Some 2 weeks ago my 1.5 year old daughter started vomiting continuously, she would be immediately thirsty, be given water, but would immediately vomit again.
My immediate response was to yes, go and give her fluids so she is not dehydrated and whatever was causing it had to be flushed from her tiny body.
She progressed to pooping every time she ate. She was cranky.
I tried calling our anthroposophic doctor, but she was not available. By the time I did get hold of her, she had a meeting to go to. Over the phone she told us to give chamomile tea to help digestion.
I asked our neighbor pediatrician her opinion the following morning and she told me that if things don’t progress and her dehydration progresses, go and take her to the children’s hospital in quezon avenue for an IV. Maybe some kind of virus? Rotavirus? The pedia guessed.
Unluckily for my daughter, I had to go to Butuan the following day, bringing my oldest son with me to visit my grandparents on a 5 day vacation. So it was up to mommy to bring her to the doctor or hospital. I called in to have the milk formula replaced. Could be a bad batch.
I was informed by my wife that the red tape over at the children’s hospital in quezon avenue was just so unbearable so they decided to transfer to the new Medical City hospital along Ortigas ave. I have with me the diagnosis their visit. The emergency room doctors diagnosed gastroenteritis and NO SIGNS of dehydration. First aid was to be given via oral hydration methods plus ImmuZinc, zinc supplements to stabilize the digestive system. Then my daughter was sent home. No IV.
When I got back 5 days later to my horror, my daughter was so darn weak, she could barely walk. And this the yayas and my wife says was an improvement because they say she started eating the day before we arrived.
Not good. I had agreed with the pedia that my daughter would be taken in for an IV to re-hydrate her. Just because the red tape of the children’s hospital was unbearable, my wife left and never saw our pedia. She was then taken to Medical City who efficiently mis-diagnosed my daughter. Who the hell cares about their stupid blood tests? A simple visual examination of the child shows she was pretty darn sick!
So I just had to wrap up a business deal on my first day back and in the afternoon rushed to take my daughter to a different hospital… one I trust and have much dealings with in the past, Cardinal Santos.
I let the Cardinal Santos ER doctors do their thing. They said a rotavirus was the fad of the month. They put her on IV and we got a room. We got my elder son’s old pedia. I knew he would be efficient in cases like these.
As predicted, no medication was needed. We just needed her chemicals balanced. Stool exams showed nothing. Blood tests confirmed imbalances and progress. There was potassium shortage and electrolyte imbalances. IV solutions were used, high potassium bananas (latundan) were given and zinc supplements. Milk formula was reduced to 1/4 dilution. And feeding liquids or solids had to have 3 hour intervals to prevent the body’s reflex expulsion of everything she ingested.
Great going doc. You nailed it like a champ. We took some 3 days to get my daughter well.
What was the root cause of the gastroenteritis? We don’t know for sure. A toddler like that could be putting strange things in her mouth. Or maybe it was because my wife and yayas always denied her bananas because they felt it made her poop too hard. I think disallowing the most plentiful fruit, bananas from being eaten is a disaster. We live in a banana country, it is plentiful for a reason.