postscript!

Several of you have made suggestions and asked "have you tried this...?" in relation to the persistant vomiting and retching that Aiden continues to experience. We truly appreciate any and all ideas and suggestions, so if you have any thoughts, please let us know! Briefly, in addition to the many tests and procedures that were mentioned in previous posts, here are some more of the things that we have tried:
- Zofran (anti-nausea med used primarily for cancer patients)
- Bethanacol, Erythromycin and Reglan (motility agents)
- Cyproheptadine (rule out cyclical vomiting syndrome)
- Switching from breast milk to hypo-allergenic, amino-acid based formula (rule out milk or protein allergies)
- Thickening the milk
- Drugs for reflux (i.e., Prevacid, Prilosec, Zantac, etc.)
- Different timing and types of feedings, to see if there is any connection (from continuous to very slow to bolus feeds over a smaller period of time)
- He had been on several diuretics to prevent him from retaining fluids due to his lung issues, and we stopped those since they had possible side effects of nausea and vomiting. It did not impact the vomiting, but his fluid output actually increased -- how strange!

There is more...I can't remember everything off the top of my head
;-) ... but those are just a few of the things that we have looked at. Some of the doctors have told us that if he just gains a pound or two, it should go away; however, he has gained almost 5 pounds and grown many inches since this started and there has been no change.

To answer a few more questions:

There is no discernable pattern /connection to when or how Aiden throws up, and some days are "good" days, where he may do a lot of deep retching, but will only throw up a couple times. Other days are not so good and he may throw up multiple times starting from the minute he wakes up in the morning and retch and gag every few minutes...we simply never know.

During one of Aiden's previous hospital stays, when they performed most of the other tests, they did perform testing for metabolic disorders/vitamin deficiencies at our request (organic acids testing). The results came back normal.

The doctors that we have seen are puzzled and not certain what else to do. They say that he should not be throwing up with the ND tube (feeding into his small intestines) since it is bypassing the stomach, but he continues to constantly retch and throw up.