endoscopy?

[widdly]

Just after some reassurance and advice and would love to hear of others experiences.

it was hoped that Archie would have grown out of his reflux by 18 months, but here we are at 18 month and it is getting worse and we are increasing his Losec. So it has been decided that he needs to have an endoscopy So i would love for anyone who's toddler has had an endoscopy to let me know the ins and outs, thanks

[Mother Goose]

Hi Elissa,

There are a couple of Mum's on BB whose children have had scopes done. I have assisted (am a nurse) in a great many peadeatric endocsopies (both ends).
It is usually a very quick proceedure (maybe 20mins each end in theatre plus recovery time which is usually 20-30 minutes). It is a day proceedure and you could expect to be discharged about 2-3 hours after your child is out of recovery. They will be able to eat and drink as normal as soon as they wake. There is minimal discomfot (not really pain - maybe a sore throat if it is a gastroscope). The discomfort is manageable with panadol.
Your child will be given a light GA for the proceedure. You should be allowed to stay with him until he is asleep. Watching their child be anethetised can be scary for some parents. THey suddenly drop off to sleep. It is ok to be upset or emotional and staff will understand.

Sometimes when children wake from an anesthetic, they can be a little upset. They can wake up kicking, punching, crying etc. This is a common reaction and is caused by both the GA as well as the environment (going to sleep in one room, waking in another, and not being in their own bed or home); so don't panic if your child is like this. Although it is common, the % of children that experience this is not all that high.

Sometimes they take little biopsies during scopes. They use little clippers that look like little Aligator mouths and just pinch the bit to take a bit of the material they want. The site would be less that the sixe of a pinhead and there should be no discomfort. There will be no surgical site from the outside and no stitches.

I have to run because my DD is demanding her yoghurt but if you have any Q's, fire away and I will try to answer them for you.

When is Archie booked in and where?

HTH

MG

[scarlet121]

Widdly my son has had two scopes and they are just as Mother Goose has explained, no one likes their child to go under but the test itself is not too hard. The worst part for them is the gas mask so you could practice if you have a puffer and basically they put that on till they go to sleep.

I would definately ask for biopsys while you are there to rule out esinophilic osophagitis and celiac, if he is responding to the losec then this is most likely the culprit.

How much losec is he on and how do you administer it (tablet or suspension). My son is three and still refluxing and I too thought all kids grow out of it, and it is now always the case.

Good luck, if you have any questions please write back!

[PlonkeeMumma]

Will had an endoscopy with biopsy but was only 5 days old at the time so abit different to you. All seemed ok though op-wise and he was just abit 'hoarse' for the rest of the day. Had more pickies of his insides than him from the outside by the time we left hossy!

Good luck with Archies - will probably be worse for you than for him

Julie x

[widdly]

MG - thakyou so much you have just helped put me at ease so much! i am very emotional about it as my last experience in that hospital was extreely stressful and ended our breastfeeding relationship and started our severe reflux journey, i am currently getting help for PND and this hospital was a major contributor to that so the thought of him having to go back there and go totheatre again just makes me feel really emotional even though i know its for the best and its a very common routine procedure. Thanks again you really have put my mind at ease. he isn't booked in as yet we will get dates after xmas /new year, it will be at Adelaide Womens and Childrens.

scarlett - thanks heaps! i will definately talk to the specialists about getting biopsys for the above mentioned 'things', i have written them down, thanks. Archie was having 10mg of losec tablet a day, 5mg morning and night. Recently we have had to bump it up to 5mg in the morning and 10mg at night and it is only just just controlling it. What was the result from your sons scopes? how is he coping with his reflux now?? i will take your advice and start practising with a mask a few weeks before the big day, DH is an ambo so im sure he can bring home a mask to practice with.

julie - thankyou, i agree it will be far more scary and stressful for me than him, it will probably be a big adventure for him! Do you mind me asking why will had the scope and is he okay now?

[PlonkeeMumma]

HI Widdly

Will was being sick out of his nose as he was drinking milk through his mouth so they started with a 'barium swallow' x-ray type thing to check his plumbing which was fine, then they let us go home but he threw up a large amount of blood on the way home so he was re-admitted and they did the endoscopy the next day. It just showed up a patch of his stomach that they thought he had damaged by throwing up so much which had bled. the biopsy showed he has gastritus (sp) (large amount of very small ulcers) in his stomach - they didn't ever give us a reason for this. They let us back home again later that day and he didn't throw up any more blood but he did have bad reflux until he was around one which thankfully has stopped!
Poor Archie and you that he still has it at 18 months - hope the endo finds some answers so that it can be fixed/helped. Good luck again
Julie x

[scarlet121]

scarlett - thanks heaps! i will definately talk to the specialists about getting biopsys for the above mentioned 'things', i have written them down, thanks. Archie was having 10mg of losec tablet a day, 5mg morning and night. Recently we have had to bump it up to 5mg in the morning and 10mg at night and it is only just just controlling it. What was the result from your sons scopes? how is he coping with his reflux now?? i will take your advice and start practising with a mask a few weeks before the big day, DH is an ambo so im sure he can bring home a mask to practice with.

With the meds you can afford to go higher if he needs, I know the dose is comparable to an adults dose but it is metabolised quicker in children and infants and also it is not absorbed in the same way so a higher dose is OK. Parker is on 30mg a day, and I would say that a normal dose for an 18month old is 20mg a day. Parkers is high and I wouldn't recommend it without seeing a paediatric gastroenterologist.

We have tried decreasing it but it just never works. His reflux is so much better now, having him on the right meds makes it so much easier. He is sleeping (as long as he isn't sick) and being a lot better at everything. I was a bit down when I realised that Parker isn't likely to grow out of this now, he is three and that is generally the no outgrow stage...sad, but it is so much a part of him now too.

But in general, the more you know the more you can work out his symptoms and what foods make it worse etc... the better it is.

Both Parkers scopes showed nothing, which is a good thing, it means the meds have worked and there was no inflammation or gastritis. We have tried to wean him last summer but he had to go back on meds after 4 months as soon as winter came.

Good luck, I hope that it all goes well for you, if you ever need any advice or support, just post here I will find it.

[babybellasmum]

Our DD had an endoscopy last month.
It was not as stressful as I had expected.
My DH went in with her, as I knew that I would probably not cope with seeing her distressed.
The results of the biopsy showed that she has an allergy. Now we are starting to get some answers after 17 months of thinking we are neurotic parents!
Good luck with everything