LANCASTER — When Mike Dube was 3, his doctors thought he had a wide range of food allergies.

It wasn’t until he was 8 that he was diagnosed with eosinophilic esophagitis, a condition that prevents him from eating most foods because his white blood cells mistake food for a virus.

Last summer, he was also diagnosed with Crohn’s disease of the esophagus, an inflammatory disease.

Now 14, the Nashoba Regional High School freshman said he’s glad he took a chance last month and revealed his condition to the whole school.

“Not too many people treated me different or thought I was weak; they just asked a lot of questions,” he said.

The consequences of his condition mean this fan of rough, high-impact sports has to eat most of his meals by dripping a special mix into a port installed in the skin on his stomach.

“Sometimes when you burp you can taste it,” said Dube.

Complications from his condition have caused him to take a break from playing sports. He has competed in wrestling, football, baseball, lacrosse and mixed martial arts.

He’s been absent more than 40 times this school year already because of complications, even though he looks like a healthy teenage on the surface.

During lunch period he gives himself a feeding in the nurse’s office.

When he started at Nashoba Regional High School last fall, he avoided going over to people’s houses out of a fear he would have to explain.

“I was thinking people might treat me differently when they found out … like, ‘He’s a cripple and he can’t do anything,'” said Dube.

In seventh grade his doctors realized how severe his condition was. He wasn’t growing and got sick a lot. The feeding tube was installed as a desperate measure because it’s such a life changer, explained his mother, Jodie Bell.

Dube said he still misses eating like he used to. It was especially hard at first.

“When my mom was cooking I would sit in the kitchen and just smell the food,” said Dube. He said he misses macaroni and cheese, and pizza the most.

He has found several foods he can safely eat. His condition is severe and he has to use trial and error to see what foods his body can tolerate. Each “food trial” takes 12 weeks of eating a single type of food. Some times there is a severe reaction and the trial is aborted. If he goes 12 weeks without symptoms his stomach is analyzed chemically to see if his body has any hidden problems with the food.

So far they have found out he can eat five foods safely: rice, potatoes, turkey, pork and apples. He may use salt, pepper, sugar and cinnamon.

He has severe reactions to beef, dairy, nuts, corn and sunflower seeds, which he said are often hidden in prepared foods.

Dube said he never tried bringing safe food with him to gatherings because it would stand out if he’s eating fried slices of sweet potato when everyone else is having pizza. He said eating nothing draws no attention.

The immune suppressants he takes have kept him from playing football this year. Dube said he hopes he can play high school lacrosse this spring.

J.J. Linn was Dube’s lacrosse coach last spring. Linn said Dube chose to play as a defenseman because it was a high-contact position.

“That was definitely something he enjoyed doing. He loved throwing his body out there and pushing off guys,” said Linn. “”He just had a knack for it. Mike definitely did not want to let his condition hinder him from enjoying sports.”

Linn said Dube couldn’t make it to every practice because of medical issues, but he never held back when he was on the field.

Curtis Ludden coached Dube three years ago when he played Leominster Youth Football. Ludden said at first the medical issues were minor and he didn’t worry about them, but as Dube’s condition progressed he always had concerns in the back of his mind.

“He’d say, ‘Don’t worry about it. I can do it. Let me go, let me play,’ ” said Ludden.

“He’s just a kid that doesn’t give up on anything. He has a heart of gold; it’s like he’s made of steel. He gave it all, every time,” said Ludden. “He just goes and goes and goes.”

Now that he’s taking a break from sports, Dube said he spends a lot of time on his computer. That includes playing video games and making money through web design and selling Minecraft modifications programs he’s created.

Dube said when he used to live in Leominster he dealt with some kids who made fun of his condition, although he said one student frequently labeled as a troublemaker and a bad seed said he would deal with anyone who gave Dube any problems.

When he moved to Lancaster this school year with a different group of classmates he thought it would be best if he just kept his condition secret. His sister Maddison, 16, goes to the same school and eventually told him it’s too much work and he should just spill it already.

That’s exactly what he did last month over Facebook.

“People always come up to me now and say, ‘I can’t believe how brave your brother is and how strong he is for doing what he did,’ ” she said.

Dube said above all else, he wants to be thought of as a normal kid.

– Michael Hartwell (source: Sentinel & Enterprise)

The day after Thanksgiving we’re taking a look at a rare condition that affects the esophagus. Imagine not being able to eat most foods that a lot people take for granted. It’s a problem for people who suffer from a disease that you could almost say makes people allergic to food. Here to talk with us are Margie and Doug Hemme, their son John is dealing with this rare disease.

Watch the video here.

– Nancy B. Allen (source: WREG News Channel 3 – Memphis)

WATSONTOWN — A Watsontown couple is proud that their son is moving through life like a normal 7 year old, in spite of a rare condition which he’s struggled with since he was just 1 year old.

Brian and Tina Cotner said their son Tyler was diagnosed with eosinophilic esophagitis, or EoE, as an infant. EoE is defined as an inflammatory condition in which the wall of the esophagus becomes filled with large numbers of eosinophils, a type of white blood cell.

“It started when he was under the age of 2, when he started eating solids,” Tina said of the condition. “He would always have eczema on his face.”

The pediatrician Tyler was seeing at the time assured his parents that the condition would go away.

“We finally went to a specialist, a dermatologist, and they kind of cleared that up,” Tina said. “About that time, he just started vomiting a lot. It was just attributed to him being an infant who spit up a lot.”

But the Cotners soon realized Tyler’s condition was a little more than just an infant who “spit up a lot.”

“He got to the point he was vomiting all the time,” Tina recalled. “It was very scary, it was frustrating. It got so you couldn’t go anywhere because he would vomit.”

The family quickly realized Tyler needed to see a different doctor. He was soon seen by Dr. John Peters, at Geisinger Medical Center in Danville, who diagnosed Tyler’s EoE.

Peters then referred the family to Dr. Allison Freeman, director of allergy and immunology at Geisinger, who helped the family get to the bottom of what triggers Tyler’s condition.

“Food allergies is what causes what he has, which is the EoE… but they don’t know what foods cause it,” Tina said.

When he was 2, Tina said the Geisinger doctors put Tyler on a diet where he would only drink a special formula.

That diet was followed for about six to eight weeks. At that point, doctors began doing regular scopes of Tyler’s esophagus and began adding food to his diet as a way to determine what foods he’s able to eat without triggering the EoE.

At one point early on, Tina said doctors had determined her son could only eat about six different foods without having an allergic reaction.

He continues to have scopes about every six months as doctors work to make sure Tyler is not having any reactions to the foods he is eating.

“For five years, it’s been pretty much, we make two separate meals,” Tina sad. “One for the rest of the family, one for whatever Tyler would eat.”

She said Tyler is a student at Watsontown Elementary School and takes a packed lunch to school each day to make sure he doesn’t eat anything which triggers his condition.

“He’s handled this very well since he was little,” Tina said of Tyler. “It’s basically normal to him… I’m so proud of him. It brings tears to my eyes because he handles it so well… It makes me very proud that he handles it so well.”

If people offer food to Tyler, Tina said he’ll either politely tell them that he can not have it or he’ll have to check with his mother first to make sure it’s OK for him to eat the food.

“Most people have always been understanding about it,” Tina said. “I would want people to know if they have a problem with a child who is vomiting, they have a place to go.”

She lauded the Geisinger physicians who helped to diagnose Tyler’s condition and who continue to work with the family to make sure he’s eating the right foods.

“I am very thankful that we were referred to Dr. Peters and that he was aware of (EoE), it’s not commonly known,” Tina said. “When we met with Dr. Peters, he knew we needed to see Dr. Freeman. I don’t think we would be where we are today without them.”

Tyler also has a 10-year-old sister named Sarah.

– Kevin Mertz (source: Standard Journal)

LAND O’ LAKES, Fla. – A Wesley Chapel boy with a rare condition has spent the last eight years unable to do the one thing we have to do to live. Eat food.

It’s lunch time at Pineview Middle School in Land O Lakes.

The 7th graders all hop up to get food, leaving Remington Walls behind with what looks like only a juice box in hand. “It’s like a nutrition shake that comes in a few flavors, but I only drink one.”

One flavor, 12 to 16 times a day. A mini-fridge in school must stay stocked full of these boxes.

Remington may look like a healthy 12-year-old, but he can’t eat solid food. No pizza, no Doritos — definitely no school lunch. When he does, “I cough a lot, and sometimes I vomit. I get really sick.”

I first met Remington when he was only four years old. He was going through tests to figure out why. His mother Stephanie finally got a diagnosis. “Remington has Eosinophilic Esophagitis. It’s also known as EE. Basically he’s allergic to all foods.”

Since his diagnosis, he’s tried different foods, but they’ve damaged his esophagus. His mom says, “There’s not a cure and we’re still going down a long road. We still don’t know what his prognosis is.”

Remington just wants to stay off a feeding tube, so he can play ball and be the Pineview mascot. But that probably means a food-free world forever.

How does he stay away from that pizza or birthday cake? “Sometimes I just don’t look at it.”

So, in the dark at first, mom wants the world to know this rare disease can be managed. And kids like Rem can lead a mostly normal life.

We asked him what he would say to other kids who might have a medical condition that takes managing. “No matter what you have, you can still do whatever you want.”

Watch the video here.

– Linda Hurtado (source: ABC Action News – Tampa)

Whenever digestive problems involve the throat, esophagus or upper chest, you might experience heartburn, difficulty in swallowing or that “food stuck in the throat” sensation.

You might associate such symptoms with children who have food allergies, but when these symptoms are seen in adults, there can be a number of causes. Doctors are finding that with adults, too, they can be food-related.

This brings into play a condition called eosinophilic esophagitis, or EoE, because it is increasingly behind cases of throat and chest discomfort in adults.

In simplest terms, EoE occurs when the esophagus becomes inflamed from an increased number of eosinophils, a type of white blood cell. These cells are provoked into production by allergens, drugs, parasites and other means.

If you zero in on food allergies as a possible cause of EoE, then there’s good news from the American Gastroenterological Association.

A recent article in Gastroenterology, the AGA’s official journal, reviewed the success of a six-food elimination diet in adult patients with EoE. In fact, identifying food triggers could become a therapeutic alternative to corticosteroids, the article said.

Dr. Nirmala Gonsalves of Northwestern University, lead author of the study on the six-food elimination diet, said it could help identify food triggers when the patient has no history of food allergy or intolerance.

“By first eliminating, then systematically reintroducing foods in our adult patients, we were able to identify the specific food triggers that caused their symptoms, such as heartburn, chest pain and difficulty swallowing, or the sensation of food being stuck in their throat,” said Gonsalves.

She added that by undergoing the elimination diet, adult EoE patients would be in a position to receive better information for tailoring their individual diet and managing their symptoms for the long-term.

The elimination diet studied at Northwestern involved six common culprits — milk, soy, egg, wheat, peanuts/tree nuts and shellfish/fish.

When the regimen was complete, participants showed an improvement in symptoms and a reduction in esophageal tissue damage associated with EoE. Also, 78 percent of participants saw eosinophil cell counts in their esophagus go down by half.

Cases of EoE generally appear to be on the rise. The Mayo Clinic reports that it was among the first U.S. medical centers to publish research on incidence, and cited a more than tenfold increase in EoE cases in the last 30 years.

The Mayo’s patient information page on EoE notes that treatment involves one or more of these three strategies:

– Dietary therapy, when the inflammation of the esophagus appears to be food-related. Doctors might perform a skin-prick test or prescribe an elimination diet.

– Medications, usually steroids to decrease white blood cells in the esophagus, lessen inflammation and give the esophagus a chance to heal. The steroids that are prescribed are typically not the kind that produce unwanted side effects.

– Experimental therapies, including asthma medications and acid-blocking medications. Mayo is among the research centers now looking at such experimental treatments.

– Deborah Ross (source: EmpowHER)