Anyone suffer from Acid Reflux?

[jimmyjamas]

Hello. I have been diagnosed with this and I need some help.

It started around Christmas time when I was coughing at night time. As soon as I lay flat I cough up mucous. I haven't had a decent nights sleep since Christmas becuase of this cough.

My GP prescribed Omeprazole 20mg which has helped, I have been on them for 1 month. I went back and saw a different GP and he has prescribed 10mg.

What I want to know is, is there anything that will help other than these tablets because they don't seem to work every night. The last 4 night I have been waking up coughing. Its driving me mad. Help!

I had this when pregnant, - the whole 9 months. I took max dose of Rennie every day (probably rotted my teeth) as it worked 'instantly', but took zantac ('renatadine' sp?) too to stop the cause!

Did the trick. Good luck!

thanks. anyone else got any tips. i really need a good nights sleep.

my dh has a hernia and was prescribed this medication a few years back - supposedly for life but he just takes them when he's suffering particularly. The main thing to do is to avoid eating your main meal late at night - the earlier you can eat and have your food digested, the better. Having your main meal at midday and a lighter snack in the evening would be the ideal scenario. From what I can remeber, DH was advised to avoid spicy foods. If you can avoid lying totally flat in bed, it will help to prevent the acid coming up into your throat.

yes, I get this - it's horrible!

Why have they reduced your dose? Perhaps you need to go back up to 20mg. I found that was the ideal dose for me.

I also found I needed to take them at a certain time of day for them to work all day and night iyswim so experiment with taking it in the morning and taking it at night to see what works best.

General advice - avoid spicy foods and alcohol, small meals and often, DEFINITELY no large meals in the evening (including drinking lots of liquid, anything that really fills up your stomach) and try and sleep on 2 pillows if you can bear it.

i.e. don't drink lots of liquid at night time I meant

actually, I would definitely go back to the GP if I was you. Is it mucus you are coughing up or (excuse TMI) sick or acid?

I know, at night with reflux, when stuff rises in my throat it's sort of partly digested food/sick. It makes me hoarse. However, I wouldn't say mucus comes into it unless I have a cold or post nasal drip.

Hi Jimmyjamas,

It's horrid, I know. A rather drastic solution if the medication is not helping is an operation called a fundoplication.

I had this done a few months ago - mainly because I was allergic to the proton pump inhibitors like Omeprazole and so couldn't take them.

I'm not sure that I would have opted for the op if I could have taken the meds....but then again it has done the trick and all those miserable symptoms you described are gone (hopefully for good!).

Good luck, whatever you decide to do.

RR

Put at least 2 bricks under each foot of the bed, at the head end, so that you have a substantial tilt to your bed. It's sounds ridiculous but can sometimes help to keep the acid down in the tummy at night. Takes a bit of getting used to but it might help.