!Hello I'm a newbie to these boards and also to Gerd. 6 months ago, Id have told you that we were suffering with RAD. For about two years, I fought the diagnosis of Rad because it just didn't fit, all the meds Nick was given never seemed to help and my peds. never seemed to listen! Nick is closing in on 4 yo and finally he was diagnosed with GERD after I referred him to pulmonary Dr. in Jan 05. The crazy things our peds. said and did include telling me that not everything has a fix, that perhaps it was the barimetric pressure causing his symptoms and treating me like aa overprotective , super sensitive nincompoop. Well let us just say, as a result of these wonderful interactions with these "DRs.", I don't seem to have an ounce of trust left in them. The pediatric pulm. Dr. determined that Nick never had Rad and that his many and numerous bouts with pnuemonias and bronchitis were a result of uncontrolled GERD. This all made perfect sense, as all along I tried to explain to tha Peds. that he wasn't coughing THAT hard (Hard enough to make him throw up all the time.) So the saga continues.....The pulm.Dr. has c who has this place on the internetut us loose, seeing as Nick doesn't have asthma. He diagnosed it with a barium swallow which showed a moderate amount of swelling in his mid to upper esophagas. I have no idea if that is just innflamation or if it is a stricture. He is currently on Zantac 2x a day at 3ml each dose. While he is not vomiting as much, sometimes when he is crying hard or running too much he will still gag , vomit up stomach acid. He also has a consticted sound in his upper airway that I THINK may be a result of that swelling in his esophagas. So my question to my fellow suffering gerd parents is , do you think my next step would be a GI or an ENT????????????? Also, do you think he should have any further testing done? As I explained, I have no trust left in the ped. we use and in our area there doesn't seem to be much of a choice. I'm comforted to see on other posts that my ds is not the only older child still dealing with this! I really knew nothig about this until Jan. and I was more worried my DS had intractible pnuemonia or something. Kudos to Roni for having all this info and support out here for all of us! If anyone has an idea of where I should go next, I'd love to hear it! Thanks in advance, and looking forward to hearing any suggestions! Kim

perhaps it was the barimetric pressure causing his symptoms ...

Hi Kim and welcome! Our nutritionist once suggested that Daniel might eat better at a lower elevation! (We're about a mile high, guess we'll just move :lol: )

Daniel sees an ENT, but just for his cleft and ear-tube issues, and a GI who seems to be the one who best understands his issues. So I'm going to say a GI is your next step. D has also had the barium swallow (upper GI) test, but there are a few others the GI may suggest -- such as a ph probe, a scope -- but Nick may certainly not need them. Despite D's severe reflux, we've never done those tests because we didn't think they'd tell us anything we didn't already know.

Yes, this site is a great place. Roni does a tremendous amount of work and there are lots of understanding parents here who can answer your questions and give you the support you need.

Take care, and good luck moving forward!

:D Thanks for writing back, Becki....I believe a GI may be in Nick's future, as I can't live without knowing if and what that swelling in his esophagas is, and if it has gone away. I believe he silently was refluxing alot when he wasn't visibly vomiting. I guess the only thing a ent would be good for for N would be if he needed surgery, which I don't believe he would. Do you know if anyone elses gerdy has that noise in their breathing? It's like a constricted sound, of course, maybe it really is just the barometric pressure! :roll:kim

Hi Kim and welcome! Evan's ped. is the one who is treating his GERD at present. Like Becky, though, I'd suggest that a GI is the next steip for Nick. Good luck and please let us know how it goes! There are a number of parents who have commented on that breathing sound, especially during sleeping. Many of them have younger children and don't drop by this forum. You might get more answers about the breathing thing if you post in the questions forum.

I would like to say hi and welcome to the board. I do understand your fustration because my two oldest children where not diagnosed with reflux until they were 5yrs and 4yrs old respectively. I heard so many different things to why they had the problems that they had until a pulmo doc had them tested for reflux. If I could make a suggestion it would be to get a refferal to a peds gi who specializes in reflux. This doc would be the one who could treat the reflux and determine what course of treatment would be the most appropriate. I do wish you luck and hope your son is starting to feel better.

Melanie.

Hi and Welcome!

Your little one sounds like my Eli with the symptoms of pneumonias, bronchitis, we had all kinds of things happening from the reflux and saw an immunologist before a GI. But, the GI is who will help you, and when you get the reflux under control you may get the others as well. Welcome and sooooo sorry! Eli would vomit too when he would run and try and play with the others, now that he has had surgery for the reflux he just tries too and can't when really excited :D

:) Thanks everybody, it's really good to know I'm not alone in this. And now, here we sit, and I'm thinking the Zantac isn't working so well anymore, I can hear him swallowing something down when he is sleeping, and he's been getting the hiccups alot lately, again. When he plays to rough I can hear him swallow things down again. I guess I'd better get on the ball and figure out who to contact.