Lansoprazole experiences

[maeve84]

Hello! I’m just wondering how good people have found lansoprazole for acid reflux? My GP recently switched me from omeprazole after I saw her about a persistent tickly throat. The throat symptoms have not improved after 2 weeks of lansoprazole and additionally I’ve had 3 attacks of heartburn which I have very rarely suffered with before. I’ve also been having back and chest discomfort which comes and goes, this could be anxiety because I’ve got myself utterly convinced that I have cancer of the esophagus.

I'm currently on half the dose I was on and it's not going well. Feelings of indigestion after eating. This is a test to see if I can cut it out but seems unlikely. The feelings are unsettling as I have had gall stones years ago and more recently a bile duct stone.

Not sure there’s any benefit to staying off foods that are not your trigger.

@sequinpantiesi think it’s normal to have rebound symptoms when you cut down, perhaps it’ll settle?

@NextLevel2well of course not. But what I meant was that I haven’t noticed any of those as a trigger particularly. I just thought I’d cut them out for a bit to see if it helped.

@maeve84do you have an appointment for endoscopy yet?

Hopefully.

@SnowFrogJellyno. My gp did a non urgent referral a couple of weeks ago - so looking at my hospitals waiting list I have 14/15 weeks to wait

Having had a good week with very minimal symptoms I thought I’d got things sorted, but suddenly today things are worse again. I think possibly I have LPR more so than GERD as symptoms are dry throat, thick phlegm and chest tightness. Not typical heart burn at the moment.
I need to raise my bed up and go back to not eating so late I think.

I also feel there is a link to my bowel habits. If slightly constipated then symptoms seem to be worse - no idea if that’s possible

@maeve84/ it’s def possible it’s worse when constipated as everything backs up.

@Boredofmyguts maybe that’s what the problem is then. It seems weird that it’s suddenly flared up again. Sigh. This is all such hard work. And the wait for an appointment is so ridiculously long

I’ve had a good 2 weeks, stopping snacking between meals, no cakes or biscuits, still taking Gaviscon before bed. I’ve put some thick books under mattress and I sleep with 3 pillows. Had family round Friday where we had a curry, I didn’t have much, but did have 3 glasses of wine, yesterday had sausage and mash with onion gravy, big mistake, felt awful at bedtime, was actually sick at midnight, quite a lot of acid mucus, but felt so much better afterwards. The constipation isn’t great with me, in fact I’ve started taking Laxido because I am sure I don’t go enough. Had the report from my consultant appointment, I am to arrange blood tests while I wait for my liver ultrasound and endoscopy.

I'm still feeling unsettled on my reduced dosage - stomach very gurgly, looser bowels which is not a good thing and a mild feeling of indigestion after eating. Week 2 of reduced dosage.

@Lennonjinglesperhaps my snacking is my downfall. I snack because I have a small appetite and need to get more calories in to maintain my wait. I haven’t put anything under mattress as share the bed with DH and I feel it would be unfair to him. I also usually sleep on my front so it would be a massive change and make it hard for me to sleep. I think I’m going to try putting books under the legs so at least the actual mattress is still flat.
We had a Chinese Saturday night for valentines, I didn’t have a lot but perhaps that has been the cause of this flare.

Annoyingly I seem to be in an ibs flare too 😭

@sequinpantiesI’m sorry to hear that, have you been back to gp to ask how long it should take to settle down? Have you had heart burn/chest pain at all though?

@maeve84you are doing loads of things that are contributing to your reflux I’m afraid.
You do need to eat little and often, as the acid needs ‘something’ to do. 3 meals and two small snacks (no chocolate/crisps but things like rice cakes/nuts/fruit that isn’t acidic like bananas or melon). Make dinner early and wait at least 3 hours pre-bed.
Chinese would be v irritating for you. Keep off the takeaways.
You need to elevate the bed somehow, we have risers under ours but it’s not enough for me really, but that’s all I can do w husband in it, so I get you. It’s also important to sleep on your left side.
None of these are failsafe methods but things should improve.
Look at Molly Pelletier online if you want to make changes. She’s more gentle than Drs Aviv or Kaufman whose diets are almost unsustainable long-term.

So here’s the thing. Prior to December I was fine eating late. Fine eating crisps or chocolate as my snack. No issue at all with takeaways etc. I just don’t understand how this has all suddenly come
about from a tickle in my throat!

My husband and I will never be able to eat dinner together if I eat 3 hours before bed as he isn’t home in time. This is really getting me down. I just want to live a normal life like before!

I'm having a review in two weeks. It's settled better this week.

i want to be normal too! I’m so bored (as my user name says) of it all. I was fine and then I wasn’t, unfortunately that’s how reflux occurs. Luckily my husband usually gets home by 6.30 so it’s do-able. Obviously if I meet friends etc it’s later but some like meeting early thankfully, or we do lunch where possible!

I can’t believe there’s not more that can be done for us.
that’s good about your husband. Mines office might be moving and if it does then there’s more chance of him being home around 6.30 and us all being able to eat dinner together now the children are older. Right now he’s usually home at 7.30 but by the time we get to eat it’s more like 8/8.30pm after the children are sorted and in bed

From reading the comments I don’t think my sedation worked! I was very aware of the whole situation, it’s something I will never do again unless I’m put to sleep I threw up constantly throughout the examination.

I have tried both lansoprazole & omeprazole, both worked the same for me. However given the long term side effects I have come off them and just use gaviscon now. (I have a hiatus hernia caused by constant vomiting with HG in pregnancy).

@Glitterballofdreams that’s scary to read. I’m really scared of the procedure, I think because of the feeling of being out of control with the gagging etc. However I have now reached the point that I just want an answer and so I will do it.

last night I woke in the night with actual heartburn for the first time in almost 2 weeks. No idea what caused it especially as a made a real effort to sleep on my left side last night!

My symptoms are real, but I do wonder if at least some of them are caused, or worsened, by anxiety as I am really worried about the underlying cause of all this.

It’s definitely worth having the procedure, for peace of mind and better management. Everyone else here seems to have had a far better experience than I did, which is promising.

Do you sleep propped up? I find using 3 pillows help, stacked from under the shoulder. Try to avoid the usual causes such as spicy, citrus, greasy, caffeine and carbonated drinks. Avoid restrictive clothing like high waistbands etc. Also avoid eating or drinking for a couple of hours before bed if you can. You can also use gaviscon alongside lan/omeprazole. But do not drink anything once you’ve taken the gaviscon.

I hope you feel more comfortable soon

I just wish it wasn’t such a long wait to see gastro. I’m tempted to go back and exaggerate my symptoms to get a 2 week wait. But then karma might come back and bite me with a terrifying diagnosis if I do that!

I don’t sleep propped up because I really can’t fall asleep on my back. I need to prop up my mattress or bed legs instead but our bed is so heavy I need DH to help!

I haven’t quite figured out what my triggers are, I’ve been on decaf tea for a couple of weeks now (and only 1 a day), I’ve tried to cut down on chocolate but am loathed to cut it out completely when I don’t know it’s actually a trigger. I did eat too late last night, we were out at the children’s club and didn’t get home till 7, and while they ate at 5 I didn’t take anything for me so ended up having a bowl of cereal at 8.30 once they were in bed. Perhaps that was it - although prior to December this would have been absolutely fine for me!

I weaned myself off it. It's not good long term. Have you tried gaviscon extra and being very mindful about what and when you eat? I mostly sorted mine by doing this. There's no end point once you get on those tablets.

It’s not that bad. I’ve had two without any sedation. Yes you retch etc but they coach you through it and I found flattening my tongue and breathing like I was trying not to be sick helped. It’s also over really fast. Please don’t listen to horror stories as it’s really not the worst thing.

@twohotwaterbottlesthe GP told me to stay on it until I saw gastro. I really don’t want to take it long term. I only started due to a tickle in my throat and now I have a whole host of scary and painful symptoms to contend with. I’m scared to come off though as feel I’ll be swigging gaviscon all day!

Take the sedation. @maeve