Physical Causes of GERD

 Some people think I am obsessed with GERD.  Maybe I am.  My husband and I always said we wanted 3-4 children.  Right now we have two, and both of them have "moderately severe" GERD.  We are fortunate that they never had to be hospitalized or be given feeding tubes, but that didn't mean we didn't face challenges.  We had challenges--lots of challenges--and the GERD is still there; it's just under control--for now.  And since I couldn't find any support groups in my area or any other GERD parents to connect with at the time we were dealing with the "crisis" symptoms, I had to do a lot of reading on my own--especially when it became clear that the Prevacid was doing more harm than good.

Of course, one of my first questions was "Why do they have GERD in the first place?  What caused it?"  Believe it or not, some people told me they thought God was  punishing me for something I had done by giving me two children with moderately severe GERD.  To those people, I could only respond by saying my daughters were blessings--and that God had given them to me because He apparently trusted me to be able to handle their specific needs, even if I didn't trust myself!

Others told me that since my girls had every outward appearance of being healthy, I must be imagining their symptoms or (even worse) inflicting the symptoms upon them by my care of them.  To those people, I could only watch my cries of "You're wrong!  You're wrong!  You're wrong!" fall upon deaf ears.

Because I was dealing with my own physical pain from pregnancy complications and follow-up surgeries as well as post-partum depression, there were times when I indeed wrestled with self-doubt, but that is another story.

For today's post, suffice it to say that GERD is a real disease.  Some babies will outgrow their symptoms after 1-2 years; others will have to manage theirs throughout their lives.  To keep GERD in balanced perspective, here are the current theories as to its cause in infants:

1.  Genetics: One study links it to autoimmunity; another links it to a defect in Chromosome 13.  Studies in both camps are ongoing.  GERD with a genetic cause is most likely a chronic (long-term or lifelong) condition.  For more information on the study relating GERD to Chromosome 13, please refer to the following link:
http://www.post-gazette.com/healthscience/20000719gerdstudy1.asp

2.  Hiatal hernias: The presence of a hernia can be established through medical imaging and treated accordingly.  This type of GERD may or may not be chronic.

3.  Presence of labor-inducing drugs during birth: The natural health professionals I have consulted agree that the use of labor-inducing drugs seem to have a correlation with infant GERD.  They believe the stronger contractions associated with labor-inducing drugs can cause injury to the baby such as hiatal hernias or vagus nerve damage.  I have not found medical research to support this, and neither have the doctors whom I have consulted, whether pediatricians or OB/GYNs.  That doesn't mean it can't be true, though, since homeopathic and medical research hardly ever cross.  It certainly makes sense to me, so I offer it simply as something to consider.  Genetics can't be changed: methods of childbirth can, so if you feel your child is already at risk of having GERD, an induced labor may be something you wish to avoid if at all possible.