Could this be something else?

[Anonymous]

Hi All,

Harrison’s been on the 30mg PRevacid for a while now, at least 6 weeks now, possibly longer–it’s all becoming a big blur to me! What seems to keep happening is that at first we have the honeymoon phase when we up his dose or try something new, but then things get worse again. We’ve been giving 15mg in the am, Carafate around 10 and around 4, and then 15mg Prevacid at 6ish. He’s still getting a bit cranky in the afternoon, though, and is very hard to get to sleep during the day. We tried cutting the Prevacid into 3 doses, but that did not work–he was ornary all day long, so we went back to the 2 doses. Things seemed to slowly be getting worse, then last Saturday they went downhill. I think he may have had a stomach bug because he was very ornary all day and his bms were like pea soup. The bms are now today (6 days later) improving, but he’s still cranky all day long. In the mean time, on Tuesday, he had his 4 month appt and got a few vaccinations. In hindsight, I probably should have rescheduled. I also remembered–after the fact–that last time he got vaccinations his reflux seemed to get worse (he was screaming from pain). He’s got us worried now. He’s had some good moments today, but much of the day is spent arching/crunching/moving and screaming/crying from pain. This was the toughest bedtime we’ve had in a while. We finally gave him Mylanta about 1/2 hr ago, and that seemed to finally help.

Could this be something else? I know the GI mentioned that some kids get tummy aches from Prevacid, but it does seem to help him sometimes, and when he is screaming/crying from pain, you can also smell the acid, so I’d tend to think it wasn’t the Prevacid. At this point, however, we’re willing to try anything. Our Pediatrician had said at this point he’d recommend further testing to rule out anything else. We go for another visit to the GI on Monday, and I’m sure she’ll suggest an Endoscopy, which makes me a bit nervous seeing how young he is, but we need to get some answers. We don’t want it to be something else, but the Endoscopy can tell us that and maybe allow the docs to adjust the meds some more, right? Has anyone else had this happen? Has anyone else had bad luck with 1 PPI, and better luck with another? Any input or suggestions would be appreciated. It’s really breaking our heats, he’s such a sweet little boy when he feels good, but then literally screams from pain at times, it’s scary.

Thanks in advance…

[Anonymous]

Oh Denise this is so hard. But since he just turned 4 months old I might try the OTC prevacid and sprinkle it in some apple or pear baby food (1tsp is probably all you need) and see if there is improvement there and then you will know for sure if the solutabs are bothering him. I swore by them with Cooper but there are some babies that just can’t use them… I would probably go with Nexium next… I am clueless on the dose but I seem to remember that it tastes like lemon? I know Jill used it with Landen at some point so you may want to PM her to get her thoughts and Katie may have used it with Evie too, not really sure.

The only other thing that “alarmed” me when I was reading was that you are only spacing the Carafate in the evening by 2hrs from the prevacid… why did I think it had to be 4hrs? That may make a difference as well.

It does sound like he is in pain and there is no worse feeling than a little one that can’t tell us what is wrong but we know something is! Hang in there and I hope you have a good appt with the GI on Monday… Keep us posted.

[Anonymous]

Denise-

Only have a minute to write (Madden sleeps for like 20 min. at a time right now!) We are unfortunately on PPI’s too right now. Zantac worked great for a week and then even at the highest dose possible, stopped working. So, we are on PPI’s too. 7.5, 3X a day, just started. ANyways, I was doing some google searches and I found another forum on the babycenter website where they were discussing PPI’s and it seems that A LOT of moms were saying that their babies didn’t improve until they changed to Prilosec. The moms on this board are mostly using Prilosec OTC with buffer babies. So, all babies seem to respond different. I have ordered some buffer babies as well b/c the timing is a real nuisance. Also, I am hearing that Prevacid OTC is the same as the Rx, in case your Dr. is giving you a hard time about dosages. Good luck and keep us posted!

[Anonymous]

By the way, I found it interesting that Dr. Phillips is a regular poster on that site. It’s called reflux rebels or something like that and it’s on the babycenter website. You could definitely ask for his input there.

[Anonymous]

Denise,

I am sorry you are having a rough time with Harrison!! 🙁 Are you giving him Solutabs? That was what we were using with Landen and while I know the meds were helping him, I believe he was just reacting to something in him, so it was kind of win-lose for us.

We did see an improvement when we switched to Nexium. When we did the endoscopy for Landen at around 5 mos, our GI changed Landen b/c he felt that with no major improvement on Prevacid, we’d see something with Nexium. He said that it lasted longer (hours-wise) and was a little stronger. I don’t know how true it is, but we did have good results. All babies are different. Buffer babies is def an option with OTC Prilosec or Prevacid. Some of our babies just have that super sensitive GI and if their meds contain any aspartame, dye…ANYTHING, they will react to it!!

Hang in there!!!

[Anonymous]

Thanks, ladies. I’m thinking of either switching to the capsule Prevacid or to Prilosec–my husband uses Prilosec now & says that’s the only thing that works for him. I can’t find a link to order the buffer babies, though, so if anyone knows how to do that, it would be appreciated! Do we have to use the Buffer Babies, or is there something else we can do while waiting for it?

Jill, are you in Maryland? Did you have a GI here? Our GI is very against the marci-kids dosing, and I’m not sure if we could get her to go along with the buffer babies. She’s a very nice person & is truly concerned about their well-being, but i’m afraid we’ll have to find a new GI soon. I did find a name from the Pedi/Specialists thread here, but we don’t have an appointment until January. If it comes down to it, I’m going to have our Pedi call to see if they can move the appointment up.

Katie, thanks for the link to that group. I’m going to look it up. I’m going to also try emailing Dr. Phillips tomorrow to see if he can offer any help.

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Hi Denise! Yes, I am in MD! We just got a GI here. It’s a long story. Landen is having some severe issues again and will need a 2nd endoscopy. We are going to see Dr. Carmen Cuffari at Johns Hopkins Childrens center. I have no idea how he is with dosing b/c our appt is Dec 10th. Editing to add: we won’t be needing help with reflux, landen is having irritable bowel/EE/Celiac-like issues. We aren’t sure which.

I DID get a rec’d before I moved to MD to see someone in the DC area from this board. A GI that encourages Marci-kids dosing. Is that who you are going to see? Otherwise, our pedi here in MD gave us 30mg PPI when we moved here (I was THRILLED) and at that point didn’t need a GI doc at the time, so we stuck with her! LOL. She is in Sykesville if you want her info, but I know you really probably want a GI and not a new Pedi! Just throwing it out there though!!!

jilly782009-11-28 21:39:48

[Anonymous]

ok, back to add, this is who was rec’d to me back when I was moving here from FL: (did a little digging) Is that who you are going to see? see my above post too!! 🙂

from user Yanab:

Hi Jill,

We have a great pedi GI (after going throug several) but she’s also in the DC area. Dr. Yulia Rehktman at Georgetown U. Hospital. She also sees patients in Rockville. She’s ok with the marci-kids dosing (in fact, she suggested it!) and in the know about mspi, which my baby is, big time.

good luck
yana

[hellbennt]

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Dr.
Philips: [email protected]

Office Phone: (573) 884-0672

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