August - November 2010:

August - November 2010:

In August, I met with my allergist again to discuss my food trials, etc. and what the next plan would be. He suggested changing my steroid from flovent to the budesonide slurry to see if that made it easier to eat. He also said if that didn't work then the next step would be to go on the elemental formula diet. I had heard about an EOS study at the University Hospital that was an elemental formula study and the formula and scopes would be free. I thought this would be perfect because my insurance didn't cover formula and scopes are expensive as well. As part of the study, they did some patch allergy testing to check for delayed reactions (which are commonly associated with Eosinophilic Disease).

The foods that I tested positive to on the patch test were:
Dairy
Peaches
Green Beans
Peanuts
Turkey
Lamb

About 2 weeks later, I went in for my endoscopy to participate in the study. When the results came back....everything was clear. There was no sign of damage to my esophagus (which I had with my first endoscopy), no inflammation in my stomach, and my EOS count was 0. I was surprised. Although the budesonide was helping my symptoms a little, I still didn't feel great. The GI who performed the endoscopies for the study asked me to go off the budesonide and she would scope me again in 3 weeks to see if there was any change in the results because the results had to show that I had active EoE in order for me to participate in the study.

In mid-November, I went back in for the next endoscopy. My esophagus was still clear, I had a little bit of gastritis in my stomach, and my EOS count was still 0. I was no longer able to participate in the study as I wasn't showing any internal signs of having Eosinophilic Esophagitis. The good thing about this experience is that the GI asked if she could take me on as a patient to see if she could find some answers for me. I am so grateful that she did, because she is fabulous. The frustrating part of this experience was that since my scopes were now clear, this led the GI and Allergist to second guess whether or not I had been correctly diagnosed with EoE. I was basically advised that I could go back to eating foods and not take the budesonide because I probably didn't have EoE......