AGHH…plus a few more choice words

[Anonymous]

I am new to this whole reflux thing and have been doing the TED for 10 days now as well as giving my son 7.5 mg once a day of prevacid solutabs. After reading, posting and reading responses it seems that my 10.5 pound 2 month old is not on a high enough dose and being that I have seen little change in him over the last 10 days other than he is sleeping a bit better when I gave him 2 doses yesterday (without asking my Dr.) he slept 5 hours in a row!!! So here is the thing, I have left 3 messages to my sons Dr. who told me to call her in one week (which was 4 days ago) so she could see how he was doing on that dose, well I want to tell her we need to up it and I will need more meds but she hasn’t caled back. So this morning I just made an appt in our pedicatric clinic (we are military so you get who is available) thinking I really wanted to just talk to someone about the meds as well as have them look at my sons still green and mucusy diapers. I just got home and I cried the whole way. SHE WOULDN”T LISTEN TO ANYTHING I SAID!!!!! She basically said she doesn’t undrstand why he is on prevacid since he is gaining weight, that it has to be OAL and that it is just colic and he will outgrow it. I argued and argued with her that I do not have OAL and that he doesn’t get pissed when he first latches on it is more torwards the end of the feed, that he doesn’t cry for hours on end at the same time everyday, that he spits up all the time even when I lift his legs to change his diaper an hour or 2 after a feed. SO this is the advice she gives me…..I should lay down to nurse him for my so called OAL, that I should change his diaper with him in an upright position (WTH!!! try doing that with runny green mucusy poo pouring out the diaper), keep him upright for an hour after feeding (but I thought she said he didn’t have reflux), that the only proven allergy that babies are allergic to in breastmilk is mommy drinking milk, a lactose intolerance. This last thing is what she said when I brought up MSPI and that I had already been off milk and milk products for 5 weeks and that I was now in day 10 of the TED. She obviously has never heard of it and said I need to start eating that it was crucial for breasfeeding as she is a lactation consultant as well. SHe wouldn’t even discuss the MSPI and she was confused about the mucus in his diapers. She couldn’t understand what I meant by mucus and I told her I had the diaper with me but she didn’t want to see it. Instead she tells me to take it to the bathroom and hands me a specimen jar, a tongue depressor and a bio bag and says put some of it in the jar on your way up to the lab we will at least run some tests on it. Okay at least we are checking the poo but how hard would it have been for her to help me out and at least let me do it in the privacy of the office. no I had to go o a public restroom and sit there and scoop out of his saved diaper and pack it all up nicely while trying to deal with a stroller a screaming 2 month old who doesn’t want to be in the stroller. AGHHHHHH maybe this should have gone on the venting page. I just feel like I got absolutely nowhere and spent 3 hours at the clinic/hospital, oh yeah she was running an hour late on her appointments to top things off. SO I have another call into the previous Dr. (#4) and praying she calls me back because I am at my wits end. I know my son, I know my gut feelings on this and I know the Dr. I saw today was a complete idiot. This is not the first time I have advocate on mine or my childs behalf to receive adequate care through military medicine so i guess this is why it aggravates me even more so. The funny thing is if she would have just listened to me, if she would have discussed MSPI with me and why she doesn’t hink it is the issue and had looked at his diaper I could at least feel as if she was trying to help but she just brushed everything I was asking about to the side and stuck with her own theory….how about sticking him on your own lactation consultant all knowing booby so I can go have a freaking milkshake and cheeseburger then!!! Anybody else dealing with military Dr.s? Okay I am done ranting, I am worn out.

[Anonymous]

Oh Karen, I’m SO sorry! What an awful day you had. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve read posts of women who have had similiar experiences (though no military ones, that I recall). I really hate the sad, but true, fact that so many doctors haven’t a clue about this whole reflux mess. I had a similar convo with an LC from LeLeche league about MSPI, etc. She just thought I wasn’t eating enough, and no food caused babies problems. SO FRUSTRATING.

Anyway, I would guess that her OAL diagnosis was due to the green color of the stool. I did have OAL, and the foremilk/hindmilk imbalance does cause the stools to have a green color, due to the heavy lactose content of the foremilk. I had a ALOT of milk, and it would spray out when it let down. So, I did struggle to get that under control. Lying down while feeding and block nursing helped, as did taking him off the breast during the letdown and reattaching him after the stream slowed.

However, if you don’t think you have OAL, then none of that matters. Green poo in and of itself isn’t necessarily a concern, as poo can be all sorts of colors and still be “normal”, but the mucous IS a concern.

Have you seen ANY improvement in his stools while on the diet change? I will say that it was nearly 3 weeks before I really saw a change, so don’t give up yet on the diet. If, after that amount of time, or so, and the diapers still continue to be green and mucousy, you may want to examine the solutabs themselves. They do contain some lactose and aspertame, both of which have caused problems for some sensitive lo’s. So switching to a different form of the med may help. BUT, I wouldn’t mess with this until you figure out the diet stuff. Too many changes at once can be confusing and counterproductive.

I do hope that you are able to get a new updated script from one of the doctors you see. I’m not at all familiar with the military format, but sometimes family doctors are more likely to give PPI scripts because they are familiar with them from their adult patients.

Hang in there! I hope you get some better support soon.

[Anonymous]

Thanks Naomi for the kind words. I am sticking with the diet for at least another week. I have made it this far so no since stopping yet. I originally thought his poo was green from the foremilk/hindmilk imbalance as well, this was when all the symptoms started back when he was 3 weeks old. So I went to the LLL site and read about block nursing to make sure he got the hindmilk so he wouldn’t have to much of the lactose. So I have been block nursing ever since. His poo has never been foamy either but the mucus started when his poo changed color and then the extreme gas and spitup began. Up until 3 weeks of age he had slept and literally only cried a handfull of times. Then it was like a bomb went off and everything went nuts with things progressively getting worse. NOw his poo isn’t always green. SOmetimes it is a yellow with green but it is always mucusy. In fact some if his earliest diapers were yellow with green stringy sticky mucus in it. You are right wbout trying to figure out to much at once and changing things around. It can make a person go cukoo and not really know what is causing what. I really feel like it is MSPI causing the reflux only becuase the mucus came before the spitup but I am not an expert. He has lots of the other problems as well. a continual rash no matter how much diaper cream around his bottom hole and he was snorty and congested through the night but now that i think about it that is getting better. thank you for the support understanding and advice. it helps to know i am not alone and not crazy.

[Anonymous]

I am soo sorry. If you are military take him to ehER next time and see if you get farther there or if they will give you a GI consult. In our area the military gets outsourced to the local children’s hosp. Which is a good one.

[Anonymous]

That is SOOOO frustrating!!!

Military here as well! I, thank goodness, have a pretty good Pedi for my DD. She, at first, posed some obstacles but since has been very willing to up doses and has been very supportive. Like Jessica said, around here they normally refer you out to the Childrens Hospital. I, however, don’t care too much for our GI. Jessica has a better one! BUT I figured why switch GIs if my DD has already seen him for a while now and it would be more of a pain, I think. Who knows, after her next appt I might switch to Jessica’s highly recommended GI!!!

I agree w/you about the military Drs! Yours, however, sounded to be worse then I’ve ever encountered! She sounded like a complete idiot and I feel sorry for anyone who has her as a lactation consultant! There are many babies who need meds even w/gaining weight!!! I don’t understand who decided that FTT was a prerequisite for meds. If your DS doesn’t get the right meds and soon he may in turn develope an aversion, THEN WILL THEY GIVE HIM MEDS SINCE HE WON’T BE EATING?!?!?!?! It’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. Anyways…Are you able to get ahold of someone through tricare and explain your situation and get a referral to someone else? It might be worth a try. I hope in the meantime that other Dr(#4) comes through for you and you get the meds increased! Do you have enough to cont. the increase dose on your own until she calls you back? I’d continue w/that. I really hope things work out for you and your LO! Good Luck!

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