Congestion, high palate and cranio sacral therapy

[neveryoumindthere]

It seems we are almost at baseline, and even when ds was at his absolute best and he was an absolute dream, we still had this lingering congestion. It's like gargling sounds in his throat, slightly stuffy nose, but mostly you can hear the phlegm-y stuff in his throat.

I am *certain* he has a posterior tongue-tie, though I'm still working on finding someone to acknowledge this and do something about it, but he also has an extremely high palate. i did read the tongue-tie thread, but I know *nothing* about cranio-sacral therapy and am very skeptical about it moving actual bones and bringing his palate down, but again, only because I don't know what it entails. I have a great chiro, and she specializes in pregnancy/children, but I really can't afford to take ds in for CST if I'm not convinced it will help.

Can anyone explain what CST entails, how it works, what problems did it help with, success stories, etc.

Also, is the difficulty with burping, screaming until not breathing related to the congestion? or something else I haven't considered? It takes about an hour after a feed where ds will scream, all because of a tiny burp.

I have an appt with our family dr. on the 10th, so I'm gion to ask for a referral to an Ear, nose and throat specialist that did a tongue-tie clip for someone I know. What else shoudl I ask about?

thanks if you've read this far

[waluso]

When I took my DD in for CST he said the high palate was a red herring and not the real issue. Here is a link to his website that describes what can happen during birth and what the treatment does: http://www.osteodoc.com/birthtrauma.htm.
However, it sounds like I had a different experience than others on the board so hopefully others will chime in.

We also saw an ENT who clipped DD's anterior tongue tie, but she did not check for posterior tongue tie and does not believe in posterior tongue ties. I called many doctors, talked to LCs in the area, and sent emails to some local support groups and could not find a doctor who would evaluate for posterior tongue tie. You may want to call the ENT before your appt to see if he or she even believes in posterior tongue tie before you waste time and money at the appt.

Oh, and the screaming after burping sounds like reflux to me. Have you asked your doctor about it?

[neveryoumindthere]

thanks for the tip, yes, I'll give her a call before I go in. We have free healthcare but I still don't want to waste my time (or gas!) if she won't even recognize it.

Also, I thought to clarify earlier. He's not screaming right after feeding. I try to burp him as soon as he feeds, then we play and he's laughing and smiling and then around the time he gets tired (about an hour later) he gets that "i need to burp" cry. If I don't get to him after a few minutes, he sometimes will cry louder and louder and it's not as often as before but he'll cry so hard he holds his breath. We keep him upright after feeding too. I think it's slightly reflux-y (but thank God it's not like it was before : but I haven't found any info about burping being related to reflux, but maybe that together with the congestion could be.

I have talked to my doctor. She didn't seem to think the severe reflux we were having was anything more than colic, I highly doubt she'll do anything about this. It's 'minor' compared to before that's for sure. She did send us for a chest x-ray at my insistence (after I came a 2ND time for the same reason ) and nothing came of it.

[bluets]

i can't explain CST very well. but this book was enlightening: http://www.amazon.ca/Your-Inner-Phys.../dp/1556432461

Upledger developed the CST methodology.

Also, it wouldn't hurt for you to try a CST session to see if it helps at all. I took my toddler in to relieve cold symptoms and after only 2-3 minutes of hands-on therapy there was an almost immediate difference - bags under the eyes a little smaller, change in demeanor, etc. It was enough to convince me of its effectiveness for some ailments. There is a caveat - our CST practitioner is also a drugless osteopath so he does use a lot of osteopathic manipulations in my own sessions, using CST to calm everything down after a rough session.

[tanyalynn]

Our experiences with CST haven't been allergy/reflux related, but I can share a bit of the process. My understanding is that there's fluid around the skull and the spinal column that has an ebbing and flowing rhythm, and CST docs feel it, and depending on where the rhythm is constricted, they use subtle pressure to realign the body and allow it to flow freely. The first time we tried it was for my daughter's ear infections, she was 6 months old then. It was clearly very gentle (I tried it too, for TMJ, which it didn't help, but I can attest that it's very, very gentle), the biggest drawback is that it's sort of slow. I think the rhythms are about 6-8 per minute, so the CST person has to sit there and just feel for a while before they know what's going on. I think we went for about a half a dozen sessions, and then stopped, and my daughter's ear infections (2 very early, usually a bad indicator of things to come) stopped and she's never had another (she's 5 now).

Because of the high, arched palate issue (I'm concerned about my husband's sleep, and my daughter is his clone and has the same high palate) I'm considering looking into at least CST, and maybe clipping what I think is a posterior tongue tie (her gut is also touchy, so the posterior tongue tie connecting to peristalsis and proper digestion connection is of interest) even though she's 5 yrs old now. I don't know how this will really work out for us, but I'm seriously considering it for us, I want the CST to draw down the palate so that the potential for sinus/apnea problems is reduced. But maybe in a year I'll be able to say yay it works, or (hopefully not) big bummer, it didn't!

[neveryoumindthere]

bump.. b/c I'm starting to worry about all this gurgling in the throat/congestion and I can't find any info online

[bluets]

you can't find any info on what? CST? CST and the gurgling/congestion? Upledger has a website somewhere (the Upledger Institute, IIRC though I dont' know the URL) - you might be able to contact someone there directly.

you mentioned that you can't afford CST if you're not certain it will work. for low cost measures, have you tried diet changes? when I dumped dairy, my breastfed son's congestion went away. dairy and wheat in mom's diet do get into the milk, wheat more so than milk. dairy and wheat are both #1 and #2 allergens contributing to ear infections/otitis media in young children.

[neveryoumindthere]

Originally Posted by bluets

you can't find any info on what? CST? CST and the gurgling/congestion? Upledger has a website somewhere (the Upledger Institute, IIRC though I dont' know the URL) - you might be able to contact someone there directly.

you mentioned that you can't afford CST if you're not certain it will work. for low cost measures, have you tried diet changes? when I dumped dairy, my breastfed son's congestion went away. dairy and wheat in mom's diet do get into the milk, wheat more so than milk. dairy and wheat are both #1 and #2 allergens contributing to ear infections/otitis media in young children.

nak

we are dairy/soy/gluten/sulphites/peanuts/shellfish free.

I can't find info about this weird gurgling in his throat/inability to burp..like i can hear the burp trapped in his throat and he makes like this 'gasp' sound like there is an air bubble, and the gurgling too..i'm assuming it's related to the congestion, but when I tried finding info all I got were posts from adults saying they are not able to burp, and the docs don't knwo what it's from.

He has a *very* high, narrow palate and I wanted to see if others had any experience with CST and bringing down the palate and how it affected (or not) congestion. Maybe it's a structural thing. We had a very fast homebirth (3 pushes but lightening speed) and he was born not breathing and had to be resuscitated/cpr so I'm sure that did some damage, it must have.

just rambling i guess. I don't knwo where to turn next.

[bluets]

i can't find anything meaningful in the usual scientific literature connecting high palate with congestion or burping/belching. I did find 1 article connecting tongue-tie with high palate:

Blepharophimosis, telecanthus, microstomia, and unusual ear anomaly (Simosa syndrome) in an infant. Suri, Kabram and Verma. 1994. American Journal of Medical Genetics. Volume 51. Issue 3. Pages 222-223.

Abstract: We report on a 1-month-old infant with blepharophimosis, telecanthus, ear anomalies, and microstomia. He also had a long philtrum and a narrow, high-arched palate. This is case is very similar to the cases reported by Simosa et al (1989: Am J Med Genet 32:148-186). In addition, our patient had tongue-tie and camptodactyly of fingers.

There isn't much to the article, save for 2 head shots of the infant in question. However, it does mention that the child, even at age 9 months, had noisy breathing and nasal regurgitation.

I guess if the gurgling and the congestion worries you, what would be the harm in one session of CST to see if it helped? Isn't it worth the cost? You might try to negotiate a series of payments instead of a one-time payment.

[neveryoumindthere]

thanks jennifer for your replies...yes i will be taking him, i had pretty much decided to try it soon after posting my original post..sorry i hate typing onehanded..i end up typing as few details as possible .. like now
I just feel overwhelmed with all this healing business..there i was thinking being off the allergens was enough