Infantreflux.org | Update on Bryce

This topic has 15 replies, 1 voice, and was last updated 18 years, 11 months ago by Anonymous.

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November 15, 2007 at 10:43 pm #45504

Anonymous
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Just wanted to give a little update on Bryce and his reflux/feeding issues.

Lately we have really been having issues with Bryce’s swallowing. We’ve always had ups and downs with this. Every time we start making progress with his eating orally, he’ll cut a tooth or get sick and really backslide and stop wanting to swallow food. Normally he starts eating again eventually, but the last three months he has not wanted to swallow at all. We and his feeding therapist have just been stumped as to what’s causing the problem.

I have just been really frustrated and feeling like I am not making any progress with him at all anymore. I started wondering if it might be his tonsils causing the swallowing issues, since it usually happens after sickness. Bryce’s nurse checked his tonsils and said that they did look really big and she and the feeding theraist (OT) suggested we have him seen by the ENT.

So we took him to his ped. ENT at the children’s hospital today. He looked at his tonsils and said they are NOT big at all and they are fine. There’s no reason they would be
causing him problems. However, while we were there the ENT (he’s
awesome) grabbed the speech therapist who happened to be there, to see
if she had any ideas. We’ve worked with her before when Bryce was in
the PICU and she’s great. She said that when she sees kids stop wanting
to swallow like that, almost always it is because of reflux and
they need their dose increased. Bryce has been on 18mg/day for the past 18 months or so and has done
well with it. I told her that he sleeps fine at night and doesn’t seem
to have any reflux pain, but she said some kids don’t have a pain
reaction to the reflux but it will really affect their eating. So we’re going to give that a try and
see if it makes a difference.

Luckily, I had already had this
thought, and had just got Bryce’s GI to increase the dose on his
Prevacid prescription yesterday, so we’re ready to go on this
experiment. The dose was increased to 30mg/day. So I guess we’ll see where he is in a couple of weeks. *fingers crossed*

Bryce’sMom2007-11-15 22:44:45

November 15, 2007 at 11:01 pm #45505

Anonymous
Inactive

Wow, sounds like it’s been a struggle for you! I always feel so frustrated when Owen won’t eat, you just know something has to be wrong and you don’t want them to lose weight!

You are so awesome and seem so calm about it all! Hope that the bigger dose helps things! Hugs to you and Bryce!!

November 16, 2007 at 7:14 am #45509

Anonymous
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I hope the med increase works for you. Poor little guy… I hope you see a great change soon.

November 16, 2007 at 8:23 am #45510

Anonymous
Inactive

Hey Heather,

I am sorry things are difficult right now. I did have one thought while reading your post. Has Bryce been on antibiotics recently? If so, that will shrink (temporarily) the tonsils and adenoids, so they will appear normal size but eventually will swell up again. Did the ENT ask you that question?

Hopefully the med increase will help and Bryce will be chowing down soon!

Hang in there strong Mommy!!!!

Ann Marie

November 16, 2007 at 9:30 am #45513

Anonymous
Inactive

Thanks everyone.

Ann Marie, he hasn’t been on any antibiotics since February or March I think it was, so I guess that’s not it. It was weird that his nurse said they were big then the doctor said they were not. I guess he has more experience with that though. Who knows.

November 16, 2007 at 11:17 am #45521

Anonymous
Inactive

Hugs to you, Heather!

November 16, 2007 at 1:11 pm #45531

Anonymous
Inactive

Aww….poor Bryce, and poor mommy. I sure hope the increase in dose solves the swallowing problem. It’s so fortunate that the speech therapist was there that day. It sounds like she knows her stuff. I hope she’s right on with this and that Bryce starts eating soon. Keep us posted.

November 16, 2007 at 1:37 pm #45534

Anonymous
Inactive

Hope the increased dosage does the trick. Wanted to let you know too that Seth’s ped. commented how large his tonsils were and even noted it in his chart to check them again but when I asked his ENT, she said they were a little on the large size but would not be considered abnormal. She said they base it more on if they have trouble swallowing, make snoring sounds in the night, or have trouble getting air and Seth does not have any of that.

November 16, 2007 at 2:20 pm #45538

Anonymous
Inactive

Hey Heather.. sorry to hear about your recent frustrations and poor Bryce! I really hope that the increased Prevacid does the trick. I know it must be frustrating to still be at the “guessing game” stage, but hang in there. His new picture is adorable, by the way.Bensmama2007-11-16 14:21:46

November 16, 2007 at 5:15 pm #45541

Anonymous
Inactive

I’m sorry to hear about the frustrations with Bryce swallowing! I hope that the increased dose helps him. He’s lucky to have such an awesome mommy and great team of doctors!!! Good luck and keep us posted!

November 16, 2007 at 8:19 pm #45551

Anonymous
Inactive

Hugs, Heather

leo

November 16, 2007 at 8:59 pm #45553

Anonymous
Inactive

OMG Heather, It has been such a long time since we have chatted! I was really hoping it was because things were going better with Bryce and we both were just busy with day to day issues! I really hope the increased medications helps. Alexis’s tonsils were always red and irriated causing her not to eat and swallow, they would be like this all the time with or without strep. The Peds MD thought maybe they were so irriated due to all of her refluxing, so she refused to swallow and just chipmunk her food. We did get her tonsils removed at 22 months old along with adenoids and tube placement. I do have to say that once’s her tonsils were removed she definitely ate a lot better but she snored a lot as well. I really hope you find an answer soon! Big hugs!!!

November 16, 2007 at 10:13 pm #45557

hellbennt
Keymaster

Wishing Bryce, you & your family well!!!!

November 18, 2007 at 1:45 am #45570

Anonymous
Inactive

Goodluck with the medication increase.

November 23, 2007 at 9:32 am #45715

Anonymous
Inactive

Thank you so much everyone! Sorry I didn’t get back on here after I posted this.

A little update:

Bryce has been on the bigger dose of Prevacid for a week now and… it’s helping!! I think we still have a long way to go before he’s back to where he was, but he’s definitely eating better and more willing to swallow now. I feel bad knowing that he must have been uncomfortable all that time and I didn’t realize it was his reflux. He just didn’t show any other symptoms besides not wanting to swallow. I’m really excited that we’re finally seeing some progress though and I’m hoping we’ll see more improvement.

Thanks so much for all of your prayers and encouragement!
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