I can say that, many can’t. So many babies died before me, before a surgical procedure was developed that started saving infant’s lives. My post today will look at non-surgical options available today that weren’t back then. I’m still trying to heal my body and have been since just days after my birth. I can see how it’s all related. I wish I knew this way back when.
I honestly believe two of my uncles died in 1927. They were two of a set of triplets, Calvin and Carroll, who died before their first birthday. The other triplet was Carolyn, my aunt, the only one that survived. The malady wasn’t understood then and babies died. There’s still unanswered questions about this condition. The cause of death, as in my uncles’ case was blamed on “bad milk”.
My Pyloric Stenosis Case
I nearly died before I got diagnosed. My parents took me to my uncle’s funeral home to prepare for my funeral. He said I looked worse than the dead babies he prepared to bury. I had lost so much weight I was nothing but skin and bones, I was starving to death. My uncle made an appointment with a pediatric surgeon he knew from his funeral home business in North Carolina. I had made the trip from our home in Georgia and my surgery was on Friday the 13th in July of 1956. I was born in the middle of May and got sick at the age of 13 days old and I’d hardly enjoyed a meal in my short life. I was bottle fed but I couldn’t eat. I couldn’t digest the milk my mother gave me.
I didn’t fit the classic “textbook case”. I was a SECOND born FEMALE and my mother was 26 years old. The imaging with barium the first doctors did, didn’t show pyloric stenosis even after I was sick and throwing up. Because the x-rays didn’t show a blockage and I didn’t fit the “classic text book case, I was sent home to die. At some point my mother recalls I developed the classic projectile vomiting where “it shot across the room” she would add to my story, whenever it was told.
I believe that my muscle was probably in spasm and left untreated the pyloric sphincter developed a stenosis (blockage) which requires surgical intervention. Typically babies are around a month old or less when they have surgery, I was two months old and dying.
A massage using neurosomatic therapy to treat the pyroloric spasm may save an infant from surgical intervention before it can develop into a complete blockage or stenosis. Another alternative is listed below in my post but you should discuss this with your doctor. The information contained in my post is for educational purposes and not to be taken as medical advice.
DO NOT HESITATE to get a medical advice as soon as possible, as pyloric stenosis IS a medical emergency.
PYLORIC STENOSIS- Treatment with Neurosomatic Therapy
Could This Explain My Heart Condition?
My surgery was in the 50’s and my daughter also underwent surgery in 1983 for the same condition. What is it, what causes it, who gets it and why? All these questions have mostly gone unanswered until now. Whenever I would mention this surgery as part of my medical history, doctors would quickly change the subject. They always seemed adverse to talking about it and any relation it had to my chronic health conditions, such as Left Bundle Branch Block (LBBB). I got no answers and was told my cardiac condition was “idiopathic”. That must mean they think I’m an idiot? Actually it means “cause unknown”. They knew and I became more and more interested in the whys of the subject matter.
What It Looks Like - Peristaltic Waves in Pyloric Stenosis | NEJM
The nurse saw this peristalic wave on me when she removed my diaper for the doctor (surgeon) to examine me. The condition is more commonly seen by a pediatric surgeon and his nurse was familiar with the signs as well.
A Pediatric Surgeon Explains Pyloric Stenosis
The doctor’s complete explanation and visuals of the laproscopic surgery (warning the surgery may be difficult for some to watch, please see the timestamps below to know which sections to skip). This video explained what I had suspected. My Left Bundle Branch Block (LBBB) of my cardiac electrical system most probably originated due to the electrolyte balance I went through prior to surgery and/or after. Not to mention the shock (be sure to stay tuned for my next post).
1.). How to recognize and diagnose pyloric stenosis
2.). What is the differential diagnosis and why is this critical to know?
3.). What labs and imaging is helpful in pyloric stenosis?
4.). Why is pyloric stenosis a medical emergency?
5.). What are the mechanisms in hypokalemic hypochloremic metabolic alkalosis? Why does it happen?
6.). What is paradoxical acuduria?
7.). How do you surgically treat pyloric stenosis?
8.). What is the post operative management strategy?
Check out these AMAZING timestamps and fast forward if you need to:
Start 00:00
What is pyloric stenosis? 01:41
Epidemiology of pyloric stenosis. 04:33
History and Exam in pyloric stenosis 06:50
Labs and Imaging in pyloric stenosis 10:28
Treating pyloric stenosis 17:19
Surgery for pyloric stenosis 20:56
Postoperative management pyloric stenosis 23:55
REFERENCES
Sabiston's Textbook of Surgery https://citizensurgeon.co/Sabiston
Surgery for HPS St Peter et al https://citizensurgeon.co/SurgeryHPS
Hopkins Clinical Pathway HPS https://citizensurgeon.co/HopkinsHPS
Oxford Review HPS https://citizensurgeon.co/oxfordHPS
Chapter 29 Holcomb and Ashcraft's Pediatric Surgery https://citizensurgeon.co/Ashcraft
Pyloric Stenosis in Animals
Did you know your pet can also have pyloric stenosis? Dr. Karen Becker explains how it affects animals in her video Dr. Becker Discusses Pyloric Stenosis
New Strategies for Treating Pyloric Stenosis
Interesting viewpoint to consider. Could pressure on the babies neck during labor and delivery be a mitigating factor for a baby to develop pyloric stenosis? He specifically mentions pyloric stenosis and non-surgical treatment in the video below.
Digestion & the Vagus Nerve: Sphincter function and related symptoms affected by neck instability
This video finally helped me to connect all my Nitty Gritty Health “dots” and for that I am grateful beyond measure. It all goes back to the vagus nerve.