He had a good read and agreed that she has CVS. We now have a protocol at the hospital so that whoever is on duty will be able to follow it, which is a lot better, as it does take away the stress of having to explain everything all the time. The nurses all know Stephanie and what has to be done to minimise her discomfort.
Amanda Secker