After a couple of weeks of that, she saw her regular doctor. He diagnosed gastroesophageal reflux (“GERD”) and put her on esomeprazole twice daily. Her symptoms didn’t really improve.
She’ll have a good few days and then go back to severe heartburn and vomiting after every meal. Sometimes there’s a clear dietary trigger, as when she had a big bowl of ice cream. Ironically, lettuce and other leafy vegetables seem to be triggers as well. Fruits are well tolerated. Cliff bars (!) are well-tolerated.
Last week, she saw a gastroenterologist who performed an upper endoscopy. Normal from the mouth to the first part of the small intestine. No evidence of esophageal inflammation or acid reflux. No hiatal hernia. No gastritis. No ulcers. No masses. No narrowing of anything. N-o-r-m-a-l. He took her off the esomeprazole and prescribed metoclopramide before each meal, which seems maybe to be helping a little. He didn’t give her a clear diagnosis. He thinks it will go away.
She’s always been a healthy kid. Normal body image. Normal body mass index (though she’s looking a bit wan these days). No psychological issues that I’m aware of. Doing well as a freshman in a college several hours away from us. Yes. I question the doctor!
Anyone who blindly accepts medical advice is shorting themselves.
The question is "why gum"? When one chews gum, one does so for a period of time. The whole time that stuff is in your mouth, it's stimulating the production of acidic gastric secretions. Acidic gastric secretions are part of the problem, not part of the solution. That line of reasoning makes sense to me. I'm not interested in labels. I'm interested in seeing my kid get well.