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Talk about every stage of pregnancy, from early symptoms to preparing for birth.

Original poster

awful awful heartburn.

39 replies

sheepgomeep · 11/04/2007 15:23

this is my 3rd baby and i'm 36 weeks. I've suffered heartburn since about 15 weeks but the last two weeks it has got far worse. I have it all the time now, during the day, at night, when I get up, its very painful and i'm not going to sleep until about 5am when it does ease of a bit, but then I'm up again at 8 for the other two.

It's got to the stage now where I'm knackered, scared to eat not that i'm hungry anyway.

I went to the doctors for help and all she gave me was more gaviscon and told me there was nothing else she could do. I've tried the sleeping on my left side on pillows which dosen't solve the problem during the day. I have it all the time

If anyone has any other method or is going through something similar please post, I'm so miserable

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Olihan · 11/04/2007 15:31

I'm surprised she didn't give you ranitidine tbh. I was prescribed it when I was pg with ds1. I had to take it twice a day and it took a couple of days to start kicking in but it worked brilliantly. It reduces the amount of stomach acid you produce, I think. You can buy it over the counter as zantac as far as I know.

You have all my sympathy though, it's so horrible, I remember it well.

derlor · 11/04/2007 15:35

Hi, try sucking Loveheart sweets in between your Gaviscon - they are an acid regulator.
Also drinking milk can help. some GP's at this stage will prescribe you something stronger than gaviscon ie - Losec - maybe worth a 2nd opinion. - good luck, i sympathise, am currently 33 weeks pg and managing to keep my heartburn to a minimum - so far!

BalletMum · 11/04/2007 15:37

I am with you on this one. I am 37 weeks with no 3 and like you seem to have had heartburn for most of the pg. I really do sympathise. The only thing that has helped me in the day is chewing gum. But like you the nights are very long. I prop myself up with loads of pillows and take double doses of Gaviscon!!! Unfortunately I am also sick with the acid which is lovely!!! Roll on the next few weeks that is all I can say!!

Original poster
sheepgomeep · 11/04/2007 15:39

thanks you two, I didn't know that you could take anything else other than gaviscon, I might go back and get a second opinion then if thats the case. Thanks for the loveheart and the milk tip, I will definetely try those.

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Original poster
sheepgomeep · 11/04/2007 15:40

balletmum, I'm sometimes sick with the acid that comes up and it burns my throat. Its horrible isn't it

OP posts:
Olihan · 11/04/2007 15:44

I was told that milk isn't always a good idea because, although it neutralises the acid slightly, liquids reflux more easily than solids so it can make it worse. I used to eat a lot of bananas as they didn't aggravate the heartburn and meant I had something in my tummy so it wasn't just full of liquid. It didn't seem clever to stop eating AND drinking!

Original poster
sheepgomeep · 11/04/2007 15:48

I'm just wondering as well if iron tablets make heartburn worse. I started taking them a couple of weeks ago and it was at that point my heartburn started to get worse

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derlor · 11/04/2007 15:53

i've just found this website with lots of useful advice on it - here
Didn't know that about milk Olihan - also forget about bananas

Olihan · 11/04/2007 15:54

Never had to take iron tablets so I wouldn't know on that one, but I know mine suddenly got a lot worse in the last 6 weeks or so as the baby squashed everything upwards.

colditz · 11/04/2007 15:58

You can buy ranitidine over the counter, if your gp refuses to prescribe and you wish to take the risk - I'm not saying you can take it when pregnant, but just that it is available for sale, should you wish to buy it for any reason.

colditz · 11/04/2007 15:59

And for God's sake DO NOT EAT ANY TOAST AT ALL!

bread in general a bad idea. rice is ok.

derlor · 11/04/2007 16:00

Just copied/pasted this advice from another 'discussion' website - not something i've heard before but worth a try maybe??

For heartburn just EAT A FEW PICKLES, if you can't handle the vinegar. What happens is that there is not enough acid in your stomach to combat whatever is causing it. Antacids do not work, don't take them!!! The vinegar in the pickle will do the trick!!

hannahsaunt · 11/04/2007 16:03

Fruit with skins is bad (grapes, apples etc) as they are harder to digest. In fact anything hard to digest makes the heartburn worse so white bread easier than brown etc (just not so good for the diet says the fat pregnant one who ate an apple for the first time in ten weeks today). I alternated losec and ranitidine throughout the day whilst pg with ds1 - lifesaver so def recommend a second op at gp.

Olihan · 11/04/2007 16:15

God yeah Colditz, toast, pasta, orange juice, cheese, fizzy drinks, butter, chocolate all used to set me off. I kept a food diary in my 2nd pg I was that scared of getting it so badly again.

Never heard of the pickles thing - sounds very odd .

Original poster
sheepgomeep · 11/04/2007 16:23

thanks everyone and thanks for the link derlor. I've just had a look and it looks interesting, going to have aproper look in a bit.

colditz whats wrong with bread? Is it because it swells in your stomach, maybe. I do eat a lot of bread, toasties etc.

Hannahsaunt-I love my grapes and apples etc, bugger.

OP posts:
colditz · 11/04/2007 16:24

tHAT'S CRAP.

sorry!

Acid reflux is not caused by too little acid, it's caused by a loosened sphincter at the top of the stomach, or too much acid

Oh and DON'T EAT PASTRY

colditz · 11/04/2007 16:26

I eally do not know why toast sets it off - but it does, BADLY, so if you are eating cheese toasties, this is almost certainly the culprit.

have egg fried rice instead.

rice pudding is often soothing

Original poster
sheepgomeep · 11/04/2007 16:35

oh bugger there goes my chicken pie for tea tonight unless I pick the pastry off first lol. Oh well we are having rice with it though so shall certainly see if that helps.

I do eat a load of toasties though, really had no idea that this was bad. If I think about it bread is a big part of my diet so am going to have a rethink now.

Will also bribe dp into going to the shop for a tin of rice pud too

Thanks for that!

OP posts:
hannahsaunt · 11/04/2007 16:44

High fat products can be bad - cheese, pastry etc. It can be horribly limiting.

RedFraggle · 11/04/2007 16:58

I have been suffering with this too. I went to my gp (who was fabulous) and he prescribed Lansoprazole. Apparently it is only really advised later on in pregnancy but I was about 29 weeks when I saw him and he said that it was fine then. It has been fantastic! I've gone from being unable to sleep due to the pain and walking around feeling permanently sick because of it, to being almost totally normal. He also gave me tablets to cut down on the nausea (I had been quite sick too) and of course a massive bottle of gaviscon! Haven't needed the gaviscon though at all...

Well worth a trip back to the GP IMHO.

fizzbuzz · 11/04/2007 17:38

Yeah, zantac twice a day on prescription did it for me.

PurpleLostPrincess · 11/04/2007 18:43

I've suffered badly with hb with both my dd and my ds and its starting to kick in with this one too so I sympathise! I agree with colditz on the rice pudding - I made it at least three times per week with my dd. Probably didn't help with my weight gain but it certainly helped the hb and I told myself it helped with getting my milk ready etc. (totally no medical support for that, just got it into my head and continued to make it when breastfeeding!).

When I don't feel sick, I've got hb. I do drink a small glass of milk before going to bed so that might be worth a try. Personally I have found bananas do sometimes help but not always.

Hope you manage to find something that works!

daisyhun · 11/04/2007 20:14

Heartburn was by far the worse part of my pregnancy - great thing is that as soon as baby was out it went and I have never had heartburn so bad again since then!

I found that drinking loads of milk really helped. Some people have posted on here on previous threads that milk makes it worse but definitely not in my case - by the end of my pg I was drinking 3-4 pints of milk a day and it is so cooling esp when straight from the fridge. I think it was a bit of a craving I had too though - I don't like the stuff normally!

Anyway, it's worth a try, and good for you and baby too!

Good luck!

ja9 · 11/04/2007 20:19

sympathies. had the same. ranitidine did the trick for me tho'. from doc.

Olihan · 11/04/2007 20:24

I had the worst bout of heartburn of all my pgs when ds1 was 10 days old. It started after a huge curry (korma and naan bread - bad, bad idea) and was so severe I was crying, I had taken way over the recommended dose of gaviscon and it was still going 2 hours later. Dh phoned nhs direct who listened to the symptoms, heard me crying in the background and immediately phoned me an ambulance which promply blue lighted me to A&E, still in pain. After I'd been in A&E an hour it eased but I still had to have a chest xray then spend the weekend in the maternity ward while I waited to have a special radioactive scan to check I didn't have a blood clot on my lung . Apparently it's the relaxin hormone that causes the valve at the top of your stomach to slacken and it can take a few weeks for that to go back to normal. Needless to say, I avoided curries for a LONG time after that!

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