acid reflux

Acid Reflux in Children

by Kelly Dorfman, MS, LND Pediatric Gastroesophageal Reflux Disorder (GERD) is a diagnosis I am encountering in my practice with increased frequency. Yet, little is written about it. Frequent vomiting is the most obvious indicator, but other symptoms of acid reflux in children include: Irritability (from esophageal pain during or after eating) Poor sleep Food intolerance Refusing foods (or oral intolerance) Difficulty swallowing Gagging, choking (especially with liquids) Sour breath What Is Reflux? Although many babies spit up, are irritable, and sleep poorly, GERD is present only when symptoms persist and become severe. The stomach contents consistently back up into the esophagus, and the acid and food combination can burp up the back of the throat or be projected through the mouth or nose. Most professionals believe that an improperly functioning sphincter valve at the top of the stomach is the cause of GERD. The valve pops open too easily when the child consumes an irritant, overeats or just bends…

The “R” Word: Sensory Processing Disorder Recovery

You may or may not know my personal recovery story. I have recovered my 2 sons, now ages 5 and 7, from sensory processing disorder (SPD), asthma, allergies, acid reflux and eczema with a biomedical approach, which means correcting nutritional and hormonal deficiencies, removing toxicities and correcting gut dysbiosis. Most people don’t know that sensory processing disorder recovery is possible, but my sons have recovered from it. I’m still working on failure to thrive, mitochondrial dysfunction, hypothyroidism and persistent eczema in my older son. In addition, they both had developmental delays, and my older son had severe hypotonia as a baby. I have recovered from immune dysregulation, in which I had shingles twice, the worst case of poison-ivy ever, bronchitis (which I’d never had before), constant sinus infections and constant colds that would last 3-4 weeks at a time. My older son had immune dysregulation, too, when he was younger: he would go to preschool, get sick and be out…

Asthma and Dairy

My older son got sick a lot, especially after he started preschool when he was 3. He would go to preschool for a week then be out the whole next week because he was sick; the preschool didn’t want kids coming in who were sneezing and coughing. Constant Sickness Turned to Asthma When he was 4 years old, he had a severe asthmatic episode after we went to Los Angeles to visit my husband’s family. We woke up the first morning after we landed in LA to discover that the whole valley where his parents lived was engulfed in smoke from forest fires in the San Gabriel Mountains. They stayed on fire the entire week we were there, and, although we didn’t go out in the smoke too much, we couldn’t help but breathe in some of it in. When we came back home, he had a severe asthmatic attack, which he had never had before.  It was so bad…

Acid Reflux in Babies: Another Red Flag

by Maria Rickert Hong, CHHC, AADP Acid reflux in babies:  Both of my sons had acid reflux as babies.  Prevacid wasn’t the answer; undoing their gut dysbiosis was. When my younger son was born, he, too, was “fussy” and “colicky”.  He had an outright problem with nursing:  he refused to. When he would, he would shriek in pain or fill up so much (probably because he was starving) that he would throw it right back up. Again, this wasn’t a little “spitting up”; this was projectile vomiting and, by now, I had become used to having stains on the rug, chairs and clothes that simply wouldn’t come out. The pediatrician referred a lactation specialist who recommended that I cut out all dairy products from my diet.  She said that dairy was the most likely culprit in causing pain to my son. Probiotics Not Enough She also recommended that I take a probiotic, “the refrigerated kind, like they sell at Whole…

Recovery from Sensory Processing Disorder, Reflux, Asthma, Eczema

Maria Rickert Hong‘s Children: Recovered from Sensory Processing Disorder, Acid Reflux, Asthma and Eczema, and getting healthier everyday! Let me tell you about my sons’ recovery from sensory processing disorder, acid reflux, asthma and eczema. I used to wonder a long time ago if these issues were related to each other and to their developmental delays, anxiety, failure to thrive and mitochondrial dysfunction, and now I know that they are. All of these issues are related to gut dysbiosis (in their case, a system Candida infection) and toxicity.  They are both full of heavy metals (mercury, lead, arsenic, cadmium). My older son is at the 97th percentile for heavy-metal toxicity; my younger one at the 90th. They both got it from me when I was pregnant with them.  I didn’t find out until after my older son was over 4 years old that we were all full of heavy metals. My concerns about my sons’ problems were dismissed by all…

The “R” Word: Recovery from Sensory Processing Disorder

You may or may not know my personal recovery story of how my sons have experienced recovery from Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD). I have recovered my 2 sons, now ages 5 and 7, from SPD, asthma, allergies, acid reflux and eczema with a biomedical approach, which means correcting nutritional and hormonal deficiencies, removing toxicities and correcting gut dysbiosis. I’m still working on failure to thrive, mitochondrial dysfunction, hypothyroidism and persistent eczema in my older son. In addition, they both had developmental delays, and my older son had severe hypotonia as a baby. I have recovered from immune dysregulation, in which I had shingles twice, the worst case of poison-ivy ever, bronchitis (which I’d never had before), constant sinus infections and constant colds that would last 3-4 weeks at a time. My older son had immune dysregulation, too, when he was younger: he would go to preschool, get sick and be out for at least a week at a time, then…