Acid reflux- anyone have experience of taking ranitidine?

[PDJames]

Have been suffering with awful indigestion and acid reflux. Have been trying to see if I can work out what triggers it but at the moment it seems more or less everything does! Gaviscon was helping a bit but didn't work that well. My GP has prescribed ranitidine. I feel less nauseous but acid reflux and general discomfort still going strong. Has anyone taken this? Did it work straight away or does it need a while to kick in? Many thanks.

I've no idea- I've been trying natural stuff as I cannot stand the taste and texture of over the counter remedies and I've found that a splash of cider vinegar in water really does help and it doesn't taste bad at all. Its a bit like fighting acid with acid and you can actually feel it soothing your mouth/gullet as it goes down.

I had ranitidine for 3rd pregnancy and found it wonderful. (just regret I didn't have it in first 2 pregnancies!) I found the acid was almost totally gone after a couple of days on it. Gaviscon etc. never touched it for me (plus made me want to vomit). Give it a couple of days and if not improved maybe gp could up the dose? How pregnant are you? I found drinking cold milk helped a bit too although I know some people find the opposite...

I recently got prescribed it and, unlike gaviscon, it didn't kick in right away but after a couple of days it's kept my acid at a level that doesn't need gaviscon at all anymore.

Keep with it and you should see an improvement.

It took a few days for me too but it did work in the end.

It's a prevention rather than cure so it does take a while to kick in but if you take it regularly it works really well

Thanks for all the replies. I will stick with it. The natural remedies are also interesting so thank you. That acidy feeling is just horrible isn't it? I am only 14 weeks but carrying triplets. That' why am keen to sort it out as I have a feeling it will only get worse.

If it doesn't work then go back and ask for Omeprazole - it's much better. It's also licensed for pregnancy which rinitidine isn't (although rinitidine is considered safe - don't want to panic anyone) so not sure why you weren't given it in the first place.

I am on Omeprazole and that seems to work really well for me.
My doctor said to just take it when I need to so I took it everyday for the first week and now take it every other day or two as its effects seem to last.
If the Rinitidine doesn't seem to be working its worth asking about Omeprazole esp as it is licenced to be used in pregnancy as brettgirl2 said. Rinitidine is considered safe though as its been used for years with no reported problems. www.patient.co.uk/health/Pregnancy-and-Dyspepsia.htm