OT: Anyone have an older child with GERD? Acid Reflux?

[Ladyw/theTramp]

My DS7 has been having problems with his stomache for over 6 months now and he finally got an Upper GI done and it shows that he has acid reflux. He had it as an infant, but we didn't realize he still had it or had it again until last week. He never complains of the heartburn feeling/bad taste in his mouth, etc... it's always just a bellyache... sometimes pretty severe!

Anyway, I wondered if anyone out there had dealt with this as well. He is already on 15mg Prevacid twice a day and he still has to stop eating about halfway through each meal and go lay down. Poor guy!

I have been online looking for ideas on how to change his diet (which is terribly poor to start with), but all of the recipes I'm seeing are things that I don't think I could even begin to get him to eat.

No flames, please,... the foods he eats most often (and loves ) are nuggets, cheeseburgers, chili dogs, spaghetti, chili, tacos, etc (I know! Acid reflux nightmare!) He loves fruit, but he hasn't touched a vegetable except for the occasional carrot that is in the Chicken Noodle soup and anything I've bribed him to try.

I know things need to change and I realize that I need to put more time into planning the meal, but does anyone have some ideas of recipes?


My last question is this... Is it better for someone who has GERD to always be snacking and not let his belly get too empty? Or are bigger meals better.. or does it matter? If snacking might help, I will talk to the school about it and I'm sure they will let him have something between breakfast and lunch. I'm sure they are tired of sending him to the nurses office every day!


TIA for any thoughts or commiseration... It has been a long 6 months for the little guy!

 

[STLDisney_Freak]

Both my girls had acid reflux as infants, but are much better these days so I don't have any experience as far as the older child. However, I know when they were babies, the doctor always told me to feed them smaller more frequent meals so I would assume the same would be for an older child too. That way their stomache is never really empty and they aren't eating huge meals. You definitely need to change the diet, but you already know that. I hope things get better for him and for you too as a parent...I know it sucks watching them hurt like that.

 

[Chelley00]

I'm an adult with GERD. It can take a long time on Prevacid to start feeling better after a bad flare up.

Smaller meals more frequently help. (I eat 6 times a day. Can you say "oink") Carbs are my best friend, especially when I'm not feeling well, potatoes, pasta, bread, crackers. Not so great on my thighs, but it helps calm my stomach down. I try to avoid grease as much as possible, anything carbonated and caffeine. Fruit can also be a nightmare because the citrus makes me feel terrible sometimes. I take Tums with me everywhere I go, just in case, and do a lot of peppermints because they seem to help.

If you need anything else, please just ask. I've been dealing with this and subsequent ulcers since I was 15, so I'm a pro

 

[3mickeymom]

My son ,who is ten, began having trouble with his stomach after being on antibiotics. Luckily, he isn't sick often but I think the antibiotics really did a job on his digestive system. He experiences stomach pain, no indigestion but alot of gas and burping. He is a really good eater, lots of fruits and veggies, so I don't think his diet is the problem. We decided to try a natural approach and bought Papaya enzyme at GNC. It is a naturally occuring enzyme papain. It is chewable and tastes great. He takes it after his meals and it tastes like dessert He has also been eating Activa yogurt everyday as well as drinking alot of water. He is beginning to feel alot better after about two weeks now. He also had reflux as an infant. Ask your doctor if he thinks it could be helpful. Good Luck!

 

[Princess Stitch]

I have acid reflux and I know what your son is going through! I find that if I wait too long to eat I feel terrible, so I make sure I have snacks.

I agree with what others said about the bread, that always helps. I also found that about a half a glass of milk did the trick. I can't do that any more since I have a mild lactose intolerance, but it always worked really well (that or yogurt which is a little easier to digest).

If the doctor says it's ok, I'd have him try a tums or pepcid AC before the meal so he can get through it.

As far as diet, pasta sauces, chili (especially if it's spicy) and things like ketchup are manageable (try to serve them with bread) but I'd stay away from them while he's having a flare up. The chicken nuggets should be ok, try to see if he'll eat them with plum sauce instead of ketchup or bbq sauce. Try to stay away from things like orange juice and pineapple which have tons of acid in them as well.

If he's eating blandish foods and still not making it through dinner, I'd push to go back to the doc. Along with my acid reflux I have IBS which is alot harder to diagnose, but causes most of my stomach pain and discomfort. There may be an underlying problem such as that which is causing the acid reflux.

 

[Lives4Disney]

I am an adult with GERD. Had it ALL my life and just found out a few years ago what my stomach problems are - and I am 40 yrs old. I was a rolaid popping, Pepto swigging sufferer for most of my life. I used to have to pop rolaids before going to school when I was 5! I had upper and lower GIs and found that I have no sphincter betwn my stomach and esophogus. Food has free reign to rise up.

I tried all the newer prescription meds and had terrible side effects from awful pains in my stomach to overwhelming tiredness. I wasted a whole summer because I was sooooo sleepy I was almost incapacitated and didn't know it was from the stomach meds. The thing that works the best, and has been like magic to my system is a high dose of Zantac. It was prescription a few yrs ago, but I now buy it OTC for a lot less. It has really been a life saver to me.

The foods that irritate me the most are caffeine, tomato anything, pepper, and acidic foods (NO juices at all pretty much), carbonated drinks aren't great, either, of course greasy, high fat foods. It is much better (for me) to eat small meals that way there is much less pressure on the esophogus and stomach. I try and eat high fiber, too. It feels better to have a little something in my stomach. If it gets too empty I get really nauseaus & queesy.

I think we all must be different because anything mint & peppermint & ginger irritates my stomach big time. I have trouble taking Pepto now found out there is something in it (can't remember specifically what) that is like aspirin and causes me trouble. Also ibuprofen products are nasty for me.

Also, I think yrs of this acid has erroded my teeth. I have horrid teeth. At least they're not ugly, but they are damaged and I am constantly cracking teeth. Well, I was until I started taking the Zantac! Now, I go to the dentist and have had several appointments with NO cavities. That was unheard of years ago.

Try and have your son avoid eating 3 hrs before bedtime. I elevated my bed for months to allow my esophogus to heal, too.

Good luck. I hope you find what works. It takes a bit of experimenting. I think I have mine down and then suddenly something might cause a flare up. I agree with the white carbs - those really help me when I am having a flare up....that and an increased dose or two of my Zantac.

Lives4Disney

 

[HappyTrouble]

We have been dealing with this for about 2 years with our daughter who is 14 now. We figured out that she cannot eat shrimp or canteloupe! Spicy things to her are very spicy when I consider them to be mild. She does lots of pasta, apples, bananas, grapes, raw bay carrots w/ ranch dressing. Sandwiches are something she has no problem with esp. pb&j, grilled cheese and she loves ham and cheese, I just make sure to buy Boars Head and Hoffman products. Something else that seems to help in her case is staying away from preservatives and tons of sodium. I have started buying organic food when its available and it helps that she is old enough to help with this as well. We as a family have curbed our eating habits to fit hers and we all feel better.

 

[daughtersrus]

My DD (12 1/2 ) has reflux. She's had it since an infant but we didn't realize it until she was about 2 1/2yo. For her, it's part of the genetic disease. The Ped GI started her off on Prevacid but it didn't help. She switched her to Prilosec and she's been fine. The problem we had was that Prilosec didn't come in a small enough dose so we had to open the 10mg capsules, dump the out on a paper plate and divide the little beads that were inside. (By the way, there's approx 120 in a 10mg capsule
If someone had looked through my window and saw me with a butter knife dividing the little white beads, they probably would have called the police. )

After several years of doing this, we found out that our local Osco will compound the drug into a liquid for us at no extra charge.

You may want to talk to the GI and see if a different drug may be more helpful for your son.

 

[Chelley00]

I think we all must be different because anything mint & peppermint & ginger irritates my stomach big time.

Oh, I can't do ginger either. When I was pregnant everyone suggested ginger tea for morning sickness. Half a cup and I thought I was going to DIE

 

[Lives4Disney]

Oh, I can't do ginger either. When I was pregnant everyone suggested ginger tea for morning sickness. Half a cup and I thought I was going to DIE

Ya, it is interesting how different things either help or really hurt! I cannot do gingerale, either. It BURNS! People told me peppermint tea when I was so sick during pregnancies.....ugh! It gave me the WORST heartburn. I read the more recent posts and have to add that bananas REALLY give me awful heartburn. If I eat them with peanut butter, though, I am fine.

OP, I hope it works out for your son. It may take some time & experimenting to see which meds and what types of foods to avoid, but at least it was discovered early and there is so much awareness about GERD these days. The most common irritants are fats, caffeine, tomato, acidic foods, and pepper.

Another thing that always feels good to me is a nice, cold, PEELED apple. I peel almost all of my fruit.

I know with adults dropping a few extra pounds will make a difference, also.

Lives4Disney

 

[Mono~rail]

You mentioned that he is a picky eater. Perhaps you could talk to his doctor about supplementing his diet with Pediasure (or something similar). Pediasure is complete nutrition, and it comes in several flavors like banana cream, orange cream, chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla. Our DD2 who is totally tube dependent gets vanilla with fiber. We've tasted it before, and the chocolate and banana cream are really good.

Even though it is sold on grocery store shelves, I recommend you consult with his doctor before giving it to him. DD2 has GERD also, and she is on Zantac. I don't think it would complicate his GERD, but I'm not a doctor so I can't say for sure. If you have any questions, you can pm me.

Our dd2 is very petite, but she has long, thick, curly hair and her fingernails and toenails grow like crazy. She started seeing a pediatric GI specialist last year, and he is the one who put her on Pediasure. Once we started feeding it to her, she blossomed and her weight gain improved significantly. At 15 months old, she was in the less than 5th percentile on the growth chart. Right after their 2nd birthday we went in for a check-up, and she is finally in the 15th percentile on the chart!

 

[ducklite]

My son had a reflux problem when he was 16-18 or so. One thing that helped a lot was eating smaller meals and drinking milk with meals to cut down on acid. Another was putting an extra pillow under his head at night. He also took Preveacid, and like another poster suggested, it took a few weeks for it to be fully effective.

Anne

 

[KadysMom]

My DD5 has reflux. She has had it since birth. She is on 15mg of prevacid twice a day and has been like for two years. She also has to supplement with maalox. Please feel free to PM me, because we have been through alot with this. DD does not snack often, but she was just put on an additional medication, periactin, which will help empty her stomach which will reduce the acid.

DD had her third endocopy two weeks ago, so i feel exactly what you do.

 

[KadysMom]

Our dd2 is very petite, but she has long, thick, curly hair and her fingernails and toenails grow like crazy. She started seeing a pediatric GI specialist last year, and he is the one who put her on Pediasure. Once we started feeding it to her, she blossomed and her weight gain improved significantly. At 15 months old, she was in the less than 5th percentile on the growth chart. Right after their 2nd birthday we went in for a check-up, and she is finally in the 15th percentile on the chart!

That is amazing!!! DD5 has been hovering between the 3rd and 5th percentile forever, but since she was put on a new medication, she gained 3 pounds and that was only two weeks ago! She was 33 1/2 pounds April 4th when she went for her endoscopy, and at her pediatrician visit yesterday, she was almost 37!! YEAH!!!

 

[zumbergc]

some of you were wondering why pepermint was causing you some issues.
There are some foods that are known to relax esophogial sphincter (sp?) muscle at the bottom of the esophogus, and pepermint is one of them.

You definitely need to update your diet for your child. Even though you think something is mild and doesn't bother you, this can cause someone with reflux lots of issues.

Its been repeated above several time.
grease, spices, pepper, citris fruits (orange, strayberries, pineapple, etc)
tomatoe based products (should stay away from these) need to remove these from his diet, for a while to let his esophogus heal.

More safe fruits are apples, bananas, plums, pears.

Its a big change, but will make your son's life more pleasant.

Eating smaller meals are great because your stomach is less full.

When you eat larger meals, your stomach has more in it, and more likely for it to go up the esophogus. Is the muscle at the bottom loose? If they did and endoscopy they should have mentioned this if it was the case.
Reason I ask, then you need to look out for things that relax that muscle even more. Things like chocolate, peppermint, there are more, just can't remember right now, will make that muscle relax more, and more stuff can then go up the pipe.

If your looking for more ideas besides Rx meds.
You can do things that help w/ the digestions. His good flora, natural bacteria in your digestive system could be imbalanced. Things like acidopholis, bifudus (you can get these at the grocery, and health foods store, also can get things in some yogurts, and that new drink someone mentioned.)

Another things to try is digestive enzymes. I've had issues for over 15+ years, never heard a MD even mention digestive enzymes, it has helped me a lot. I get mine from my chiropractors office. Take one with meals.

Another thing to try is aloe juice. You buy it at a health food store.
Strongly recommend you buy the 10x concentrate, and then you take as an adult 2 tablespoons in the morning. You can take it 2x a day if you want.
As a child I would start at 1 tablespoon before meals.

Before I tried this and the acidopholis, I was on prevacid 2x a day, and on something else to coat my esophogus and stomach called carafate (its an Rx), which i took 3x a day before meals.

Now, I'm down to just one prevacid 1x a day, and am feeling much better, using some of the alternative meds, and keeping closely to not eating trigger foods which make it worse.

Good luck

 

[KCMiller]

My DD, 17, had ongoing issues with her throat for a few years. She'd be fine, then for a few months, she'd lose her voice, she'd cough constantly, she had all sorts of gunk in her throat, all sorts of things. We went to doctor after doctor - they treated her for a cold, for a virus, had her on antibiotics - nothing worked. Eventually, the symptoms would resolve. A few months later, it was all back.

Finally, we took her to a ENT specialist, and he diagnosed her with acid reflux - we never would have thought of it, as she didn't have any symptoms you would usually associate with that (heartburn, acid stomache, bad taste in the mouth). But she's on Nexium now, with the head of her bed elevated, and her symptoms have abated completely. I just wish the Nexium was available as a generic - even with my insurance, her prescription costs about $60 per month.

KC

 

[redshoes]

My youngest has Acid Reflux. He is three now, but when he was an infant it was a living nightmare- the projectile vomitting was horrible. My DS has moved from a projectile vomit refluxer to a silent refluxer. My DS will probably not outgrow his due in part to poor muscle tone. However we have found some tricks that have worked to lessen the effect:

1- His GI suggested that he take his Prevacid 30 mins before he eats. If this gives the meds time to get into his body and start to break down. Also before he is eats, he takes a drink of water- according to his GI this also helps to activate the meds. DS is on Solutabs, 15mg. We break one in half and give him on in the AM and one before Dinner. I was a little naive when we first started Prevacid and believed that it would cure the reflux, it does not. It creates a protective coating on the cell walls to protect against the acid, but it does not cure the actual acid from coming up.

2- Keep him regular. Sounds dumb and probably a little gross, but alot of kids with GERD have delayed emptying issues. When they get backed up the reflux is ten times worse because there's no where for the food to go.

3- Put his mattress on a slight incline. Reflux kids have a hard time sleeping or getting really restful sleep due in part to the fact that sleeping flat causes the reflux to act up.

4- We pop Tums with my DS when has eaten something that makes his reflux act up. You need to be careful not to use them after every meal or everyday as too much Tums in children is not a good thing (I believe it can damage their kidneys but I could be wrong). Mylox works great as well, we use it at night when DS complains that his chest hurts.

5- Different people can handle different types of food, but the ones that we avoid are: Tomato based anything (no pasta sauce, no pizza, etc..), chocolate, acidic juices (OJ does him in), anything that is heavily spiced, any really heavy foods in general (for some reason birthday cake with frosting is one of his worst triggers, it cause my DS to vomit like crazy), and milk (we think that this might be allegery related).

6- Stress can triggers a nasty case of reflux in my DS so we know that if he is going to be in a situation that causes him to be uncomfortable that we need to take some measures to lessen the reflux.


My DS has had all the tests for reflux: the endo, the barrium test and the PH probe. None of them were fun and really they only told us what we already knew, he has reflux. The most important thing that you want to do with reflux is protect the esophogus, if not the damage can lead to Barlett's Cancer. The meds create a protective coating the protects the esophogus from the acid thus lessing the damage to the cell walls. There are surgical options that can control the reflux. One is called a Fundo, there are varying opinons on how effective it is and whether it is advisible for children with reflux. We were given this option and after alot of research declined it. There is also a pretty new procedure called Stretta, if you google it you will get alot of information. It seems at less invasive and a very promising development in acid reflux treatment and something that DH and I will look into once our son is older.


Please PM me at anytime if I can help you. This is something that as a family we have learned to live with and honestly I try hard to research all the ins and outs of the issue because it has become a very permanant part of our everyday lives.

 

[chrissy92972]

My son is 4 1/2 and has had reflux since being born 8 weeks early. We have been through Zantac, Prilosec, and Now what seems to work is prevacid solutab in the morning and axid at night. Both by prescription.

Chrissy

 

[Ladyw/theTramp]

Wow! So much information... Thank you! I got off the phone with the GI nurse earlier asking her about the more frequent meals and she said, " If eating is whats making him uncomfortable, I don't think eating more often will help anything." UGH! She also said, " Just because we caught one reflux on the GI, doesn't mean he is refluxing all the time... or it could be that he refluxes a hundred times a day. The GI isn't really looking for that and we can't tell" So , frustrating.. I think I am going to try the snacking thing on my own.

He has taken Mylanta with him to school before and taken one every day before lunch and it rarely helped, he'd be right in the nurses office about 20 minutes after lunch
.
He doesn't have any weight gain issues.. he's right about 50% for height and weight, but since he does stop eating dinner in the middle, he tends to be hungry at night... I'll have to remember to let him eat again shortly after dinner, so he's not wanting to eat again right before bed.. (though he's rarely had the middle of the night-type pain)

It is just so frustrating. He's has the Upper GI, bloodwork, Ultrasound, Xrays, and a high contrast CAT scan (which was AWFUL!) and they still don't have anything that they are thinking is definate. I assumed that seeing the reflux shoot back up on the scan all the way to his mouth almost immediately, would be a concern, but??? No real hurry to switch meds, though he's been on Prevacid since January.. I would think it should have worked by now.


(Big Breath!) Baby steps... we will get through this.. I just want to have an answer and FIX it for him... Moms should be able to FIX it!

His well-visit (LOL) is Thursday, so we'll talk about it all again... Maybe we'll get somewhere this time!

Thank you all for your input. It's helps just to know there are other people out there dealing with this. It can seem overwhelming sometimes!

 

[Princess Stitch]

Definately don't give up hope! It took them 3 years to diagnose my IBS (which is not what you wanted to hear I'm sure) but stomach/digestive problems can sometimes take a while to pinpoint. I guess just be happy it's not something really severe. Usually really serious problems are easier to see.