On Nexium and Symptoms of Silent Reflux

Nolan, tugging at his neck. Nexium: Day 2

We are in "round one" of our battle to get Nolan's insurance company to approve his Nexium medication. I dropped off the prescription yesterday, and the pharmacist does not have any in stock. He said he won't order it until he gets approval from the insurance company, which is likely to deny the medication.

Our GI doctor feels that due to the severity of Nolan's reflux, Nexium is the best medication for him. Our insurance company feels a cheaper drug is the best for Nolan. Because a stuffed shirt in an insurance building knows more about my son's health than his doctor. But I digress...

The Nexium is a powder, which is mixed into a tablespoon of water. Nolan can't eat before it is given, and can't eat or drink anything for 30 minutes after taking the medication. Oh, and it tastes TERRIBLE. Since I can't mix it into applesauce or give him a drink to wash the taste out of his mouth, giving him the medication is quite the experience. And by experience, I mean "sit on your child and force 20mL of nastiness into his sputtering self while he spits as much of it back onto your face as he can." I'm guessing he's only getting about half the required dose, since he blocks the medication with his tongue and spits much of it out again. Mommies who have to dose your kid with disgusting medication that can't be masked, what do you do? I know there has to be at least someone with good advice out there!

I also thought I'd post about the symptoms of silent reflux. Now that we know what Nolan has, a lot of the strange things he does make sense. So, a rundown of his symptoms:

• Occasional random coughing and watering eyes. This is due to acid coming all the way up and getting into his lungs.
• Tugging at his neck. He does this quite a lot. This is because it hurts.
• Refusing food. Again, because it hurts.
• Craving liquid. This is because his throat hurts AND he's hungry.
  
• Night waking. He refluxes, he wakes up. We thought it was just a random toddler thing.

Non-silent reflux (would that be LOUD reflux?) shows up by vomiting more than twice per week. Nolan, as a rule, hasn't been big on the vomiting. He did it every day for a week in April, and again a week ago. Other than that, no puke. He does spit up every once in a while (about 2x per month), but not enough to scream "reflux kid!"

I'm off to call the pharmacy to see what phone calls I need to make today. If I'm lucky, we'll get approval before my sample packets run out.