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May 3, 2006 at 12:11 am #7443AnonymousInactive
I’m very nervous and worried. I took my 5 1/2 month old back to the doctor today. She almost seems to be getting worse. The doctor is going to order a barium swallow to rule out pyloric stenosis. He thought that he might have felt something today when he examined her(no one else ever has). I’m just very worried. To me, she does not have classic symptoms of pyloric stenosis- but then again I’m not a doctor. I guess it will be worth it to know if there’s anything anatomically wrong or not.
Susan
May 3, 2006 at 12:57 am #7444AnonymousInactivei think that pyloric stenosis usually shows up by about 6 weeks of age—-she’s probably fine, but it’s always good to check.
May 3, 2006 at 6:53 am #7447AnonymousInactiveThat’s what I thought too. I guess he just wants to rule out any other problems before he gives her more meds. I’ve read a lot of posts concerning the test, and I just hope that hers goes well. He is suppose to call this morning and let me know about the scheduling. I took her back in to hopefully get the meds adjusted or changed, not for a test.
Susan
May 3, 2006 at 10:00 am #7456AnonymousInactiveThat is the first test they did with Isaac and it really was an easy one! I hope it goes well!
May 3, 2006 at 12:16 pm #7470AnonymousInactiveThanks! Just hearing someone say that it was easy makes me feel so much better. However, the doctor hasn’t even called me this morning like he said that he would. I’m not really surprised.
Thanks,
Susan
May 3, 2006 at 12:41 pm #7473AnonymousInactiveIn what way is she getting worse? More irritable? More pain? Or, throwing up more?
If she’s in pain and more irritable, I’d suggest asking for a PPI. My daughter (Ellie, too) was on Zantac and it only seemed to help minimally for a short period of time. I didn’t know about PPI’s then, so I didn’t ask for anything else. I just assumed my doctor knew best and poor Ellie was so miserable. I still feel bad about it. Even though she’s a happy toddler now.
Have you looked into the PPI medications like Prevacid or Zegerid?
May 3, 2006 at 1:25 pm #7477AnonymousInactiveThat’s really what I went for- new meds. (trying to take all the advice from the forum) I had been waiting for her doctor to get back in May. When I tried to make an appointment with her, she had none (military facilities). So I took an appointment with another doctor that we had seen before for other issues. He seems ready to try some others meds, but now he wants to do the barium swallow first. (I’m sure that its probably some military protocol that he has to go through.)
Ellie seemed to be getting worse in more than one way. She seemed to be getting more irritable again, like something was hurting. Also, the spitting and throwing up was worse. I still do not believe that she has PS, but I guess something else could be wrong.
Thanks for the replies,
Susan
May 3, 2006 at 1:49 pm #7485AnonymousInactiveWhen Myles was getting worse back a few months ago, my doctor also ordered the barium swallow for him (Upper GI – I think they are the same thing). She also wanted to rule out Pyloric Stenosis. The real problem was that his PPI dose was too low. But, I went along and had the test done and it ruled out Pyloric Stenosis, but confirmed what the doc and I already suspected – Reflux.
At that time I pleaded with her (the doctor) to please, please increase his meds because he was so miserable, refusing to eat and crying all the time. She wouldn’t do it initially, but I printed all the info from Marci-kids. and faxed it to her. Then I called her and she agreed to put him on Prevacid 10mg/3 x’s per day (what marci-kids reccommends for his age/weight).
I had talked to my doctor probably 5 – 6 times before she finally agreed to the higher dose for him. Seeing the research probably helped her to see that these are legitimate researchers and that their reccommendations have some validity.
I can’t even describe to you the difference Prevacid at the right dose made. He began to eat like a normal baby. Instead of taking an hour to drink maybe three ounces, he’d drink 5 ounces in 20-30 minutes. His crying diminised dramatically because he was no longer in constant pain from that acid burning him all the time. The puking improved a little, but I think that’s because having less acid and feeling better overall helped him to keep his food down better…but the PPI’s don’t actually do anything to stop the throwing up..that they just have to outgrow.
I hope you can get your little girl on a PPI (at the right dose) because it would likely help her a whole lot.
Oh, and the test is really easy. They just drink the barium and the radiologist takes x-rays. The only bad thing is she may get a little constipated from the barium. They told me to give him some water and that would help.
Good luck and please keep us posted.
May 4, 2006 at 7:36 am #7535AnonymousInactiveWhen they thought Ian had pyloric stenosis, they did an ultrasound to rule it out. Very easy-no prep and took about 10 minutes. But I hear a Barium Swallow can check for a few things? We’ve never had it done.
Also, just an aside. We’re on 30mg of prevacid a day (Ian’s now 7 months on solutabs-this is after trying prilosec and prevacid capsules-now has been 5 months of meds) and really seeing minimal results. He still takes an hour to eat and arches. We’ve only recently begun testing to see why this is happening and although everything is coming up negative-I wish I’d done it sooner. He’s been in a lot of pain for a very long time. I don’t mean to be negative as I know alot of people have been helped by high dose ppi but thought I should put it out there. My son even got an ulcer (found him in crib swimming in vomit and blood) while on 30mg of prevacid. I would be try to be proactive and don’t worry. These tests aren’t as bad as we hear I think.
Good luck!!
Tracy (Ian 9-26-05) Prevacid and Elecare
May 6, 2006 at 11:06 pm #7616AnonymousInactiveWell, after many complications with getting an appointment scheduled for the barium swallow (I won’t even go there! It was ridiculous!)we finally have an appointment on Monday afternoon. She ended up being scheduled at a larger, more experienced with kids (I believe) facility. I called the office, and I was told that there is no prep for the test, not even restricted feedings. However, I believe that it must be better to make sure that the baby is hungry before the test. ???
How much of the barium does the baby have to drink?
Also, could anyone tell me about how long the test takes? From what I’ve read on other posts, the time appears to vary.
One other question (I hope its not silly)- What do the babies wear while the test is performed? Do they have to be down to a diaper, etc…? Do they strap them down??
Thanks,
Susan
Susan L2006-5-7 6:26:45
May 7, 2006 at 8:19 am #7619AnonymousInactiveIf you dress her with no snaps or metal buckles, she can stay fully dressed.
Myles only drank about 1 ounce because he refused anymore, but they wanted him to drink about 3-4 ounces. Even with the one ounce they were able to see the reflux.
Our test took about 30 minutes start to finish. That included the time it took him to drink the barium, and a 10 minute wait at the end to take one last picture and see where the barium ended up.
May 8, 2006 at 11:06 pm #7706AnonymousInactiveEllie finally had her test today. It went pretty well, except for the wait- about 2 hours. Then the radiologist was with another patient and we had to wait longer. I was a little disappointed at how they laid her on the table (no blanket or anything). Luckily I had one with me that they let me use. She had no problem drinking the barium mixture. She was starving. They mixed it with pedialyte and she just drank it down. She actually drank part of a second bottle, because he needed to get some more pictures. She did, however, hate the turning from side to side and the radiologist would have me stop feeding her for a few minutes throughout the test. That aggravated her and she pretty much screamed during the end of the test. She and I had both had enough of it by the end.
He definitely saw reflux, but no obvious abnormalities. Thank God!! However, it did take a long time for the barium to go from her stomach to small intestines, which was one of the main reasons for the test. The doctor made a comment about her stomach. “How big is this little girl’s stomach?” Finally, some of the barium started moving into the small intestines and the test was over. In the beginning, I asked him if the test would show “delayed gastric emptying”. He said that it can, but there’s another test for that. I don’t know much about it but I’ve always said to my family that her stomach just emptied out to slowly. I’m not sure where we stand after the testing, because the radiologist said that the doctor could possible want to do more testing, maybe ultrasound. Hopefully, I’ll hear from the doctor soon.
Any advice would be appreciated. Just in case he wants to try reglan: Does anyone have any experience with that drug?
(Sorry if this post is not written very well- I’m very tired and its getting late. )
Thanks,
Susan
May 9, 2006 at 11:21 am #7733AnonymousInactiveI am glad that the test showed no abnormalities. I have no experience with reglan but I would suggest a ppi instead of zantac (unless this has changed i just read that in your siggy) and I think the dr would probably agree b/c they saw refluxing in the barium swallow.
May 20, 2006 at 9:20 am #8429AnonymousInactiveJust thought I’d give an update for those of you that have been so nice with your responses. Believe it or not, I still do not have the official results from anyone. The doctor has called me twice this week- Tues and Wed- but did not have the report from the hospital where the test was done. I’m sure that its been sent- probably lost!! Ellie goes for her 6 month check up Monday morning (with another doctor at the peds clinic), so I may just have to tell some people what I think then. It has really been ridiculous.
This week she has a terrible cold and will not let me hardly walk away from her. My youngest son and I are also “sick”. I think that our problems are from allergies. Is it really possible for a 6 month old to have allergies from grass pollen, etc… ? Just curious???
Thanks,
Susan
May 22, 2006 at 10:57 pm #8480AnonymousInactiveUPDATE!!!!!!!!
Well, we went to Ellie’s 6 month checkup today and saw the nurse practitioner- very nice but I could tell right away that she probably did not take the reflux thing seriously. Because, of course, Ellie is gaining weight with no problems. Talked about problems with solids- just doesn’t tolerate them well. I tried to explain things- asked her about the upper GI report- that someone finally found after I waited extra time in the waiting room. (It’s ONLY been 2 weeks since the asap test.)The official report said that reflux was seen, mild delayed gastric emptying, and no abnormalities. (pretty much what I already knew) The NP said that she would leave the report on the doctor’s (that ordered the test) desk. Believe it or not he actually called this evening!! He started out saying that he was going to try Reglan. I talked some with him- I always feel rushed even if he doesn’t rush me- can’t really tell you word for word what I said- talked about there being side effects from Reglan- That I had researched Reglan, reflux – he mentioned Prevacid – I told him that I trusted his judgement about what to do next- how solids seem to aggravate her reflux- (somehow he got from me that she was having trouble eating) (swallowing) – not sure where that came from- but I tried to set him straight. “Her reflux seems worse after eating the solids.” (spitting babyfood 3 hours after eating, etc…) All of a sudden he decided that he wants to send her to a specialist!!! I guess that I should be happy, but now I’m kind of freaked out. Did I say something to all of a sudden make him decide that? ???? I always worry about upsetting someone!!!! I’m scared that they are going to want to do loads of tests on her or something. I had originally brought her back to him because he had told me way back that if the Zantac did not seem to help that there were other things that we could try. Now a specialist????I’m nervous about the first visit. What to expect???? Even though it will probably be weeks before she can even be seen!!Thanks,SusanSorry I wrote so choppy- I was trying to hurry!! -
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