Hello, We are new to this forum. We have 3 children with special needs. My youngest, 8 has been having alot of problems with reflux. She has daily incidents of nausea and occasional vomitting. She also has these in the morning and now in the afternoon or evening. She has been on Previcid two times a day which did not help. Now she is on Zantac, we are giving her the over the counter since she won't take the liquid Zantac. We even got flavoring but she still won't take it.

What have others tried to cover the taste of the liquid Zantac. She also has Autism and Tourettes. We just got allergy testing back that she is allergic to eggs. Interesting, both her brothers came back with allergies to milk and eggs. She is on a dairy free diet as well to see if it helps. WE have went off the juices, tomato products, chocolate, but how about other foods like apples and bananas? Gatorade?

We believe she might of had this since the age of 2 yrs, but it was misdiagnosised as seizures. They have recently ruled them out. She used to wake up at night choking or vomitting.

Thanks

Diana

Hi Diana:

Welcome to the site. I am glad you found us.

I get so angry when I hear about reflux taking so long to get diagnosed. I send out brochures all the time trying to raise awareness.

I think there may be something in the site map about foods, I'll go have a look.

Best wishes
:xm8qo2:

Welcome, Diana!

We're fortunate that my son, almost three, does not seem to have allergies or intolerances. But maybe this page will help you: http://www.infantrefluxdisease.com/food_intolerance.php

Hi and welcome to the site. Liquid zantac can be flavoured with grape floavour at the chemist though a lot of people say this does nothing to hide the taste, has she only just started the zantac? Cause if so she may get used to the taste, this is what happened to my son and now he asks for more.

I would suggest if your daughter has had this so long that she needs an endoscopy and/or a ph probe test. THis will tell how severe the reflux is and what the damage is, which is essential to determining the best form of treatment.

If your daughter hashad this since two years old, I would assume that she is very inflamed and zantac unfortunatly will not heal her as good as a PPI will.

I would also ask to have a PPI added in addtition to the zantac. If prevacid didn't work, try prilosec, at least 20-30mg a day, ask for this, this will get rid of any inflammation in about 8 weeks and then you can look at her progress then.

I know this sounds very daunting, but since your child has taken so long to be diagnosed, you really should look into these things as reflux damage can be reversed, but the longer it waits the harder it is.

I would also ask for a referral if you don't have one alreadt to a pediatric GI, this person will be best at determining the best course of action for your little one.

Please ask any questions that you need, and we will try and help as best we can.

I want to thank every one who has answered our post. One question I have, is there any difference of taking Zantac by pill form vs liquid form? Also, we have read that Previcid is a better medication than Zantac for more severe Reflux, is this true? We live in Iowa, not to far from Mayo. We have an appt. with a GI doctor who will be coming to our area in three months from Iowa City. We are guessing that it will be a Pediatric GI specialist, since our pediatrician referred us.

Dow anyone know if Mayo has any good Ped. GI doctor's that would be familiar with children who have special needs, like Autism? We read a new report that came out about children with special needs that have an increased risk of having Gerds. We do know there might be a genetic component, since her Dad has Acid reflux (severe at times) and her grandmother had it and got (throat and stomach cancer), no one knew the cause and she didn't smoke.

I never realized that children could get this disorder. I think alot of people think of it as an adult disorder. Kayla has had some abnormal genetic testing but no one knew what the significance of it was. She is missing one copy of 2q13 on chromosome 2. At age 3 yrs she did have (Alkaline Phosphatase) level high at 546 normal (50-136). She has never had this test redone. Can this be associated with acid reflux?

There are also other mild abnormalities I will post later including EOS , Neuts, CO2, Sodium.

Thanks

Diana

There is no difference between taking pill zantac and liquid zantac, just the dosing for the tablet will probably be higher I would say, whereas in the liquid you can vary the dose to weight.

A PPI (prevacid or prilosec) are a lot better at dealing with severe reflux.

Good luck with your appointment. I would in the mean time, look at getting some prilosec seeinga s the prevacid hasn't worked before, as three months can be a long time for a GERD child.

Diana, there is a link about good dr., maybe someone posted names there.

Or maybe you should start a new thread with that question. We did have a few members here that had autistic children. Not sure if they are still posting or not.

When Shae-Lynne was born, and we were told it may be reflux, we thought the dr was nuts simply b/c we had never heard of it in children either. That is why I am so determined to make a difference and raise awareness through my brochure giving. I know the ladies here are probably sick of me talking about giving out the brochures but they put up with me b/c they know my heart is in the right place even if my big mouth isn't.

So sorry to hear about Kayla's grandmother. BTW, I love the name Kayla so pretty.

Look forward to getting to know you.
Best wishes

Here is a list of recommended dr.


http://www.infantrefluxdisease.com/recommendeddoctors.php

Zantac as well as Prevacid come in solutab forms meaning they quickly disolve on the tongue. Zantac's is citrus flavored http://www.zantac.com/. OTC forms of medications are often different from the prescribed medications so you may find that prescribed Zantac works better than the OTC she is taking now.

I wanted to thank you all for the great advice you have given us. Kayla is back on Previcid SoluTabs (30Mg) twice a day. Last night she woke up choking. We have been propping her up at night, and today bought a new pillow that will prop her up more. We just got the Prevacid today, so hope that it will help, although previously she was still getting sick. We have noticed a reduction of her feeling sick though. We are thinking it might be the elimination of eggs and milk from her diet.

She has a cold with a cough right now. But, she tends to have a chronic cough that at times can be hard to distinguish from Tics. Has anyone here noticed a connection between milk and acid reflux? We read that there can be a connection. What are some of the complications that can be associated with reflux?

I have looked at the list of Doctors, unfortunately I did not see any in our area. Kayla is to see a GI doctor in November. Has anyone here been to the Allergy Associates in Wisconsin to have allergy testing done? Kayla is to go back Friday to check for Asthma and intolerances since she has been having chest pains with the nausea. However, at this time we don't think she has Asthma. Both her brothers have Asthma though.

Anyone her have children with Autism? Is there any lab testing that can be done to look at the severty of the reflux? Or what damage it might have done? Also, is Alkaline Phosphatase in anyway related to reflux?

Thanks

Diana

HI there I just wanted to let you know that I copied your last post and sent it to the questions forum, because the questions are at the end of an old post I think less people will see it, so hopefully as a new question you will get a lot more replies.

The link to the question is here
http://www.infantrefluxdisease.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19084

Good luck, I will reply also in the new post.

My son is only 9 months old but has severe reflux and I wanted to let you know that it can cause coughing just like if they were sick with a cold. I took him in thinking he was sick one time and they said it was due to his reflux. My seven year old has it but not as severe. She was treated for it as a baby but it seemed to get better but has came back or has been causeing alot of problems latley we are waiting to get her in. My son was finally diagnosed at 3 month and he has terrible feeding issues. I just wanted to let you know about the cough and for us prevacid has worked better then the rest.