Dumby me I never looked at the LCD screen before we went home and ate, so I have no idea what it said. I thought it would just say something like "reading, recording, or whatever" I didn't know it would actually give me a PH to look at!!! That's kinda cool.

About 20 minutes after he was done eating I took a look at it for the first time. It went up and down from 6.1 to 6.8 for a while and then it slowly climbed up to 7.8 when I put him to bed for his nap. I'm sure it's still climbing :(
(YES! He's napping. He's doing really good with this so far guys! :blob4: I'll post about all that later)

and the screen also said asthma on it.
Does the screen say asthma because that's what they are testing for, or what?! Does anyone know? It really surprised me to see it say that.

What does all that mean?? lol I'm kinda dumb. ;)

Austin's screen never said that so I'm not sure about the asthma thing. Sorry. Isn't kind of cool to sit there though and watch the ph levels! Austin had so many moments where he was refluxing and I had no clue.

Ava too! It was good to see it for myself and to know how many times a day she was refluxing. Ava's never said asthma though, so I'm not sure, but I don't think it tests for that. Unless they thought he had asthma already? Not sure, sorry! Each time Ava woke up screaming at night, the ph was from 0.5-0.7 (a ph of 0 is battery acid, and 1 is pure hydrochloric acid from the stomach lining). OUCH! These poor kiddies, bless their little hearts (and tummies, and throats!)!

O.K. so let me get this right.
The PH lowers when there is acid present, right?
I thought it was the other way around.
He woke up crying with a .4 reading. I'm confused LOL
So the higher the number the better?
So I guess the PH going up and down and then climbing up might have meant his food was there or moving down, but not necessarily acid? That's cool I hope so! Maybe his little tummy works better than I thought! :)
Man I wish I would have looked at it before he ate!!!!

I think I'll just make sure the thing doesn't say ERROR and keep my nose out of it.

Higher is better. Acid is the low end, bases are the high end. Vinegar is an acid, and milk is a base. Here is a link to the ph scale. I thought it went from 1 on up, but when Ava's was so low, I found out I was wrong!

http://staff.jccc.net/PDECELL/chemistry/phscale.gif

Sorry to double post, but I forgot to add that when Ava's was so low, it went right back up to 3-4 after she nursed or had a sip of milk. I was also told that normal esophagael (sp) ph is between 4 and 6.

Austin's kept dropping really low too. Poor little kids. I've never seen the scale though. It's kind of neat! Thanks! Now I know dropping below one was really bad for my poor little guy.

Minnie, our machine had no numbers showing, just a buttin for when he coughed or sneezed and also for eating or lying.

I can tell you that the lower the number is an acid, so anything between the range of 0-4 indicates a reflux episode. 7 is neutral. anything between 4-7 is stil acid but not what they call significant enough to cause problems.

I have heard, I can't remember who, maybe jojo, said that the numbers were all high and she just didn't get it, cause she was sure there was reflux but the test came back showing lots of reflux. So I wouldn't read too much into the instrument.

The highest Ava's # ever went was 6.8. There was an eating mode that we turned on when she ate or nursed (it looked like Pac-Man!), and that's about it. The display showed the time and the ph level, pretty basic. Did they have you keep a journal during the test? They asked me to keep a log along w/ the nurses log of any symptoms or episodes that I saw, or thought I saw, and when she ate, drank, slept, etc.

I can't remember who, maybe jojo

Where has Jojo been anyway?? :(

What an interesting thread this is!!

Yeah I haven't seen her around lately, she sometimes does go days without coming on though.

Rachel,
Thanks for that info.
Or maybe I should thank Jo Jo. LOL

Ya know it was a really good day reflux wise. He didn't eat much. He didn't choke or cough while he ate. He didn't get hiccups, and he just seemed all around more relaxed. Weird huh?
He was at 7 or higher most the day, but I didn't check every second either.
My DH said it almost seemed like the probe was helping him in some way.

Today the hiccups started right after eating and he's been urpy ever since. Go figure. So whatever the results, it recorded one of our good days.


Oh and yeah I kept a log of sleep wake ups, and eating/drinking, but I didn't record any symptoms.