GERD and acid relux

[Orangesandlemons77]

In a lot of pain, can anyone whare how they manage this and which meds might help Thanks

I've been on a combination of lansoprazole, peppermint oil and ondansetron for many years it seems to work well for me most of the time. It is trial and error though and Dr's will often prescribe in a particular way due to local policies and availability.

You need to see GP. In meantime you can get meds otc but it needs to be treated.
I came off omeprazole - did not do much good - am being v careful with what I eat and aldo taking gaviscon advance.

GERD diet for a month, no cheating. Meds and elevating the head of the bed to give your tubes a chance to heal.

Thanks, I am also stopping coffee and alcohol for now as they seem to be triggers for me. The problem is I am on some meds which seem to make it worse- co-codomol and fluoxetine.

I think I need to speak to the GP but they are already investigating something else for me and don't know when can get to speak to them next as there are no appointments. I have in some cases got a response by emailing their surgery which they have passed on to the GP so that could be a plan.

It seems to have gone into by chest and back, particularly on the right side. GP already did bloods and an abdominal ultrasound which came back OK.

Now have come down with flu along with the DC lovely!

OP are you using anything for GERD. I had to stop painkillers for spinal injury because of GERD and stomach cramps.

only then did they tell me I should have been prescribed something for GERD all along. I took lanzaprazole (sp)?

i found out a lot of people are on this permanently. I ended up giving up on the painkillers as they weren't that helpful anyway tbh.

really hope things improve for you asap

If you're at the chest pain point you HAVE to start today. You really need to elevate the head of your bed for tonight. You need a low residue diet. The gerd diet has a list of stuff to cut out for a little while. It's hard and boring but it's important. You do need meds though.

I take OTC esomeprazole for now, but this GERD diet sounds like it might be worth a go. I'd really miss my coffee...

OP I've been having the awful pain in the right side of my mid/upper back and sometimes in my chest. It was making me very depressed. I can't take PPIs like omeprazole so my GP gave me something called fomatadine which has really helped me in quite a short space of time.

I have this, it affects my asthma badly too.

I’m on Omeprazole twice a day at the moment but it’s not doing a great deal, I have reflux almost all the time. I could do with losing a couple of stone if I’m honest, but that will be my focus for the new year.

Tea and coffee are big triggers for me, I need to stop but I’d rather give up alcohol!

I might investigate fomatidine as they’re threatening to send me for an endoscopy.

It also sometimes gives me bad earache, does that happen to anyone else?

I have to avoid caffeine, sweet things, things with high gluten content esp white bread and white pasta (wholemeal I can tolerate) high fat foods... then my acid reflux is manageable with otc eg rennies. If I want a more interesting diet I take omeprezole.

I find if I want tasty things like cake, it's better to have it many hours before bed, and likewise I avoid eating anything in the evening after 6.30pm unless we are out for dinner

Yes to earache. That is a really wierd one.

Mine is made worse by two things. If I address both then it goes away:

Overweight. When my BMI gets to 27.5+ it really kicks in..

Second is onions, onion powder, garlic and any alliums like leeks or chives, basically. I just can't eat them anymore, which is a shame as they are amongst my favourite foods.

Only other thing I would say is do not ingore GERD because it seems like a minor digestive annoyance. PPIs really help and GERD is not always benign. My lovely friend died from an associated cancer recently :(

@Goawayangryman

How saddening for you, your poor friend 😔 I have heard that GERD symptoms can mimic something called barrett's esophagus, and I remember meeting someone years ago on social media who had esophageal cancer, so it's really important to treat the symptoms as best we can. That way, we can figure out if it might be something more serious, something that the usual. prescription medicines can't treat successfully.

I got the spelling wrong, btw, it's famotidine 😳

I've had earache with it occasionally, the pain tends to work its way up through my shoulder and neck

Thanks for the replies, I think my painkillers were making it worse..I have stopped them now. I think they have also been masking this pain a little which hasn't been helping things.

I'm doing the things mentioned, lost appetite as well I guess due to the pain, had some veggie soup yesterday which seemed to help.

Have emailed the GPs again and asked about the drug mentioned.

Just a thought in terms of pain meds might a transdermal patch be useful if not able to stomach tablets I wonder.

Hi Op sending hugs, I could of posted the same thing and found your post. It's really upsetting me the symptoms.
I've noticed cheese is a big trigger for me. Garlic bread and anything rough like crackers .Coleslaw also
Certain supplements too, I can't have anything with fish oil or those yellow vitamin d tablets you can get
Mine seems to have worsened since more peri menopausal symptoms started last year

Thanks interesting about peri as I am mid 40s..yes just when all the Chritmas food and drinks may be around as well. Probably not the best for this.

I had a bath earlier and think that helped the pain a little.

I’ve been on Omeprazole for the past 12 years, nothing else works. I had a gastroscopy which found I have a slow emptying stomach, so food just sits there for ages. Before I was on Omeprazole sleeping on two or three pillows and drinking a pint of milk helped. Gaviscon and Rennies were useless. Avoid alcohol, chocolate, onions, tomatoes, fruit juices and caffeine as much as possible.

I have omeprazole and gaviscon daily and avoid foods what makes it worse, you will learn to recognise your triggers, what makes it worse for you. X

@Elsiebear90 - they found the slow emptying stomach w me too at gastroscopy.

Esomeprazole rather than omeprazole or lansoprazole or pantoprazole helped me. I always assumed one proton pump inhibitor would be much like another but one is far better than the others for me..

If you're prescribed these, take them an hour before food

Find your triggers by process of elimination. Yes it may mean giving some things up. Mine are coffee (I can drink tea) raw onion, peppers if they are not properly softened, bacon, Walkers products and quite a lot of crisps (fine with tortillas) and I also discovered I'm allergic to Calcium Propionate, a preservative in processed bread products. Stopping the latter was a real game changer.

I have a phone appt Tues with the GP to discuss this. (and find out if some other test is back)

I'm really feeling the pain now I have stopped the co-codomol. Propped up with a hot water bottle in my back, it all keeps gurgling away..

wonder why for some of us it seems to be on the right side?

Had a hot chocolate earlier as avoiding coffee, but that wasn't a good plan seems to have made it worse.

It's so horrible it is going to make me really strict with anything that makes it worse.

Interesting about the slow stomach emptying thing, I have had lots of abdominal surgery in the past and a large section of small bowel removed joined at the top of the small bowel so lots of adhesions there. Might be contributing perhaps.

But I think the meds have been the worst things. Hope I haven't caused harm by using the pain relief instead of dealing with it until now. But I didn't realise

Go you need a referral to gastro and an endoscopy for this? I have had one of those in the past and wasn't very nice. That was years ago though.