# 5 years old and Failure To Thrive?



## MyTwoAs (May 19, 2004)

Does anyone have experience with a non-infant and failure-to-thrive? What ended up being the cause of it or was there not a cause found? My son is 5.5 and was 'diagnosed' as FTT today. He has only gained 2 pounds in 2.5 years although he's grown in height. He has sensory issues and is a picky eater but still seems to be getting adequate caloric intake. Any experiences would be greatly appreciated.


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## Karry (Apr 10, 2002)

Are they planning on running any tests on your ds?

My 5.5 year old is considered FTT as well and so far we don't have a cause. He's 41.5 in and 32.5 lbs. He has had lots of tests run and all have come back negative. Some of the tests include ones for celiac disease, cystic fibrosis, thyroid problems, allergies, growth hormone. He's also has an upper endoscopy and a colonoscopy done and both were negative. We have the possibility of a tube in his future. We are trying the medication periactin again in hopes it will get him to eat more and possibly avoid the tube.

I hope you can find a cause for your ds's FTT.


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## beansavi (Jun 26, 2005)

I don't know about this, but...


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## MyTwoAs (May 19, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Karry* 
Are they planning on running any tests on your ds?

My 5.5 year old is considered FTT as well and so far we don't have a cause. He's 41.5 in and 32.5 lbs. He has had lots of tests run and all have come back negative. Some of the tests include ones for celiac disease, cystic fibrosis, thyroid problems, allergies, growth hormone. He's also has an upper endoscopy and a colonoscopy done and both were negative. We have the possibility of a tube in his future. We are trying the medication periactin again in hopes it will get him to eat more and possibly avoid the tube.

I hope you can find a cause for your ds's FTT.









They ordered bloodwork, a urine sample (fun for a 5 year old to pee in a cup) and a chest xray (he was complaining of chest pain). The bloodwork I know included a whole bunch of things including thyroid, liver, kidney, hormones, growth hormones, cbc + cbd?, electrolytes, umm a bunch of other things I can't remember now. Three docs in the practice consulted to make sure they were testing for everything that made sense in that set of bloodwork.

I have a feeling that all of the tests are going to come back OK as well. Just a mommy instinct ya know?










Good luck with getting ds's weight up as well!


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## BellinghamCrunchie (Sep 7, 2005)

My best friend's DD was diagnosed FTT at age 6. She is an active, bright child with some sensory issues. She was a picky eater and said she didn't like the sensation of food moving down her esophagus. They did an endoscopy to rule out inflammation, a narrow esophagus, hiatal hernia, etc and found nothing wrong. It really appeared to be sensory.

She's doing fine now although still thin. Texture is still an issue for her but they've found that she does well with smoothies, so she gets lots of those.


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## wife&mommy (May 26, 2005)

So what is the treatment for this if the bloodwork comes back normal?


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## MyTwoAs (May 19, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *wife&mommy* 
So what is the treatment for this if the bloodwork comes back normal?

That's what I'm wondering - do they do more tests? Send us to a nutritionalist? The doctor seemed pretty sure something would show on the blood test; I'll know next week what the next step is.


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## DayDreamer (Aug 14, 2006)

I just saw this as I was doing a search for Periactin.

My DS is 3 and I *knew* something was wrong since summer 05. That is when I started to question dr.s and everything. In April (I believe) 06 I finally got him in to see a pediatric endocrinologist. They sent him for blood work and the list of things they were checking were a mile long.

We went back in July to get the results and I was told things were normal, do the blood work again in 3-4 months.

We did the blood work again in November and went back.

My DS Insulin Growth Factor (a growth hormone that has to do with insulin levels, I believe) was low. It was low on the first round of blood work but the doctor ASSUMED he was just on the lower side of normal. Then with the next round of blood work it had dropped drastically. I want to say the first time his number was 80, and I believe that was right below "normal" and when we went back the second time it was in the 50s.

I was a little pissed, because it WAS LOW the first time but I was told it was normal. The way it was explained to me the second time was it was "just below normal" the first time, but still, it was BELOW normal!

So I suggest two things, definitely question if any of the tests come back "borderline" and secondly ask to have a second set of test done in a bit to compare results.

Trust me, the blood work is not fun, but since finding my sons insulin resistantcy and treating it he has grew and is doing very well.


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## MyTwoAs (May 19, 2004)

Thank you for taking the time to post Amber. I ended up switching doctors. The new doctor immediately sent us to a nutrionist and we're upping his calories. She has already planned a retest at the 90 day mark from the original bloodwork to see if there are any changes.


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## MamaBug (Jun 13, 2003)

Moving this to Childhood Years








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