Reglan… good or bad?!?

[Anonymous]

Hi all!! I am new to the forum. My 4 month old is currently on Prevacid two times a day. She takes one full pill a day. The ped has prescribed Reglan in addition to the Prevacid. I am not sure if I should give this to her or not. I have read a lot of stuff online that makes me very nervous about giving her this medication. She has the reflux and before the meds she would get choked during reflux episodes. It was very scary. Since bein on the prevacid she no longer chokes and was doing very well… not spitting up and not regurgitating at all but now over the past few days she has begun doing both. The ped told me to try rice cereal in her bottle first and try that to thicken the formula to keep it down and if that did not work to give her the Reglan. I told him of my concerns of the Reglan and he did tell me he has many patients on it that are doing well. I just don’t know what to do. If anyone has any advice please fill me in!!! I am soo frustrated with the reflux at this point!! THANKS!!!

[hellbennt]

thickening can be ‘controversial,’ although some have had great success!

the key to all of this is RESEARCH and, of course, support!

why does dr want to thicken?

the ‘main’ reasons for thickening are for adding extra calories- is your baby gaining well? if this is the reason for thickening, then there are other ways to add calories (dr helps w/ special formulation of special formula, etc)

and also thickening is good to keep liquids from going into the lungs- aspiration- there is a test for this, though, called a Swallow Study (not the same as an upper GI) and after this study you are then told exactly how to thicken w/ specific terms like ‘nectar consistancy’ etc- and you are also then usually told to use a thickening agent like Simply Thick or Thick It.

is your baby in pain? the meds will help with this. the meds do not help with stopping the spitting up- just with helping with the pain of reflux.

the thought on reglan is to help speed things along so that the stomach empties faster and the idea is then there won’t be as much spitting up.

there are not a lot of fans of reglan, but it has helped some. like I posted above, the key is research.

please please read here: Groupie Intro: https://www.infantreflux.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=853

it’s looong, but PLEASE read/skim/scroll through it & refer back to it, as it TRULY will help you! there is info about Reglan there, too.

so glad you found us!

~laura

ps: when you get a moment, please go to the upper right-hand corner of this screen and click on ‘settings’ and from there you can edit your signature and let us know how old baby is, what formula or breastfeeding, MSPI or not, what meds and what doses and form of meds and how you’re administering-thanks!

[Anonymous]

The dr wants to thicken her formula to help keep the forumla down so she does not have as many spitting up episodes. She is gaining weight well and has not had any problems with gaining weight. She just has the choking episodes where the formula gets stuck and comes up and then also gets into her nose. She has had 3 ear infections due to the reflux. Since she has started on the prevacid, she has had no more ear infections (so far) and when she spits up it does not get stuck anymore, it just comes up but she is now at a point where it is burning when it comes up. When we went to the dr he said that the reglan would help empty her stomach so she would not have these episodes two hours after feeding. I am VERY SCARED of the side effects of the reglan, and if she is still going to have episodes where she will spit up, even with it, I would rather just give her the prevacid alone and deal with the spit up. As long as it is not hurting her, so my concern is dose the dosage need to be upped?!? The dr told me he would do a test to see if she needed to reglan if I would prefer to have it done before giving her the meds. The meds have helped alot with her pain during the episodes, it actually had deleted the pain almost completely, but now, as she seems to be getting bigger, the pain seems to be coming back some. I read the Groupie Intro and found lots of helpful information. We have had a horrible time with the reflux and it is finally nice to find a place where there is a ton of information. I just don’t know what to do!! I am soo scared of the reglan and the dr tells me to trust him, but if she is doing okay on the prevacid and she just needs her dosage upped, I would rather do that!!! It is all soo confusing and frustrating.

[hellbennt]

I think you’ve answered your own question:

increase her prevacid to where http://www.marci-kids.com says to

and go from there…and, if you think reglan might be necessary, then yes do the test- it’s a stomach emptying scan- but it might not even be necessary if an increase prevacid dose is ‘all’ that is needed…

as for the thickening: try without it? experiment…

[Anonymous]

I just talked with the ped and they said because of her age and weight she can not have her meds upped. They also told me he wants me to begin giving her the reglan and if she shows side effects within the next 24 to 48 hours to stop the reglan and call back and I can come in the office! I am soo frustrated…. I do not want to give her these meds… but I guess I should do what the dr says and just watch her… any advice?!?

[Anonymous]

heather, you actually sound like you have a doc that is listening to you and your concerns. he is not the first doc to be reluctant about upping the meds to a higher dose. i think it is great that he would offer to do the gastric emptying scan for you before you tried the meds because of your concerns.

i know that alot of people have been very nervous about the side effects of reglan, but there have been some gals on here in the past that have had excellent results with it with their child. it is supposed to help the stomach empty faster, but it is also supposed to help tighten up the valve from the esophagus into the stomach.

personally, i don’t think it would hurt to give her the reglan and watch for any side effects. even if she gets them, they should be only temporary, especially if you stop them immediately and go into the doc.

we started with the basic zantac and reglan with sylvia—-and neither one did us any good, but she had an especially bad case of reflux and required a fundoplication—-during which they discovered a good size hiatal hernia that had not shown during any testing.

maybe you could request that they do a scope on her. if she is still showing a significant amount of esophagitis, it would answer the question as to whether or not she needed a higher dose of meds. slight esophagitis seems to be common even in babies that are medicated appropriately. it would also show if she had eosinophils (allergic cells) indicating allergy and it can show esophageal thrush that could be aggravating things.

if you have enought meds, you could try upping the dose yourself for a period of time and then if she is doing better with that, bring in the marci-kids info to show your doc and tell him she is doing better on that dosage.

since these little ones can’t talk to us and let us know what is really going on, alot of what we try as mothers—and our doctors—is kind of experimenting and guessing.

you could also ask for carafate, it seems to help sooth the esophagus if it is inflamed.

my little one is a long way from her reflux problems, but i deal with them myself and it isn’t fun.

[hellbennt]

i agree with christine…try the reglan if you want? or get the testing done and then try it? if you see side effects, I’ve read on this board to give benedryl and they will stop. to find benedryl dose go look under Medicine Cabinet at http://www.askdrsears.com.

if you simply ‘just’ want the marci-kids dosing then you can take matters into your own hands and then tell ped the results, or you can TELL ped to increase dose or you can TELL ped to refer you to ped GI and at the same time CONSULT w/ the ped GI. or you can ask dr philips, of marci-kids, to email/talk to your ped…he does this! or you can do any combination of these things.

as for your doctor: TELL you want to get to a ped GI.

if this does’t work (and it should! a doctor should refer!) then

FAX FAX FAX the dr

dont wait for a call…

start off w/ a THANK YOU

keep it short & sweet

stick to the facts (no feelings and no rambling emotions)

state current meds, doses, symptoms

make request- flat out- short & sweet

THANK AGAIN

follow up by calling office to say fax was sent

call again later to discuss requests in fax, ie: have you called in the increased prescription yet? THANK YOU

sample fax: https://www.infantreflux.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=10633&PID=90325#90325

About faxing the doctor (& more): https://www.infantreflux.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=2841&TPN=1

[Anonymous]

YES about the Benadryl. I was myself so sick with a GI bug that I had NEVER been that sick before. David drove me to the local clinic, and they gave me reglan in an IV. I have to tell you, I INSTANTLY felt better, but then got this feeling like I wanted to jump right out of my skin. Not sure how that would make a baby feel if they had the same reaction, but they told me that was a common side effect, gave me some benadryl, and then I felt fine.

I know Reglan is controversial, and I didn’t ever have a doc prescribe it for the boys, but I do know it helped me and I would let them give it to me again. Also, that is what they prescribed to me to try to make my milk supply come up when I was making almost nothing when pumping. (I pumped until I dried up), and that did work as well, and I don’t remember side effects from the pill form.

Whatever you decide, it has helped some here and some saw effects, but I think when they saw effects, they stopped and the side effects went away and no lasting issues? Can’t say that for sure, but I think I would have remembered if someone went off and then still had an issue, so I think the ladies above had good advice.

hang in there!! And Welcome!

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