Who has acid reflux??

[taylordvd]

I had an endoscopy on Wednesday. The doctor was looking for other issues. Anyways, I was shocked when I was handed a paper saying that I needed to pick up a prescription for PPI medication. The paper noted that he saw redness and granularity, which google has told me is due to the acid reflux. I have never felt heartburn except when I was pregnant or on one or two other occasions. I am fairly young and not overweight. Anybody else have this? How could I not know? And since I didn't know, how do I have any clue how long this has been going on??

[JulieDB]

I had asymptomatic (or so I thought) acid reflux probably all my life. I now know that all that throat clearing I did was probably due to that! I thought it was allergies. And some people think allergies are related to it.

If you can, sleep with the head of your bed elevated a couple of inches. You can put blocks under the feet of the bed. This won't work for me because I am also supposed to sleep with my feet elevated above my heart. So I bought a GERD wedge pillow. Simply using an extra regular pillow won't work because it will put you at the wrong angle.

Learn which foods set you off. Dark chocolate is very bad for me. But I know other people who can't eat onions, peppers, or even tomato sauce.

Once I started taking the PPIs (and I tried all but one) they gave me horrible reflux symptoms. I felt just awful. And then the migraines and weird dreams came.

For a long time the only thing I could take was Maalox which didn't seem to help. Now I take Carafate. It's a pain because I have to take it an hour before I eat. I have to make sure not to eat so much as a bite of food with it because it will bind with the med and form a bezoar (food ball) which would have to be surgically removed.

Eating too close to bed can be a problem too.

[CW&M Mom]

I have it, had it all my life, but when I got real sick..I actually didn't have major reflux (heartburn) issues but major nausea issues.

I've taken prilosec (made the nausea worse) then for years took pepcid. This was before any other PPI was available.

Then as symptoms got worse a couple years ago during my last pregnancy was switched to prevacid. That worked much better but I started aspirating at night whenever I laid down so I was switched to two times a day...but as prevacid was made OTC our insurance didn't want to pay for it, so the doctor said to try protonix and that has been the best drug for me yet!.

My DH has it as well, he has little to no symptoms most of the time..but has a stricture..so food gets stuck in his esophagus because his esophagus has narrowed where the reflux splashes up on it.

Thus our kids are just doomed LOL.

My oldest doesn't do well on PPI's at all, she does best on zantac, she has a lot of allergies and zantac is a hystimine blocker so for whatever the reason it works best for her. She "tastes her throw ups" when we don't do it. She also is a major throat clearer as well. She has an ENT appointment coming up..and I am requesting a scope..because between the allergy stuff and the reflux stuff we just can't get a handle on her stuff. She also is very prone to get croupy.

My middle one has interstitial lung disease and is my puker. He's on prevacid and has slow motility in his stomach. He's had a PH probe which showed reflux, although not horrific, his is basically caused because his stomach doesn't empty food properly.

My youngest is on prevacid, she is a bit like her sister, prone to getting croupy and when she gets cold's she's prone to having gunk pouring out of her eyes and such. She is the one I think at some point we may be able to wean when she's old enough to tell us how she feels...now that we have a handle on her stomach stuff (she's lactose intolerant).

P.S. It also for me runs in my family, my Dad recently was dx with it and although his father wasn't his dad died of stomach cancer, and often undiagnosed stomach cancer is because of untreated reflux that grew out of control in the esophagus...called barrettes esophagus. His dad died of esophageal cancer as well. (and my grandfather didn't smoke/drink or any of the known common causes of stomach cancer.).

[434Teresa]

I have it really bad..I dont have heartburn either. I told the Dr.s around here that I thought I had acid reflux for years only to be told that there is no way for I dont have heartburn.
My breathing got so bad that I went to a breathing Dr with it. Right away he said it was due to acid reflux. I had several test done over the past year for acid reflux even a ph test which was super high. I now need sugery to help fix the problem but cant have it done for its to dangerous and could lead to more problems. The acid has done so much damage that I have other problems with my upper stuff to deal with now other than breathing problems. Acid reflux can cause you think you have allergies problems all the time when its only the acid making everything in there all dry,red and sore so your body makes what seems like allergy problems as a way of protecting those pathways.

I have to take several pills a day for mine and I still have bad days..food gets hung in my chest wall, and the acid backwash comes up and out my mouth & nose when I sleep (talk about hurting)...

It also can cause stomach ulcers and more

[Blessed617]

I'm on Prilosec OTC 2x daily because the disease I have messed with my muscles and I also have a hiatial hernia. Be careful with PPIs. Current research shows that using it for more than 2 weeks at a time will make your symptoms come back worse. I've had to come to the conclusion that I will be on Prilosec for the rest of my life. I can't go but 2 days and not take it before the symptoms are so bad I can't even eat. Protonix is a stronger PPI than Prilosec, Prevacid, or any others.

If you seemed to be without symptoms that is what is called silent reflux. You are actually regurging, but you don't feel it. It's important to take care of it because if you don't the acid will eat away at the lining of your throat opening the door to a lot of other, far worse issues.

I hope that you find a solution to your problem and everything is OK in the end.

[taylordvd]

Thanks for all the encouragement. My husband really wants me to take this seriously. And everything that I have read about it kinda makes me scared, especially since I don't know how long I have had it. I took the Prilosec for 3 days but did not take it today because it was giving me a major headache and causing diarrhea. So, I am gonna call the doctor's office on Monday. I already had diarrhea issues, which is why I had the endoscopy, so I really don't need a medicine giving me more. It is just so bizarre because I had no idea I had this but the endoscopy showed that I had damage from it. Thoughts or suggestions on which medication I should ask the doctor for next??

[CW&M Mom]

Thanks for all the encouragement. My husband really wants me to take this seriously. And everything that I have read about it kinda makes me scared, especially since I don't know how long I have had it. I took the Prilosec for 3 days but did not take it today because it was giving me a major headache and causing diarrhea. So, I am gonna call the doctor's office on Monday. I already had diarrhea issues, which is why I had the endoscopy, so I really don't need a medicine giving me more. It is just so bizarre because I had no idea I had this but the endoscopy showed that I had damage from it. Thoughts or suggestions on which medication I should ask the doctor for next??

There are two types of medications you can try that will help treat it.

H2 blockers and PPI's.

PPI"s tend to treat it better then h2 blockers..but occasionally a person just doesn't tolerate PPI's. you can also use them in tandem as long as they are not taken at the exact same time...space them 2 hours apart.

I found my symptoms worse with prilosec it was the very first ppi made and they have made great strides since it's manufacturing.

If you want to stick with an OTC PPI I would do prevacid. IMO much much better.

If you want to do a prescription..then you would need to look at what your insurance would cover and go from there. I personally have found protonix great. Aciphex is another great one, so is nexium.

If you want to try a completely different med, to see if you do better diarrhea wise (aka h2 blockers)..I did pepcid 40mg twice a day...this is what I did for over a decade with excellent results. That is basically the max you can go on that one. I tried zantac, and tagamet and axid as well and found pepcid worked the best for me. Axid is hard to find OTC. Tagamet is used the least now days. Pepcid and Zantac are the most used OTC.

[434Teresa]

I HAVE to take dexilant(two a day & yes I know it says one),then Reglan 4 times a day(metoclopram) and Rantidine 3 times a day to keep mine under control somewhat. If I miss one pill I pay that night... all of these meds say that you are not to be on them but so long but what can you do when you have to have them still? keep taking them even tho they tell you not to, thats what.

I took the Prilosec, Prevacid, Aciphex, and nexium they did not work for me. I really need the sugery to correct this acid problem but I cant pay for it out of my pocket and the temp insurance I have will not for they say its to dangerous. My stomach dr said often you have to play with the meds and the anounts until you find what is right for you.

Did you have a lower and a upper endoscopy done..I ask for the lower is usually done for the for diarrhea problems not a upper. I have had a upper done 3 times because of my acid problems in the last year and few months. One lower for the diarrhea which they found to only be because I dont have a gallbadder but wantted to be sure.(mine is not always diarrhea just 8 to 10 trips a day most days)..The upper one is what they do when it comes to checking on something with my acid reflux even to do the ph test..(they put in a chip/chips and the chips send readings to a box that you wear for as long as 72 hours. This lets the Drs know how much and how often you are regurging/ect because of the acid. How far up it is going and how high the ph balance is from the acid. Then when you feel something from the acid you push a button on the box, I had few pushes of the buttons but the box/chips picked up so many many more than I was feeling).

[CW&M Mom]

Reglan can cause the side effect tardive dyskinesia if you want to google yourself into scary doom. google it. It is a neuro side effect that often DOESN'T GO AWAY. Yes we had to put my son on it, and very occasionally my son still will take it (and I mean once every couple of months one dose) but if you don't have to take it long term..you shouldn't. Also never ever ever take it with alcohol..as alcohol will intensify the active ingredients in it...making you even more likely to have neuro side effects from it.

And if you start having tremors, hand shaking, involuntary movements of the tongue, literally stop taking the drug and never ever take it again. That is the beginning symptoms of tardive dyskinesia


H2 blockers are considered safe long term.

PPI's when they first came out...there was concern they may cause long term damage. there is still concern it may block absorption of calcium..but that is typical concern for children, not as much of an concern for adults..normally what doctors look at is the benefits outweigh the minimal disadvantages it could cause.

[JulieDB]

Reglan can cause the side effect tardive dyskinesia if you want to google yourself into scary doom. google it. It is a neuro side effect that often DOESN'T GO AWAY. Yes we had to put my son on it, and very occasionally my son still will take it (and I mean once every couple of months one dose) but if you don't have to take it long term..you shouldn't. Also never ever ever take it with alcohol..as alcohol will intensify the active ingredients in it...making you even more likely to have neuro side effects from it.

And if you start having tremors, hand shaking, involuntary movements of the tongue, literally stop taking the drug and never ever take it again. That is the beginning symptoms of tardive dyskinesia


H2 blockers are considered safe long term.

PPI's when they first came out...there was concern they may cause long term damage. there is still concern it may block absorption of calcium..but that is typical concern for children, not as much of an concern for adults..normally what doctors look at is the benefits outweigh the minimal disadvantages it could cause.

I take Reglan for gastroparesis. Yes, I know it can have really bad side effects. But without it I just throw up. The food simply won't move through me. I don't think it helps at all with the reflux though.