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gastric emptying

post #1 of 6
2/29/12 at 5:34pm
Thread Starter 

Do any of you know much about giving a low dose of erythromyacin (sp?) to promote gastric emptying?  My son is 4.5 years old, and has bad reflux even while on prevacid.  He was tested for EE, but it's all clear. The only thing the scope showed was 'mild stomach irritation'.  The GI wants to switch him to Nexium along with the anitibiotic.  I really don't know anything about it yet, but usually try not to overdue the antibiotics, so being on one long-term isn't sitting well with me.  What do you all know about this subject?

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post #2 of 6
3/1/12 at 5:38pm
My DH was on erythromycin for a short while because he has gastroparesis. His slowness is in the peristalsis of the whole GI tract, not just the stomach emptying. Anyway, the erythromycin did help, for a short while (a month?). Then he got off it. He tried it again later, but didn't seem to have as good of an effect. He said something about it seeming to have diminishing effects the longer he took it. He was taking probiotics (including S. Boulardi) during the time he was taking the erythromycin. Erythro is officially not fda approved for treating gastroparesis. Probably because of the long-term issue of taking antibiotics. But I could see that it could be useful in case you really needed to get things moving just for a short time.

BTW, he also tried domperidone, but that just caused things to race through (but not really being digested properly), resulting in diarrhea. Not quite what he needed.

He's also tried ginger - that helps specifically with stomach emptying (and calming), but not much help with the rest of the peristalsis through the intestines.

Given the inflammation shown on the scope, has your DS had the test for H.Pylori ?

Sounds like your DS may also have some kind of food sensitivities. Has he been tested for IgG food sensitivities? They could cause the inflammation and reflux. DH, DS, and myself all have our own list of food sensitivities. I can attest to their causing a wide range of inflammation, GI problems, and other bodily issues. To get around the sensitivities, we are each avoiding our offending foods.
post #3 of 6
3/1/12 at 6:09pm
Thread Starter 

He was dairy and soy free for 2.5 years, but had been on a normal diet for about a year.  I'm not sure whether there was a change in reflux during any of that time, because we didn't even figure it out until maybe a year ago.  (I think he had been doing it for a long time, he just didn't know to tell us.)  We have an appointment with allergy next month, so I was kinda waiting till then to change his diet.  I am really hoping we can get him off meds just by doing diet changes.  When he was a baby he had a blood test for allergies that was negative, but I know that's not real reliable, and we kept him off dairy and soy anyway, because we could see obvious reactions.

I'm off to google H.Pylori as I have no idea what that is.  I don't believe he has been tested for that.

post #4 of 6
3/5/12 at 10:59am
Quote:
Originally Posted by rugbymom View Post

He was dairy and soy free for 2.5 years, but had been on a normal diet for about a year.  I'm not sure whether there was a change in reflux during any of that time, because we didn't even figure it out until maybe a year ago.  (I think he had been doing it for a long time, he just didn't know to tell us.)  We have an appointment with allergy next month, so I was kinda waiting till then to change his diet.  I am really hoping we can get him off meds just by doing diet changes.  When he was a baby he had a blood test for allergies that was negative, but I know that's not real reliable, and we kept him off dairy and soy anyway, because we could see obvious reactions.
I'm off to google H.Pylori as I have no idea what that is.  I don't believe he has been tested for that.

Dairy and soy are not the only things he could be reacting to. For example, I can do wheat and cow dairy, but I have a problem with rice, apple, carrot...and the list goes on. My DS has a problem with cow dairy, but is fine with goat dairy. He's also got 12 other foods he reacts to. DH has problems with wheat and gluten, among a list of other things. So it really varies with the individual.

H.Pylori is a bacteria that has been associated with ulcers and other stomach inflammation. That's something you'd want them to rule out for sure.
post #5 of 6
3/7/12 at 12:58pm
Thread Starter 

We tried wheat/gluten too when he was younger, but saw no change with that one.  I'm hoping the allergy tests next month will give us some insight as to what else to try, because dairy and soy were the only things that showed obvious reactions.

post #6 of 6
3/9/12 at 8:36am
Do you keep a food journal? That's the only way we've been able to track down DS's food sensitivities. He's never had an official test.

DH and I, however, have both had multiple blood tests. We had the IgG testing done, which is not an official allergy, but a food sensitivity. Those foods cause as many problems for us as any IgE allergy (except no anaphylaxis). I had so many foods that were a problem, so food journaling or even a typical total elimination diet would not have yielded results for me. The lab test helped me know where to even start checking foods.