My 13yo son has reflux too.

Jake has had "sicky breath" ever since he was a tiny baby, and had some projectile vomiting when he was tiny. No one was concerned, GP has never really looked into it, despite numerous visits. The only thing they ever gave him was anti catarrh meds, which were useless. Jake can actually bring up food on command, its horrible. He has acid and heartburn a lot, and is a very picky eater.

Does anyone have any suggestions for diet and things for him? I despair with the doctors, they haven't helped me and I don't want to send him down this agonizing soul destroying route if I can possibly avoid it.

He is very fond of junk food, but I rarely allow it. He will eat pasta, likes some fresh fruit, shepherds pie always goes down well. Sadly, he is a chocolate/sugar junkie, and I know this doesn't help. His absolute favourite is spaghetti bolognese, which is another no-no for acid.

I am worried about talking to him about this. He has seen how ill I am and it worries him a lot, and I don't want him to put 2 and 2 together and start to panic. He is something of a hypochondriac, always thinking he has something life threatening, a real worrier. What should I do?

You might help him not "catastrophize" and "awfulize" his symptoms. In his young life, these things likely seem huge and endless because he has not experienced relief from infancy. Again, a GP is likely not going to provide answers...a good GI doc is who he needs to see. When I was in practice (therapist) and was working with kids his age, I had a lot of success "negotiating" with them. Maybe you could strike a bargain with him, such as giving him a good GERD diet and asking him to follow it faithfully for a week and keep a log maybe 4 times a day with entries. Kids often are very good with computer programs like Excel or making graphs, etc. They can construct a chart including primary symptons and a rating system, things like that. Help him to move into this situation rather than to be fearful and increasing worry, dread and anxiety. This could help him establish a causal relationship between diet and symptoms...identifying specific things that help him feel relief other things that cause pain.

Maybe even a "reward system" for him...something he wants for one week, 2 weeks, 1 month, etc. He then can take his data with him to the doc!

Having been "conquering" this esophagus of mine since the early 80s with several surgeries, dialations, several hernias, etc. it is possible to have a viable and happy life working cooperatively with symptoms. Medical procedures have dramatically improved since I started my learning experience. I didn't even know what an esophagus was until mine stopped working!! Now I am "expert". I have often said to a doc..."I realize that you know the literature on this...as do I, however, I have the actual life experience. Let me tell you how this works...(or doesn't LOL!)

I would encourage you to get your son help (and you too) with the right doctors! Do you have a Pediatric GI doc he could go to?

Keep us posted as to what you can find out. If you don't mind my asking, Are you in UK? Your medical experiences remind me of my friends who live in UK.

OK well I had the chat with him this evening, and I kinda put it like, "Would you like to do something about the heartburn?" He told me more about it, he really hasn't talked about it for a very long time, and I hadn't realised what he was going through. He refluxes every day, gets food reflux in the day, and acid in the mornings. We did a mini diet assessment, and realised that his main killer food is ketchup. He adds copious amounts to everything. He is very upset about having sicky breath, and was eager to talk about tackling things.

I have concluded that I certainly need to change my GP. Jake has no faith in her, she has disregarded many of his problems in the past, so that is our next task. Meantime, I will see our current one and ask for a referral to a GI for him, and for myself.

All told, I am very impressed with his attitude, but I sensed a good deal of stress in his voice as we spoke about it. He has certain behaviour issues, (dont get me wrong he is a very good lad, but reacts badly to certain foods and has some extremely dark moods) so I imagine he may get depressed at some point, I am preparing for that.

Will keep you guys posted, thanks so much for your input xxx

Oh and yes, I do live in the UK, things are not very good here as regards the Health Service :-(

Jake has been on a VERY bland diet for 2 days now, and he has reported only very mild acid on the first day, and none today. So it seems we could control this, but I still want him to see a doc. Its just nice for him to have some relief, and his general mood has been much better. Makes me wonder if some of his behaviour issues were not due to GERD all his little life, poor fella. I know it makes me very moody when I am in a bad way!

Hi elymaloa, it is hard with children, although poor Jake has suffered for years without any help, so maybe the relief for him will outweigh the annoyance of avoiding things he loves. His GERD is worse in itself than mine, for instance he brings up lumps of food on command, I don't have that all the time. He burns all the time, my reflux is mostly silent unless I eat something very spicey. He doesn't have the throat problems I have, but I guess that is from the years of acid my throat has been subjected to.