Reflux/gastritis not responding to omeprazole??

[Ellie54320]

Just need someone to talk me down, no horror stories please as I’m already a nervous wreck. Just seeing if anyone has experienced anything like this…

A few months ago I started to feel like something was stuck in my throat the GP said Globus and it’s harmless so I went on my way. Then I started developing a slight cough (sometimes a bit croupy), my throat started becoming sore on and off and then I developed the burning/gnawing pain central under the ribs. GP said this was gastritis so put me on Omeprazole. That was an over month ago and I’ve been on 40mg but if anything it’s made me worse. I came off it for 2 weeks to go on femotodine (sp?!) and the stomach resolved slightly but the throat got worse?!

2 days ago I started Esomeprazole again and wham stomach pains now severe.

today I’m at my witts end … I’ve got a sore throat, lump feeling in throat, sometimes feel like I’m being strangled at the base of my throat, severe burning middle under ribcage, burping a lot, left ear keeps getting blocked, occasional cough,.. throat just feels irritated and angry and I can’t sit and do my job with the stomach pressure I have to keep getting up and walking about.

I just don’t understand why the omeprazole isn’t helping, but if I come off it my throat is SO much worse so I don’t know what to do.

No weight loss, no blood, stools okay, swallowing fine.

This is a long shot but has anyone had anything like this?! I’ve been referred by my GP for an endoscopy but it’s a really long wait so I’m just reaching out.

I’m 42, don’t smoke, drink a little.

Any help appreciated, I’ve convinced myself I’m at deaths door tonight and spiralling a bit with the wait.

Btw h pylori test came back negative and chest x-Ray clear

Ask to be referred for a barium swallow so they can look for what’s going on.

if you are having difficulty swallowing that triggers two week wait referral for endoscopy

I had something like this in 2020. Started with the burning/gnawing pain that you describe and I ended up losing a fair amount of weight as I just never felt like eating.

I also felt that the omeprazole I was put on amplified it, and came off fairly quickly. Also had an endoscopy which was all clear despite having all this pain.

It did go with time, and I think the things that helped were:

1. gaviscon advance after every meal
2. bizarrely apple cider vinegar (one with the mother) - drinking a tablespoon diluted in water. There are some theories that reflux is made worse by insufficient stomach acid - but you might want to wait for an endoscopy to confirm eg no ulcer.
3. trying not to stress, eg breathing exercises to calm the nervous system
4. I also stopped higher histamine foods for a while, eg coffee, tomatoes, prawns etc. Not sure if that really made any difference and I did reintroduce them all again in time.

Good luck and I hope it passes quickly for you.

I didn't find any PPIs worked 100% but Pantoprazole was a bit better than the others. Cutting out caffeine and all alcohol helps. The endoscopy when it comes should help work out what your issue is and as pp said, you might need a barium swallow and/or manometry test to see if your oesophagus muscles are working properly.

I’m swallowing okay strangely with everything going on that’s tbh the only time things are okay. It’s just irritated the rest of the time.

can I just ask for a barium swallow? I have a feeling they’ll say I need to wait for the Endoscopy first, they don’t seem overly concerned.

thanks @givemeanother that’s reassuring… I do think I’m really stressed right now even on a subconscious level as I’m getting really worried about this now.

I understand op! I had gastritis and reflux for the first time several years ago, I thought it was something very serious. I found that Lansoprazole or Omeprazole gave me bad stomach and back pains. I was tried on Ranitidine which was much better, but unfortunately it was discontinued. Can you try Esomeprazole? That's the one that's sold as Nexium, but it's available on prescription. It feels more gentle than the other PPIs and I found it works with fewer side effects. I had an endoscopy which showed inflammation and I was prescribed Esomeprazole for 3 months and gradually lowered the dose after that until I stopped.
It comes back now and then but I get a prescription for about a month and I'm OK.
One thing I've found helps is a spoonful of Manuka honey first thing in the morning. It has to be the one with the highest number. It's expensive but Holland and Barratt often have offers. At bedtime I take 2 Gaviscon tablets, the two-coloured ones, they keep me comfortable overnight.
Good luck, you will find something that works for you. I can't tell you how many horrible diseases I diagnosed myself with because these conditions are so painful!

Thanks @TypeyMcTypeface . I’m being so careful with what I eat I’m on a really bland diet I haven’t had alcohol, caffeine, spicy food and barely any dairy for over a month now.

Hi op. I went on omeprazole as GP said I had silent reflux, always coughing (and asthmatic), hoarse, clearing throat.

It gave me BRUTAL cramps and nausea. Famotidine made me feel like I'd been eating refresher sweets all day.

So I stopped it all, took 4 months to get over the rebound acid. I try to leave 4hrs before going to bed and gaviscon before bed too. And I'm ignoring the rest of it.

I tried stopping chocolate and decaf coffee but it didn't make a huge difference. And those are my two favourite things in the world so reintroduced them! And I'm damned if I'm stopping eating oranges and tomatoes.

I hope you find a resolution.

I wasn't offered a barium swallow until an endoscopy had shown up issues (hiatus hernia and general damage).

You could try going private for the endoscopy if it puts your mind at rest. Call some local private hospitals and they'll give you the price of the consultant/endoscopy/sedation.

I missed that you’ve been referred for an endoscopy, you could ask if it’s quicker and if they think it would be appropriate? It will depend on your GP but I would go back and discuss. Have you tried famotidine or other drugs? I’d go back for a chat.

reducing caffeine, alcohol and eating small meals might help a little, but until they’ve looked at what’s going on structurally might not help that much.

I had this last year. It took a few months for it to all properly calm down on 40g of omeprazole a day.
mine came with a whole pile of other (unrelated to stomach) stuff and the root cause of it all was stress, my body was basically breaking down because I wasn’t paying attention to the main issue.

I also cut out all the things mentioned, coffee, tomato based stuff, spicy and alcohol.

it definitely didn’t help my stress but when I started proactive action to manage the stress it started resolving.

obviously yours may be very different, but in case it helps you…

If necessary you can take a PPI (omeprazole, lansoprazole etc.), a H2 inhibitor (famotidine, there are others) and Gaviscon at the same time.

Cut out all fats and refined sugars.

Raise the head of the bed.

Meditation or other forms of relaxation will help.

Don't despair, I find that the symptoms cycle through good and bad periods and GP agreed this tends to be the case. So you can look forward to it improving.

I have one of these so I can sleep sitting up if needs be. I got mine from The Range for about £15. As pp said, definitely take as much Gaviscon as you need (own brands are just as effective and much cheaper).

Bed wedge from Puttnams really helped me. Before I got that I put the bed legs at the head of the bed up on yoga blocks totalling about 12” on height.

It gave me some time to work out what else helped. For me that was finding trigger foods and taking cimetidine plus Gaviscon before bed.

@ZenZazie didn't your partner mind sleeping on a slope? I tried it in the spare room and woke up repeatedly rolling down the bed, which made me more cross!!

I had this and had the endoscopy. I tried the bed wedge, sleeping on my left side (do this - it works), a PPI. I ended up going to a pelvic/women's health physio about something else, but ultimately all due to tension in my abdomen and pelvis. She gave me a massage under the ribs and some exercises - reflux went. Hasn't come back more than a year later.

I haven’t experienced the same issue as you, but did suffer with reflux for a long period of time. I was constantly taking omeprazole, Gaviscon, Rennies etc. I now take apple cider vinegar tablets everyday and have never suffered from it since. I do have other intestinal issues which the reflux was a side effect of.
I would still request further tests to rule anything out but in the meantime apple cider vinegar may be worth a try to help with your symptoms.

@Sugarahhoneyhoney no, not at all. It was his idea the first time we tried it- he got some cork tiles to prop up the bed. Then when we moved he realised yoga blocks would be easier and cheaper.

I’d initially tried a individual bed wedge which only covered the top half of my side of the bed, but sleeping bent at the waist had caused sciatica.

So being able to sleep out straight was great in comparison. And the bed wedges that go under the mattress, full length, are much easier all round.

So much so that when we stopped sleeping in the same room (his snoring) he kept the bed tilted.

I do find sleeping at a slight diagonal and/ot with a very soft pillow under my waist (I’m a side sleeper, kinda, sort of a mountain climber pose) solves the rolling issue.

Endoscopy

Sorry for my unhelpful statement ! If there’s any way you can scrape together £1000 or so for private please do it.

though I guess I have two perspectives : one family member had similar and died of oesophageal cancer (endoscopy offered too late so palliative options only). another family family had similar and we assumed the worst, they had barium swallow, endoscopy, chest X-ray, u/s, three months of omeprazole, radical diet interventions, raised bed etc etc et. and …their symptoms resolved with course of CBT

Ah that all makes sense.

I sleep on my front or back on as thin a pillow as possible, so when I was taking the PPI the nausea was horrific.

I'm on omeprazole because of other painkillers but gaviscon after every meal and at bedtime helps so much. I have a 5cm sliding hiatus hernia too. A cough. OH JOY!!

My mum has had severe reflux uncontrolled by medication for over 15 years and has finally got it under control this year.
She got side effects from nearly all of the ppis (omperazole etc) she made dietary changes which made a difference. She has had extensive damage to her oesophagus from the reflux and has been on the 2 weeks pathway for cancer symptoms so many times. She has also had a hernia which was been up to 10 cm sliding lengths and caused small pouches of the stomach above the diaphragm causing swallowing issues. Last year she had an operation to repair her hernia and strength the top of her stomach and that provided her a bit of a break before symptoms returned. She's since been able to manage medication and this has made a huge improvement in her symptoms. The operation has undone itself but as it gave her stomach a long enough break from the acid that she's managed to improve her symptoms and that in turn has improved her tolerance of the medication. She's been under an expert specialist for 8 years and they have said they now won't have to see her as frequently.

She's found she can't eat dairy, meat, commercial bread, spicy food, alcohol and caffeine