Son Has Acid Reflux

[Lisserg04]

My son was diagnosed with acid reflux when he was 3. He is now 11. Dr had told me that he should outgrow it but never has. Actually it has slowly gotten worse. He is now taking and over the counter once a day acid reducer. He is very active and plays school/city sports always. Sometimes after his games are over he complains of his reflux bothering him to the point of sometimes throwing up and having diarrhea. After that he does feel better. My question here is...Is it possible that maybe all this time he has really had Celiac? I am new to this after coming to the realization that I too may have it. But my symptoms are very different. Has anyone else had a child with reflux and it really be Celiac? And what do I do?

[beebs]

One of my main symptoms was really bad GERD, so yes, it can be a symptom of Celiac. I think you should get him tested.

[Darn210]

Acid Reflux is what sent my daughter to the doc. The prescription meds did the trick and my daughter went off of them. Reflux came back a little later . . . back on meds . . . off . . . on . . . until she just stayed "on" and then symptoms came back even though she was on meds. It manifested itself by regurgitation . . . she would just vomit/spit-up no more than a mouthful. She'd go to the bathroom and spit it out. This would repeat anywhere between two and twenty times a day. In hindsight, I don't think acid reflux was the problem although she needed the meds to protect her esophagus. I think her digestive system just slowed to a crawl and her body was just trying to get rid of it.

It doesn't hurt to ask for a Celiac panel from your doctor (PCP or Pediatrician can request this.) Please note: DO NOT TRY THE GLUTEN FREE DIET IF YOU ARE GOING TO PURSUE TESTING. Removing gluten, just to see if it helps, will reduce the chances for accurate testing. If testing doesn't turn up anything, you can try the diet to see if it helps. In my opinion, it's worth trying for an official diagnosis in order to get any accommodations from the school system. My daughter is eligible to buy a gluten free hot lunch which is only available to kids with a diagnosis. Also, when she was having gluten issues in the fourth grade, we were able to get all gluten snacks removed from her classroom (at the time, the kids were all allowed to bring whatever they wanted (peanut free) to snack on during the day.)

[krystynycole]

It is very possible it could be a sign of celiac. With all of my symptoms, exerice and increased activity only makes the symptoms a million times worse!

Keep in mind thought it could be something else. In addition to the gluten, I have also have a herniated esphogus which causes the valve between your esphogus and stomach to not work making anything and everything to easily come right back up...mostly stomach acid. OTC meds do nothing for me. I have to take a strong precription medication to keep the acid down to a tolerable level.This only got worse as I grew up and whenever I was more active.

Just keep an open mind that it could be more than just celiac. Testing for celiac us a great idea. I actually got my diagnosis through a colonoscopy so if they biospy your son, they might see other signs or issues for the reflux. Celiac might solve your son's problems without meds. But if he still has the acide reflux, remember that stomach acid can do a lot of damage too and is just as important to get taken care of.

Hope all goes well for your son! Neither of these are fun issues!

[mommida]

Since he was so young when he was diagnosed with reflux there are further concerns for a diagnoses.

you have to add a possible congenital defect to the list of "usual suspects" for these symptoms

hernia

Celiac

Eosinophilic Esophagitus

H. Ploryi.

parasitic infection

the list is quite long discuss it with your doctor.

These are all reasons to work with a pediatric gastroenterologist and have testing done (endoscopy with biopsy ~ camera tube down the throat and biopsies are taken even from "normal" looking tissue)

[Cara in Boston]

I was diagnosed with GERD and put on PPI "for life" . . . two years later, after my son was diagnosed with Celiac, I tested positive for celiac disease too. One week gluten free and I was off all medication.

Read up on the meds - they were never intended to be used long term, especially in children (although doctors routinely prescribe them for months and even years . . . )

My son's celiac symptoms are completely different from mine. I have classic symptoms, he gets cranky and has joint pain. We both have celiac disease.

It certainly wouldn't hurt to get everyone tested. I would much rather find the cause of the problem then just keep treating the symptoms.

Cara

[Roda]

My main symptom was acid reflux also. My youngest son had reflux since an infant that "seemed" to go away by the time he was 3.5 and before I was diagnosed. Had him tested and was negative, so we thought we were in the clear. Two years later, he started complaining of acid reflux again, fat in his stool and weird behaviors. His blood work was positive for celiac at age 5.5. In hindsite I truely believe he has had celiac since he was a baby and that the testing was just unreliable.

As the other posters suggested, keep an open mind to other possible causes also. It certainly won't hurt to get tested for it though.

[shadowicewolf]

Another person with GERD here.

Mine is now under control without medication, however, it is rather difficult to do so. I cannot eat fatty meats (bacon, sausage, you get the idea), no spicy at all,and no over doing it on the dairy. I also have to eat every so often (2-3 hours) to keep it from coming back up on me. I only drink water.

Another thought outside of Celiac, is the gallbladder. Mine was a MAJOR culprit on this for some strange reason and it seemed to decrease some.

[Marlie]

Hi!

My daughter has been sick a long time. Initially thought it was Celiac, but I have been questioning that and may in fact be but I thought I would share what we learned. The gluten-free diet worked for a while, but became sicker with time including her asthma. About seven months ago we got lucky and an ENT probed her and found she had acid reflux. Over the counter antacids did nothing and she developed awful diaries, so I put her on Prilosec. It helped some but she was vomiting nonstop. Took her to an aero digestive clinic After she had an upper GI series barium that showed severe reflux. They did two impedence ph probes, one on 80 mg Prilosec and one on nothing. In the end we opted for the Nissen. What they found in surgery, had my husband and I speechless. Her stomach was completely fused to her diaphragm, with no esophagus extending down from the diaphagm, the esophagus was not narrowed as it approached the stomach as it should, and so on. It was a mess. Prior to this she was down to eating at most a dozen foods, and prior to surgery eating only three. Everything was regurgitated even water. We are feeling extremely grateful to the doctors who found this after years of illnesses.

Best of luck!

[jhol]

hi, no children but thought id just comment,

my results came back negative but i know ive got a problem with wheat and dairy. the only thing they found during my tests was reflux. ive been slowly weaning myself off gluten and dairy over the last 2 weeks. didnt get the meds the doc recommended - good job coz i havent had any reflux all week

[Marlie]

You can also have non acidic reflux which does not react to medications well.  The only way to really know is to have a 24 hour PH impedence probe.  This is how they differentiate between acid and nonacid and this is fairly new to the medical world.

[EJ653]

On 9/6/2012 at 6:44 PM, beebs said:

One of my main symptoms was really bad GERD, so yes, it can be a symptom of Celiac. I think you should get him tested.

I have suffered with GERD for 20 years and accidently found out it was a gluten intolerance. I had gone on Atkins years ago and noticed that I had no GERD symptoms while on the diet. I didn't make the connection at that time. Then I went on the Mayo Diet back in the winter and once again, the constant was having no bread primarily. I had also noticed that I would have major attacks anytime I ate Italian food. I blamed it on the onions, the tomatoes, herbs...but I could tolerate all those foods separately. Then, like a lightning bolt...it hit me...the culprit was the "innocent" pasta. BINGO!!  I went gluten-free in March 2016 and I have had no GERD now in 5 months. I feel as if it is a gift to me.