weightgain with reflux??

[dgreen10]

My daughter who is now 6 has had reflux since birth. It has been a long struggle. When she was an infant she was always underweight ,she was under weight until she was about 3ish.That was when her throwing up lighted up.Once she started holding her food down she began to put on weight quickly.But her weight was all in her belly (like a little pot belly). She has been on zantac with reglin(sp) then later changed to previcid..With in the past two years I have taken her off of any meds as I have learned what causes her reflux to flare up. She will still have some episodes here and there.But my main concern is her weight gain with this ever since age 3 she has kept all her weight in her belly and she is now 74 lbs and just under 4 feet tall now dont get me wrong she is a big girl (her dad is 6'7 and i am 5'8) .But she has a prutruding belly...I was just wondering if anyone else out there had these same issues or any ideas.(also want to add she is very active plays softball,always outside,swimming,ect.)

[KD9ER]

Well for starters take her off Zantac.  If you look it up and do some research it will show that the med itself is a 'short-term' fix for reflux and often patients become immune to the effects within a 5 day period.  My son at 1 month was immune to it within 7 days and in full blown seizures from his Reflux.  Prevacid was no better.  I would say at this point get her on Prilosec (she should have been on an oral suspension of this from birth!) and get her in to the Peds GI to do an Endo-Scope.  Maybe even have the 24 hour one planned for her to test the acidity of her stomach bile.  I know it sounds horrible, but it's better to know.  And the fact that her weight is all in her belly would tell me her acid reflux is causing a malnutrition issue.  I know she's gained weight, but at her age it should be better distributed.  Work with a Peds Nutritionist and the Peds GI on this.  You should see drastic changes in her eating habits and physical look within a 6 month time frame.  Prilosec is the best medicine for extreme GERD cases.  It's not known what the long-term effects are, but for my family the benefits of quality of life now for our son out-weighed the unknowns.  
Just so you know where we were coming from.  We had a 7lb 2 month old (birth 7.8lbs) who projectile vomited, had severe issues with formula and breast milk, he was put on Alimentum to help, but it didn't really do much.  So we ended up with a child who was 'colic' in the doctor's eyes.  We ended up in the ER while our son seized and the doctors told us we didn't know what was best for our child and we were too young and inexperienced.  They wanted him to have a Spinal because they thought it was menegitis!  He was at this point awake and cooing, smiling, and reaching for all his toys and rolling over!  He was admitted and later that morning a Peds GI came in and said they were putting him on Prilosec and to expect to see drastic changes over the next 6 months.  Well right around that 5/6 month age mark (he'd been on the Prilosec for 4 mo) he went from 13lbs to 26 and started growing like a normal baby.  We didn't see another weight gain until this month (19mo).  Now he's 27lbs.  There was such a drastic change.  Within 2 weeks the constant 'colic' went away.  Within 4 to 5 months all the seizures went away.  And he started cruising!  He became such a happy baby.  His food now gets digested and not eaten away by the stomach bile.  
He's on the lowest Prilosec dose that just manages his GERD.  So they will not tell you to put her on a high dose or whatever, if you work with them she can go on the lowest manageable dose.  

I do hope you get some answers.  I would honestly start with Peds GI and a Nutritionist.  I'm sorry they've made you suffer until she was able to get better control of her esophogus!  That's cruel.  Please have them scope her (it's a very quick procedure and very harmless) just to make sure there is no long-term damage to her throat because of the GERD.  

[Callysmommy]

I hope it is not an ulcer drgreen.  Please use caution with prevacid, this stuff made my daughter vomit and when the reflux is done you will have to VERY slowly wean your daughter off it or she will get very bad rebound.  

[ChitChatNine]

And hunger pangs can be caused by an ulcer.  They can be small .. such as pindots .. but cause the same symptoms from what I've seen and have been told.

Let us know ... this is a great community .. glad you stopped back.  If I can help just one child deal with this awful reflux, then it makes my entire day!

Cheryl

[dgreen10]

thanks for all your comments,,To the liver comment that was checked earlier in the year ,but ChitChatNine, you said something about hunger pangs with reflux and I never thought of that I just narrowed it down to what made her sick not thinking she could be soothing it with food..I am gonna talk to her doc about tring previcid again ...sorry I have not responded in a while been very bust but thanks for the info.

[Callysmommy]

wow...that really stinks! I had some bouts of arthritis like problems when I had lyme disease when I was 7.  Caused paralyzation a couple of times.  

[ChitChatNine]

She had a very rare form of post streptococcal reactive arthritis documented in bloodwork as extremely high titres present to prove she had it .. apparently she had a strep infection silenty in her body sompelace and it was never treated (?? a strep test showed neg. that was + and she had alot in that timeframe done) ... so she had this awful arthritis for 2yrs!!!!

She was on Napyrson at the time.  That is script strength Aleve.

Then they switched her to Vioxx and now when she needs something now and again she takes Celebrex but is fully over the arthritis ... it was just awful .. the Pedi Rheumy said, "I will only refer you to the GI bcz of family history with her little brother having to have a bowel resection at brith and his severe reflux; otherwise I am certain you are fine!!!".

Hmmmmmmmmmmm is all I say and that was 7yrs ago!

C~

[Callysmommy]

maybe that's where the child holds her weight.  Until puberty, I held all my weight in my face and belly, then when I got older my waist thinned out and it went to my hips ;-)

Reflux babies will either refluse to eat or over eat to soothe the pain.  

Arthritis in your little one??? was this predinisone? That sounds like it.  I hate that stuff! It's evil.  

[ChitChatNine]

As a Mom, the only corelation I know of is comfort-feeding or overeating to try and sooth ones self can be an overweight byproduct of reflux or an ulcer, bcz of hunger pangs, butn not necessarily in the belly ??  My daughter at age 10 had a small ulcer and had the hunger pangs and gained 1lb a week.  Prevacid healed it with Carafate and she is fine, but did gain 1-2lbs week which at the time was written off as lack of exercise due to an arthritis condition which was the culprit in itself causing the ulcer (anti-inflammatory meds!!!!).

C~

[energy_train]

Hi!  My little guy was underweight a lot too due to feeding issues and severe reflux. He has since started eating Pediasure only and we have not had a problem with weight in the belly. I don't know that reflux and weight gain in the belly have anything to do with one another.  I'd definately ask your pediatrician about it- as Callysmommy said, there could be something more going on. I'd get it checked out.  

[Callysmommy]

Hi Dgreen and welcome to the community.  Out of curiosity, what was it that was causing your daughter's reflux? I understand how this is very frustrating.  When my daughter was having bad days with reflux she barely ate.  Being a preemie, I always worried about weight gain.  Sometimes weight collects in the abdomen due to excessive cortisol release, which can be from stress.  That's my only guess, otherwise get it checked out with her pediatrician, a distented abdomen can means something is going on with the liver.