Hi

I am just looking for a bit of advice really, my little boy is 14 months old and obvioulsy suffers from reflux. He has had a cough since Nov' 05 and his doc is not sure about doing a scope. He has had two PH Probes (at 6 an 13 months) whioch both showed he has reflux but not that he was refluxing when he coughs. Barium Meal test was normal.

At the moment he is on Omeprazole (10mg twice a day), domperidone (2ml 3 times a day) and gaviscon in his bottles.

We have only just restarted the gavisvon and that has helped his cough loads (makes me think it is reflux related then??)

He is nowhere near as bad as he used to be, vomits occassionally and much less volume (amybe one biggie every 2 weeks) but I can tell he is still in pain. He is also a bad sleeper still waking 3 times a night for his bottle (in my opinion to ease the pain) some nights he does go through the whole night (again makes me think its reflux waking him?)

So basically just wondering would you go ahead with the scope? The doc has been mentioning it on and off for the last 3 months and my gut says go with it but not sure if for me to ask for it would be too much?

What do you thinks

Thanks

Love

Shell xx

Hi Shell, firstly welcome to IRD :) this place is awesome, has so much info, and the support from other mums, grandmas etc is fantastic.

I dont have any experience with scopes, but from what I have read in your post, I, myself would be getting it done.......you seem to have a lot of unanswered questions, and the scope would be very helpful.

So I say go for it........Hopefully some of the other Mums who have been through the scope will be able to shed more light on it than me :)

Keep us updated.

If the ph probe is showing that the coughs aren't reflux related, then he probably has asthma. Ask for a trial on asthma meds and see if it improves.

The reasons I would do a scope is if the meds aren't working or if he isn't gaining weight. If it is tolerable then a scope probably wont tell all that much.

If the meds are workign then the esopheogous probably isn't inflamed and also wouldn't have an esinophilic disorder. This is what would be determined by a scope.

I would first try the asthma meds and see how he goes. If you do go ahead with the scope, I would ask for a scope of the lungs also, I am not sure what it is called, but it isn't a huge procedure, but they can see if the lungs are damaged by the coughing.

how are you giving the omeprazole? If it is compounded I would recommend getting it compounded at least every 2 weeks as this med will go unstable well before the month the Drs say.

Thank you ladies :0)

Sorry Scarlet I forgot to mention he is on asthma treatment (so many meds you forgot what you are giving them!) and it hasn't made any difference.

His meds seem to work for a week or so when we change them and then it's back to square one again...not sure if this is normal for reflux kids???

He has Losec tablets usually but we got different tablets this time which are a bit better, we have never been offered the suspension so I've only just learnt it exhists although it would have been handy when he was a lot smaller grrrr

So basically the meds work for a while then their effectiveness seems to wear off, in fact this has happened again this weekend, hiccups have come back, gagging on food, he's been sick, wet burps, crying in pain :0( He's back at the hospital a week on Monday so maybe I'll just go with what his doc suggests, he did mention trialing a milk free diet but my gut says he has no allergies....

Thanks again

Love

Shell xx

I have asthma and it makes me cough and I had a really difficult time trying to find what would work to help me. I was diagnosed with asthma only about two years ago. (I had been hospitalized about three times b/c of it). I am now on QVar and it has been a miracle drug for me, but I don't know if it is for little ones or not.

Seems to me it is always trial and error to find the right combo of drugs, etc.

Also be sure your little guy is slanted at night or during naps, I know that helps a lot.

best wishes
Jean

Hi Shelly! It is so hard to know whether or not to scope and it is a very personal decision.

My youngest was scoped at 15 months of age after finally being diagnosed at 14 months and put on refux meds. He had a milk test performed prior and it did show aspiration, but it is not the definitive test for determining this. Our ped allergist labelled him as having GERD with the asthma connection as he does indeed aspirate and requires asthma meds to help keep inflammation under control.

Iain coughs after meals and sometimes throughout the day. At his very worst the cough and snot production was non abating. He goes "chesty" with all potential upper respiratory infections and all these are noted with asthma, but can be as a result of the reflux too. We notice a distinct difference when Iain is enjoying a good run of being well managed for reflux in that his cough and rattle goes away. When he is refluxy, it returns. Tonight, he is coughing up a lung and sounds like he is purring constantly. Time to increase the flovent for him!

If your wee one is nightwaking I wonder if he is gaining well and intaking enough during the day? If not, then he may night wake because he is hungry. Or it may be due to habit. Or it could be reflux and some Mom's have found that cutting the night feeds have been better for kids who do not need sleepy feeds since they are more likely to reflux in a prone position. At 14 months of age I recall that propping the crib did nothing for Iain as he was all over the place by then.

If you feel it may be too much right now and you have no worries about intake and FTT then it does not hurt to trial new meds, do elimination diets, etc. It will give you a good picture in the long run anyway. If you feel you want to go through with the scopes then let us know as we have stickies in the testing and procedures forum to give you an idea of what to expect and plenty of Mom's here who have had kiddos undergo them. In fact, my 4 year old is due to be scoped in one week.

Keep us posted!