In the next 14 days Emmett is going to undergo a barium study. Basically he swallows barium and then he is x-ray’d to track the path it takes. They are looking for anything mechanically wrong hat could be causing the issues he’s having. Next he is have an endoscopy. They said because he is having such unique problems and has had the issues for so long that this is the next logical step. They will go in and take biopsies and do further testing for celiac. They a concerned because he has intolerance to several different things that aren’t common to have together.

Part of the reason this is necessary is because Emmett can’t communicate what is going on. He can’t say “my tummy hurts”. He won’t even point to it. We are left with far to many questions and no answers. We don’t want him suffering which he appears to be doing a lot of times. These tests will answer some of those questions and help us to improve his quality of life. That is so important to us.

One of the many complications brought on by Autism are general health concerns. Because our kids are not a reliable source of imformation on things like sickness and pain we are often left guessing. Just because they don’t feel the pain doesn’t mean that everything is ok or nothing is wrong. You have to really know your children and be able to pick up on problems they can’t always tell you about.