I am putting 12 breathing fire dragons to shame!!

[dizzygirl]

Ok I am complaining again!! i had a rough night w/ pots.. and unrelenting nausea..once i finally fell asleep this morning (like 6:30 am).. and woke up I had some nasty heartburn!.. and as the day progresses.. the heartburn is getting more severe..

I feel that if you hold a 2-by-4 to my mouth and i breath on it.. that I will set it on fire!!

The heartburn hurts! from the beginning of the espogaus clear dwon into my stomach.. i feel some lovely fire burning going on in my gut.. OUCH! sharp pains..I keep drinking milk.. as it gives me about a10 second relief from the burning..

SO I am looking for suggestion to keep the breahting fire dragon name dizzygirl at bay..(allready on a heartburn pill prevacid-- and I have gerd..)

ok back to the milk drinking and pepto

[Guest Belinda]

Dizzy have you ever tried Protonix for your heartburn and reflux?? Supposedly strongest one out there.

Also over the counter Zantac seems to work wonders for many. Maybe if you do the opposite and just stand on your head?????Just kiddin..

Hope you feel better soon!!

[Jacquie802]

Hi, I can relate with you about the nausea. I felt really nauseas this morning along with palpitations. What makes it worse is that no one was here. I feel some type of relief when my mom is here so if anything were to happen I wouldn't be alone.

I'm not quite sure what to tell you about the heartburn. I also drink lots of Pepto (nausea). Have you ever tried Mylanta or something other than the Pepto?? Maybe it would help a little better. Have you been sitting up?? I know when you eat you are supposed to sit up for 3 hours before you go to bed or nap since that can bother the GERD. Wish I had something more to offer to you. I hope you feel better.

[dizzygirl]

Protonix.. Uh i think that they gave that to me in the hospital to help things settle dwon..

i have tried all the liqui antiacids/ heartburn remdies.. pepto works allright.. can handle the thickness of other things.. makes me want to puke...

as far as food goes.. i really dont eat all tha much.. I'm really lucky if i can get a smal meal in my daily.. me and food just dont get along!! And i LOVE to eat!! and cook!! I am a good cook I think so anyways..

Belinda you made me laugh.. !! my boyfreind has an antigravity table in the basement.. and if I can make it to the basement. I love to lay on it an hang UPSIDEDOWN.. it makes me feel better!! LOL..all the blood goes to my head!! and I'm not dizzy!!

Ahh lord...

[Jacquie802]

I forgot, I was given Ranitidine (stronger form of Zantac I believe) for an ulcer once. It helped with my heartburn/acid reflux as well. I am supposed to take Protonix but I stopped taking it a while ago, I haven't had any major heartburn/acid reflux probs lately. Knock on wood....

[dawn]

Dizzygirl,

Milk is the worst thing for heartburn or ulcers said my GI doctor. Milk actually makes our stomach's produce more acid.

Have you tried Mylanta gelcaps? I like those, usually take a couple at night, because we make alot of stomach acid then.

The other thing I do is nibble on saltines throughout the day, even eat a couple if I wake up during the night.(Like when don't I wake up during the night) Talk about wishful thinking.

Good luck

Dawn

[Ernie]

How about Pantaloc?

[morgan617]

Milk is bad for the gut, it only relieves temporarily and then causes more acid production.

Make sure you take the prevacid on an empty stomach and take the zantac at night. Your gut works differently at night and zantac just works better than the prevacid at night. According to my doc.

Make sure antacids are liquid form. Gross I know, but coat much better. feel soon better...morgan

[Guest Belinda]

LoL...Dizzy I would do the same, sometimes I just put feet on the couch and lay on the floor..maybe I should get a table like your boyfriends!!

I hope you start feeling better sweetie..just saw your post about the strep..my friend is the same way gets it all the time and it is hard to get rid of/or comes back.

keep your head up/Down!!

Belinda

[dizzygirl]

hehehe! belinda.. thsi table is neat.. it kind remind me of a tilt table in some ways though .. you strap your feet in these things.. so that you dont slide out the other end!! LOL.. it find it helpful.. ahh only if we could live in an upside down world!!

OOOCH!! you know.. I did not know that milk casued heartburn to get worse!.. my god no wonder it keeps getting worse today!!.. I have been chugging the milk down.. ( about hafl a gallon -- i really did not know that.. thanks for letting me know!) i'm not areal big milk drinker to begin with.. butat times i crave it in a bad way.. and ahve ta have it...that and it fills me up quickly too..

thanks for the tips .. probbaly time for a new heartburn med!!

[MightyMouse]

There are so many REALLY good otc options for heart burn now. I lived on Prilosec for many years, and it did a great job for me--currently i'm on Nexium twice a day for reflux and gastric erosions & inflamation, as well as duodenal inflamtion.

[dizzygirl]

Is nexium otc or perscription?

[mom4cem]

Hi Dizzy,

I take nexium and pepcid and pop gaviscon before meals. I have had reflux/gerd for years and recently was diagnosed with LPR,(reflux up to the back of the throat). I've taken in the past zantac, prevacid,prilosec,protonix and aciphex too.

Prevacid stopped working for me. I found aciphex to be a good one. This particular combo this time seems to be working fairly well as well as they told me to raise the head of the bed 6inches. We did it and it feels like you are sliding down in bed but it does help to keep the acid from coming up.

[MightyMouse]

Nexium is an rx, but is really just a reformulation of Prilosec so that they could keep the Rx money coming in after Prilosec went otc. Prilosec, Tagmet, Pepcid and Zantac are all otc items now. When I couldn't afford my meds, I used the otc Zantac and doubled the dose to reach what would have been an Rx dose before (with my doc's okay). Then Prilosec became otc later, and works MUCH better for me. We're all different, so you might want to buy a small quantity of whatever you try, and see if it works well for YOU before spending more money on the bigger bottle/box.

Nina

[briarrose]

I used Pepcid and Maloxx for years but this past summer my stomach got worse and the doctors switched me to Protonix. It's been a wonderful relief and I'm even able to eat foods that I haven't enjoyed in years!

[michiganjan]

Dizzy Girl,

Stay off the upside-down table thingy. You don't want to encourage stomach acid to run up the esophogus. I have GERD but manage an almost no-GERD-symptom life using the following program.

I take one over-the-counter zantac 75 sometime after dinner. I have 4-inch blocks under the feet of the head of the bed. I avoid food with much fat, especially after lunch time. I also take something called digestive modulators made by Sol-gar at the suggestion of my doctor. These help digestion take place faster.

Also, when symptoms are bad, I take Gaviscon before bed. The Gaviscon forms a barrier that floats on top of the stomach contents and keeps the acid from washing up the esophogus. It works well for some people and not as well as others.

Also, when symptoms are bad, try snacking on saltine crackers. A doctor once told me to do this to get relief that the crackers took up the acid. And yes, milk is a poor antacid, but I myself use it at times.

One more thing . . . acupuncture did not work for my POTS, but it worked really well for my GERD.

[momdi]

Try doing a search on licorice root or DGL on this site for some past discussions.

Health food stores sell something called DGL. It's licorice root with the glycyrhizin removed - glycyrhizin is the part of licorice that causes retention of salt and water. It's safe and soothing and healing to the mucous membrane lining of the GI tract. The chewables work well, but taste like licorice. There's also a capsule if you don't like the taste. Solgar is one manufacturer of capsules. You can read about it online in many places. I think Dr. Weil is a big fan. You can try searaching his site for lots of info.

When I owned my health food store, customers used to rave about this product. You take it before each meal and at bedtime. After awhile, most people would take it just once a day, or even occasionally, whenever they had problems or were going to eat a known troublemaking food.

Licorice candy is NOT the same thing - it's usually sugar and anise oil, not true licorice. Check with your pharmacist for interactions with your other meds, although I think it's unlikely, you want to be sure. DGL will be written up in the pharmacist's reference books.

[lthomas521]

I'd definitely talk to the pharmacist about the heartburn remedies. Some of them might interact with other drugs. Even Tums could interfere with some antibiotics, for example.

[DSM3KIDZ]

If I stay loaded up on aciphidopillus than I don't have much acid problems. When things get bad I'll use zantec.

I used to be on a PPI protonix and than it stopped working so I had to switch to Aciphex. Things got better than it seemed like that wasn't working anymore. Once I stayed of the PPI's for about 2 months things have been really good acid wise.

I'm not telling you to stap your PPI I'm just telling you my experience.

Hang in there I hope you kill the dragons soon!!!

Dayna

Edited January 27, 2006 by DSM3KIDZ

[dizzygirl]

The dragons are sleeping tonight YEAH!!

just wanted to say thanks guys for the input.. i will definatly be talking to the doc about this..

thanks again!

PS.. I dont go on the unside down table often.. its in the basement.. and I cant hadnle the stairs.. so its colecting more dust then anyhting else!!

[faithinspires]

Linda,

And heartburn too! You poor thing! I have a ton of gastrointestinal problems. I am on Protonix 40 mg twice a day. Tried all of the other prescription ones, until this one finally worked! Feel better soon! Renee