More kids taking prescription heartburn medication
Categories: Babies, Toddlers, Preschoolers, Health & safety, In the news
Lately, Ellie has been complaining about symptoms that sound an awful lot like heartburn. She describes it as feeling like a there is a bubble in her chest that makes her want to burp. This usually happens only after eating certain foods, which we are now avoiding. It never occurred to me that she might need medication, but apparently more U.S. kids than ever are taking prescription drugs to treat heartburn.
According to an analysis released by Medco Health Solutions, more than 2 million children in the U.S. under the age of 18 were using drugs to treat digestive or gastrointestinal complaints last year. That is an increase of about 56% in recent years and experts are blaming obesity and overuse.
This rise in the use of heartburn medication coincides with the rising rates of obesity in the United States. With 10% of America's preschoolers and 30% of older children considered to be overweight, it's not surprising that more kids would be suffering from heartburn, a common ailment in those who are overweight.
But heartburn and acid reflex are also common in healthy weight infants and children and though many of them will outgrow it, experts say that more parents are demanding medication. They blame this phenomenon partly on direct-to-consumer marketing. In other words, commercials and other advertisements.
While reflux drugs are considered safe, according to Dr. Benjamin Gold, an Emory University specialist in children's digestive diseases, there is some evidence linking long-term use with increased risks of infections. Dr. Renee Jenkins, of the American Academy of Pediatrics, says parents should try non-drug remedies before turning to medications for treating reflux and other digestive issues in young children. These remedies might include cutting out fatty food and eating smaller, more frequent meals.
According to an analysis released by Medco Health Solutions, more than 2 million children in the U.S. under the age of 18 were using drugs to treat digestive or gastrointestinal complaints last year. That is an increase of about 56% in recent years and experts are blaming obesity and overuse.
This rise in the use of heartburn medication coincides with the rising rates of obesity in the United States. With 10% of America's preschoolers and 30% of older children considered to be overweight, it's not surprising that more kids would be suffering from heartburn, a common ailment in those who are overweight.
But heartburn and acid reflex are also common in healthy weight infants and children and though many of them will outgrow it, experts say that more parents are demanding medication. They blame this phenomenon partly on direct-to-consumer marketing. In other words, commercials and other advertisements.
While reflux drugs are considered safe, according to Dr. Benjamin Gold, an Emory University specialist in children's digestive diseases, there is some evidence linking long-term use with increased risks of infections. Dr. Renee Jenkins, of the American Academy of Pediatrics, says parents should try non-drug remedies before turning to medications for treating reflux and other digestive issues in young children. These remedies might include cutting out fatty food and eating smaller, more frequent meals.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Madison 10-08-2007 @ 4:30PM
I have two boys which were born 9 1/2 weeks early. They both have severe acid reflux and are on medications. Many premature babies, especially males, have reflux issues. Maybe more premature infants are surviving which leads to more babies with reflux. I also think people used to assume babies had colic many of those cases might have been reflux.
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Michele W 10-08-2007 @ 6:13PM
I agree with Madison, I think this was common back then but was often passed off as colic or even just normal spit up. My son was 3 weeks old when he had to be put on zantac. I can understand why it could be mistaken for colic. My son normally didn't cry and was a very happy baby, till he would eat and he would scream. He would be so hungry but after a couple of sucks he would just scream and it would last for a while. Luckily It was picked up early that it was severe acid reflux along with milk protien intolerance and lactose intolerance. This was not fun to try to handle. We tried the adding cereal to the formula and after having to cut about a thousand nipples to try and get it to come out just right, they put him on zantac right away along with a hypoallergenic formula. We had to use the alimentum formula. I was very upset with this at first blaming my self for not breast feeding and was reassured that even if i was breast feeding he still would have the trouble and still would be allergic to my milk. We prayed the alimentum worked because the doctor said there was only one other formula that was even more hypoallergenic but it cost like $57 dollars a can. Thank god the alimientum worked for it even though it was still very expensive. I was told that alot of kids out grow the acid reflux around a year old. Mine was one of the unlucky ones that never out grew it. When he was old enough they switched him to prevacid. He is still on it and probably always will be. He out grew the milk protien and lactose intolerance. Both my family and my husbands family has heart burn bad so I guess I wasnt shocked when they said that is what he had. I actually had a cousin die from esophagial cancer because he did not take care of his acid reflux disease so it is very important that we get control of matthews acid reflux. They want to do scopes and stuff but I just cant handle putting my son through that right now. As long as the medicine works then we can wait untill he gets a bit older.
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Shelly 10-08-2007 @ 8:51PM
Cut out hydroginated fats and you cut out indigestion and acid reflux. Unfortunately, most snack foods contain hydrogenated fats, so cutting them out is not easy! I cut out all trans-fats and hydrogenated fats about 7 years ago and acid indigestion disappeared almost immediately. I also cut out all corn syrup at the same time, but that was to avoid diabetes. I'm sure it was cutting out trans-fats that did it!
Shelly
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LS 10-08-2007 @ 10:00PM
I'll bet that if you did an 'across the board' study, you'll find out that everyone is way more medicated than they were "when we were kids". I attribute this to two things - the mass marketing of drugs that you mentioned, with every single commercial trying to convince you that you have the affliction of the day and there just *happens* to be a drug for it! Also, we live such fast-paced, I-want-it-RIGHTNOW lives that we're not willing to try our old-fashioned remedies for most things, because those old-fashioned remedies most often included homemade chicken soup (takes too much time), getting more sleep (gotta go to work), or, in the case of injury, just staying off of it and resting (can't, gotta play in the game tomorrow).
We've been convinced that we're just too important not to have the newest and best drug, or we're too valuable to miss a day of work, school or sports practice, so we're not willing to make the fundamental changes to fix the problem rather than just medicating the symptoms.
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Sabrina 10-08-2007 @ 10:02PM
Michele W., My son has the same problems yours does, plus a few for added interest. We've had scopes done, and while it breaks your heart, it's really worth the trouble. Our DS had his scopes done at about 9mo. old, and he fared much better after anesthesia than the 10 year old in the same recovery room did. He is also on prevacid, and it looks as if he'll always be on it.
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Maureen 10-08-2007 @ 11:24PM
Oh man, I wish they would have had this when I was young. I had terrible reflux/heartburn since I was a baby. I remember being young and having to watch what I ate and if I was nervous, forget it, if I ate almost anything I was in trouble. My parents would have gotten me a prescription asap if it was available way back when. I wasn't overweight and didn't eat processed foods. Since then modern medicine has helped me tremendously, except when I was pregnant... man, did I suffer for those two babies:)
My son has inherited my problem and while not as extreme as mine, we will watch him and go for a prescription (further than the children's antacids he sometimes takes now) rather than have him suffer as I did.
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E.S. 10-14-2007 @ 8:06PM
Thank goodness for this. If your baby is in pain, do you not give him Tylenol? I would easily go so far as to say it's neglectful parenting NOT to give your child relief from reflux, be it prescription meds OR other methods/remedies, or both when they are needed. As mom of a former reflux baby, I am incredibly grateful for these meds.
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