My 11 year old has been burping food 20 times a day for 5 months!

[debkoch]

My daughter started burping up food after a party new years eve this year.. She is 11. She was a little prone to this prior to the party but it only happened once every few months.   Now she does this almost every time she eats. (20 times a day) She's had an endoscopy, motility test, gastric scan, ultrasound, and a gall bladder test. She has a small weakness at the base of her esophagus.   The gall bladder test (torture for 3 hours) was inconclusive they said because she moved too much.  She is on 40 mg of nexium 2 times a day, and a drug called Reglan.  She is not getting any better after a month.  In fact tonight she has added stomach pain and incredibly loud stomach gurgling followed by frightening burps to her symptoms.  Her pediatric gastroenterologist is suggesting it is psychosymatic.  I don't think so. She's missed over 30 days of school.  The talk of esophogeal cancer being caused by constant acid reflux is terrifying me! HELP!

[ChitChatNIne]

What were the results of the endoscopy?  If they were normal done with biopsies the risk would be minimal I would think but I'm not a Dr., just a mom like you but with too much reflux exp. with my kids, etc.

You must trust your instincts because I have seen oftentimes when all else fails they say "in the head" and only when it gets bad enough that they find a DX then they all say, OH YEAH you were right!

My 17yr old was on Prevacid for a few years and recently they found out it was all Gallbladder related and her GB was removed after a HIDA Scan showed only 4% function!!!!!!  Was that the test your little daughter had?  I am so sorry .. it is long and must have been hard for her to endure.

They thought my dd had IBS for a long time and blamed it all on that .. then one day the pain got so bad she landed in the ER and was in-patient for 8 days .. it took 5 days to find out the cause was Gallbladder.

Since that day in Jan of this year she has only needed prevacid once for a bad sour stomach but hey we all get that sometimes right?

Reglan is a VERY powerful drug ...........................could it be making the burps worse and the pain worse?  It has a very strong neurological based component to it I think .. I will look in the health pages drug list for you and post the side effects, etc.

The docs oftentimes don't tell you what Reglan is .. dont' get me wrong I'm not saying don't use it but it is a major league drug ..

I have the burps you describe when gallstone or kidney stones are acting up ..........and, btw, my dd did not have any stones at all .

cheryl

[debkoch]

Thanks, I am worried about the amount of nexium she is on too.  It wouldn't be so bad if the drugs were helping her symptoms but their not really.  The endoscopy was normal according to the dr.   The only test that showed a problem was the motility test but the dr said it was a small weakness.  The stomach gurgling, pain, and incredibly loud burps just started yesterday.  My daughter had the gall bladder scan too, and the test was unreadable because they said she moved too much.   I thought she was being pretty still.  If they needed her imobile they should have strapped her down I guess!  
Deb

[ChitChatNIne]

Here is the Reglan link:

http://www.healthcentral.com/acid-reflux/find-drug-1256-150.html

Have they done stool tests and a test to rule out H-Pylori?  Just some thoughts but again, I'm not a Dr ... stool would ck for parasites, bacterium, etc.

Not too familiar with Nexium dosing .. we use Prevacid ... Will your doc allow Gaviscon at all or mega Mylanta?

Cheryl

[debkoch]

I don't think she's had a stool test.  Would parasites cause burping of food?  I would think that would cause full blown vomiting.  She said tonight when her stomach was gurgling that she felt like something was moving around in her stomach.  This just started yesterday.  We are getting a second opinion at Lehigh valley hospital on the 28th of May.  I hate how long it takes to get into see these doctors!  Thanks for the link. Deb

[ChitChatNIne]

It was just a general question because everything seems to have been thoroughly done to date .... anything going on in the intestines I would think could travel upwards into not so classic symptoms.

C~

[JennasMom]

My daughter has had a similar problem, and ever since she had an Upper GI she has not been able to hold down much food. She is regurgitating food into her mouth, and the MD's dont seem to be able to offer any suggestions as to why she was fine before the Upper GI and now since she drank that barium she cant seem to stop the regurgitation.  She is also on Protonix 2x a day 40mg, and also tried Carafate and Zantac, She has only been able to eat breads and today we tried Rice pasta, it seemed to hold in her stomach somewhat. My friend who is a Pharmacists said that sometimes Erythromycin is used to treat motility problems small doses 3 to 5 mg per kilo of weight. You might want to try that I am going to try get that for my daughter.  Hopefully she can hold it down. Let me know if you find out anything. I will also post if I find any more info

[ChitChatNIne]

Has the barium passed thru yet?  Make sure it passes out completely .. if it is still there it may be pressing up causing pressure as in reflux?

I've heard that eurthramycin works well .. look @ Gretchen's post ... her son is on it ... I'm going to send her a note to see if she can post to you.

Cheryl

[JennasMom]

Yes we had her finally exray'd to see if all the Barium was gone and it was backed up on her so after a couple enemas and some laxatives it is gone, but she is still unable to consume a normal meal, yesterday we bought some of that Smart Water plain water with electrolytes just to keep her hydrated.  We are only able to keep breads in her and the Rice Pasta seemed to stay down but she is only eating a half cup of food at a time.  I am new to this site and I am not sure how to navigate around, how can I see Gretchen's post not sure how to do that?
Lisa

[ChitChatNIne]

It wouldn't be too easy ..... you can see her screename on the right hand side and that would alert you she answered somebody or created a post but you wn't be able to easily find it bcz this post was contained in another post I think as a reply so I am going on memory.

I just sent her a message for you :)

Cheryl

[ChitChatNIne]

I was told that anything that upsets the water balance within the intestines can be a sure fire indication that a reflux flare will follow.  This I was told when my son at age 12weeks had a bowel resection.  The Pedi GI was awaiting an awful reflux flare.

that would be my best guess as to what is happening right now as all has been disturbed with the barrium, etc. making symptoms so much more pronounced in the reflux dept. ????

You can try to add things to help weight down the liquid .. the water itself may actually create reflux as it is so light up and down ... but I understand it's tough not being able to drink anything else .......... stay away from milk too I would think.

Baby food in baby jars PUREE STAGE I is another thought I have for you to reintro solids at this difficult time

Cheryl