Heartburn........and not over all this craziness lately. (though I'm sure it's not helping the matter)
Acid reflux, GERD, heartburn, whatever it is, I hate it. Last December I went on Protonix and that helped a whole bunch. My dr. had only given me a 2 months prescription and so I emailed her that it worked great, was I supposed to keep taking or ?. She said try going every other day, which I did and after several weeks started having problems again. I toughed it out a few more weeks and no relief so I went back to every day. That helped some, but not back to where I was the first time I was taking it every day.
I have pretty much completely cut out eating chocolate (so hard!) because I would have chocolate quite often and I drink very little coffee - maybe 2/3 of a cup at the most per day, first thing in the morning. I even tried not drinking that little bit, but didn't make a difference.
Then the past few weeks it has gradually been getting worse. No matter what time of day I tried to take the medication it always hits me around 4-4:30pm and lasts at least a couple of hours. I don't really get the burning feeling very much, mostly it's just that I constantly feel like I have to burp and it makes me feel like my heart is fluttering or skipping a beat (which is worse if I try to lay down). If I get a good burp out (sorry for the detail) then I feel better for a bit, but it just builds back up again.
Every night it was lasting a bit longer and longer, into when I was trying to sleep. I'd take a few tums in the evening and that would help a little bit. Finally last Friday night I had enough. The Protonix obviously isn't working. The only OTC I hadn't tried before going to the doctor last December was Nexium, so figured I might as well give that one a try and picked some up at the store on Saturday. I didn't take anything at all on Saturday (making sure the Protonix was out of my system before starting the Nexium) and Saturday was the best night I have had in a long time! I didn't start the Nexium on Sunday either and that was a good night too.
But, then Monday afternoon/evening it started up again. Sigh. So Tuesday morning I started the Nexium. Not too bad of night's since then. Very little heartburn. Hopefully this one is going to do the trick.
My boss said she takes Protonix too, but it doesn't help enough and she has same problems at night, though hers always starts when she goes to bed. She started adding Zantac (Ranitidine) in the evenings and said it has worked wonders. Her brother was having same issues and started taking it in addition to his morning Protonix and said it totally helped him too. I had tried the Ranitidine last Fall, just on it's own and it didn't really help, but maybe the combination of the two would do the trick. If this Nexium doesn't help I'll try going back on the Protonix and adding Ranitidine in the evenings. If that doesn't work I guess it's back to the Dr - which just means an upper GI done, which the dr. said they will just say to go on a prescription medication anyway.
When I visited my Dr last month, she did say that the stress I am going through will probably make it worse, so maybe one of these days, if and when I ever get life back to normal, the heartburn won't be so bad.
I have taken nexium in the past and now I take omeprazole solely for insurance purposes. They are the same type of drug as protonix as all three are proton pump inhibitors. Acidic foods (think tomatoes, soda) and even peppermint can also make heartburn worse as well as caffeine and chocolate. Stress is the number 1 cause of making my acid reflux go through the roof and during that time I just double my dose.
ReplyDeleteI would talk to your doctor before taking more than one type of medicine.
it probably is the stress making it worse than usual. I also do not drink soda at all, either.
ReplyDeleteI'm not surprised. Sorry.
ReplyDeleteYou don't drink much coffee but I wouldn't drink it first thing on an empty stomach. Maybe a piece of toast or something.
Breathe~
Monica
I've cut out the coffee for now. we'll see how that goes.
DeleteMy inatructions for taking the protonix were to take it first thing in the morning and wait one hour before eating anything. The otc contains metal which brings on dementia. My endoscopy showed I had eosinophils, lesions in my esophagus, which he removed. The eosinophils are lesions caused by allergies. So, I was sent to an allergist. It turns out I am allergic to all mammal meat, cashew nuts, filberts, and Brazil nuts. At first, it was only beef. When I gave up beef, my IBS disappeared. If stress were a factor in my acid reflux, I would have never gotten rid of the reflux.
ReplyDeleteAs for chocolate, don't eat Dutch chocolate or any chocolate processed with alkali which is Dutch chocolate. Look it up. I eat chocolate chips that are not dutch processed. No problem.
Don't take the otc. Don't take protonix at night. Remember to wait an hour before eating. Only when I take it wrong do I have reflux problems.
I forgot to say that eosinophils will become cancerous, so ask if he found those.
DeleteAlso, don't eat late. Sleep on your left side. I cannot sleep on my right side as the reflux is worse.
DeleteI was taking it first thing, but it was more like a half hour until I ate. It's hard for me to go an hour, but might have to try that. I haven't had an endoscopy yet, so don't know what my esophagus shows. I am just the opposite when my heartburn is acting up - I cannot sleep on my left side at all. Makes it totally worse. I can only do right side.
DeleteWell, one doctor thinks it is sstrange I can sleep on the left side. Another agrees. So, I suppose it is what works.
Deletedrink a large glass of water. Sometimes it is very hard for me to wait one hour!
DeleteI have used Nexium. And it works. I began having similar issues as you describe here after taking blood pressure meds (Lisinopril, then another that was a channel blocker, and now happily situated to a completely different one that the name escapes me totally - lol) but at first I thought it was my heart and it felt tight in my chest. It was worse when I ate bread. My doc gave me the Nexium and it began to calm me but only after I went to the emergency room, failed a stress test and had an arteriogram finding my heart was perfect. Now that I am on this 3rd med, and take blood sugar med, Metformin - it seems to break down and help me digest. But I noticed that if I had bread, rice, sugar - that it seemed to be worse b/c my system could not digest it. So I'm not sure if the BP meds hampered my system or if it was the pre-diabetic state. But - just a thought to give you a couple of other angles to look at. oh and I dropped the Nexium per doc orders when I took the Metformin and haven't much of a problem since.
ReplyDeleteit sure gets complicated when you have to take multiple medications, doesn't it? My DH had that problem. One would cause a problem, so they'd want to add a new one to combat that one's side effects. It seemed a never ending problem.
DeleteHope you are feeling better and everything else is going as they are supposed to.
ReplyDeleteThank you! I am feeling better the past few days, so am hoping it lasts. Things are moving along, just waiting for the FHA inspection/appraisal now
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