About 2 months ago I had a friend tell me that her infant daughter saw a Chiropractor for her acid reflux. At the time we had just started the Prevacid so I wanted to give that a try. Our insurance would not let us get the solutabs which everyone said was great for their kid and really helped. So we ended up with generic Prevacid compound. It took almost 10 days for it to really start working and see that it was helping B. He was comfortable, not spitting up, not fighting sleep, sleeping through the night, it was great. I was so excited we finally got something that helped him. Unfortunately, about a week later his symptoms started to reappear. I talked to the Target pharmacist who told me the compound was breaking down and to have our pediatrician call in a 15 day supply instead of a 30 day so that we would refill it every 2 weeks before it started breaking down. Well guess what, our insurance denied it! So frustrating! Then the Prevacid made B terribly constipated. After 14 days of only one bowel movement we had to give him a suppository to make him poo. 10 minutes after giving him the suppository he pooped and was much more comfortable. This went on for 2 months and I decided it wasn't worth it. The compound was very expensive even with insurance and it only helped his reflux 10 days a month but caused bad constipation. I stopped giving it to him and gave him about 2 weeks without meds hoping that since he was almost 6 months old, which seems to be a magically age for so many with reflux, and that he is sitting up and getting ready to start crawling that maybe, just maybe his reflux would be better. Nope, of course not! Last Friday I called the pediatrician back and they said there is nothing more they can do since we already tried all the meds, I am dairy free, and we are holding off on solids, so we were referred to a GI specialist at Riley Childrens Hospital. More about that later. After listening to B scream for a good 45 minutes from being so uncomfortable I jumped on trusty Google and searched for a pediatric chiropractor. Lucky for us, I found Dr. Nancy in Carmel! I later talked to two friends who have used her, one during pregnancy and another for her son (not for reflux). Her website says she helps kids with reflux, ear infections, bed wetting, ect. Impressive (if it works!)
I called Dr. Nancy Friday morning and was able to get B in that afternoon. So off to Carmel we went. Luckily with it being a 4pm appointment Ryan was able to meet us there. B started off getting a scan of his neck. His C2 especially, and then C3 and C4 were all out of whack. (Red = not good!)
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Dr. Nancy did her evaluation and treatment at the same time since you have such a small window with a 5 month old before he is over it. She said his neck and spine seem like that of a c-section baby that was yanked out, which he was not. She then did an adjustment where she takes a little gun looking machine and it taps each side of his neck. She did it to me first and it doesn't hurt. Just a small tap. She felt his neck release and said she thinks it would take 5 treatments and he then wouldn't need to see the GI doc. And if it didn't work after 5 treatments that we would discuss diet. Well I am already dairy free, I drink maybe one or two Dr. Peppers a week, I don't drink coffee, what more can I do? She warned us that he would probably have a runny nose, cough. bowel movement, watery eyes and probably sleep terrible that night. Well, she was right on with the sleeping terrible part! We have gone 3 times now and each night after treatment he will only sleep if being held. Last night he was up every hour or two. I have never, ever had one of my kids do that before. It was exhausting. His eyes were closed but he was just crying and seemed so uncomfortable I finally gave him some gas drops and he then slept from 530a-830a when his sister woke him up.
Saturday I was so impressed with how much better he was doing. I couldn't believe that the chiropractor might actually be the answer. He was burping so much better, not spitting up nearly as much, wasn't arching his back when trying to be burped or pulling his legs in and grunting while eating. Yay, a little victory! By Sunday night he was starting to get uncomfortable again and I was excited to head back to Dr. Nancy Monday. B started nursing again and I was so excited that I no longer had to pump all of his bottles. Yay, another little victory! It was so nice to nurse at night and not warm up a bottle. Unfortunately, I haven't noticed a difference the past couple of days with 2 more treatments under our belt. And I am honestly dreading going back tomorrow because of how terrible he slept last night. Part of me wonders if he isn't improving as much now because he is nursing a couple times a day again. Monday will be our 5th visit and I think Dr. Nancy is doing another scan of the neck. I am interested to see if it has improved at all. Tuesday we have our appointment with the GI doctor and will then evaluate on whether we want to keep driving to Carmel 3x a week for the Chiropractor.
Our pediatrician set us up with the GI doctor for next week and I am so nervous for his appointment. I just don't know what to expect. Will he try us on another new med first or just order tests right away. From what trusty Dr. Google has said it looks like his test options will be a pH probe test which requires a 24 hour hospital stay and a tube down to his stomach to test the acid levels. The could also do an upper GI endoscopy where they would have to sedate him and stick a camera down his throat to check his esophagus and stomach. Or a swallow study where he drinks barium and then has an x-ray done. The first two scare the shit out of me. The thought of putting my 6 month old baby under sedation, even if it is only for 15 minutes makes me want to lose it! And then the thought of staying in the hospital for 24 hours with a tube down his nose and his arms in "no-no's" so that he can't bend his arms and pull the tube out makes me want to lose it. But I want answers and I want him to feel better. He has been miserable for almost 6 months now. He has been on medication since he was a week old. It's not fair to him. Im afraid this is going to be a long drawn out process especially with the holidays coming up and we won't get any answers any time soon. But gosh darn it I want them done before the end of the year especially if there is a hospital stay involved since we have already met our deductible this year!
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