Reflux journey & my gratitude to Dr. P

by Hannah Hensley
(South bend Indiana)

*long post*
This is my story update and I hope people read this and are encouraged.

My daughter is now 11 weeks. Since birth she aspirated and threw up and choked. I was told at the hospital it was bc she swallowed amniotic fluid on her way out and it’ll go away over couple day. We were told at her 2 week appointment she had acid reflux. She was screaming all the time, all she did was eat NONSTOP, she would throw up so much we had went through 5 or more outfits a day, she would have throw up pour out of her nose, she would turn blue and choke on throw up, she had EXTREMELY foamy and acidic stools to the point her butt would be raw, blistered and bleed every time she pooped. She drooled and blew bubbles like she was teething. She constantly chewed on her hands.

Her pediatrician finally put her on ranitidine for babies for 2 weeks. During that 2 weeks it was as if she got worse. Come to find out, it actually makes acid reflux worse due to a few reasons and also it stops working after a couple weeks. We were then sent to Memorial Children’s Hospital to see a GI specialist. The GI specialist said “yup she has GERD.” By that time I had found a little information on the Marci dosing with a PPI. The GI specialist said no I’m not putting her on medicine she will grow out of it by the time she’s about 1 until then you need to stop breastfeeding and try different formulas.

I was devastated and pissed off no one would help my innocent helpless baby who was obviously in pain and needed help.

I found this group on Facebook (I don’t even remember how I found it). I joined and started posting all the time asking questions and getting information. I was pointed to the acid reflux questionnaire. I took that and it came back Oaklee has GERD.

HOW IN THE WORLD DOES MY SWEET BABY GIRL ONLY A MONTH OLD HAVE SUCH S HORRID THING?!

So I spent everyday all day in this Facebook group asking questions, finding out all I could about PPI medicines and Marci dosing. I read so many others stories and was thinking man, this sounds amazing. The initial appointment was $195 to even get started. I got a generous message and someone in this group knew I needed help and paid for the appointment for me to help my daughter get better! I couldn’t believe it and I was so so grateful and appreciative that someone would do that to help my baby. Come to find out she’s actually local and don’t live far from me :) once I had my appointment with Dr. Jeffery Phillips he had the doctor prescribe her Omeprazole with Marci dosing 3x a day. We started that. A week later she was still having symptoms so we upped her dose to 5ml 3x a day.

With in 3 days she was much better! The acid battle was ROUGH. But it was worth it in the end. I thought to myself so many times is this even working, why would it make symptoms worse before better, am I doing the right thing? I hated watching her regress and giving her medicine 3x a day. But, TODAY is day 18 of our upsets dose of PPI and she is a 100% complete different baby! She is happy, she smiles and laughs and she can actually go and see family now with out screaming and crying or eating the whole entire tome!

This group, this medicine and these amazing people on here are the ONLY reason my sweet girl is better and pain free. I feel absolutely blessed to come across this group and these amazing other mamas and daddy’s who are the reason we are controlled and pain free. I want to personally thank this group, Erin Heitshusen, Rebekah Steury, and Josh Bahn for all of their help and always being there for every single question, comment and concern I had along the way. Without them I don’t think I would be where I am I don’t think Oaklee would be pain free and controlled with her GERD. 💕