Help!! - constant heartburn

[vickyy]

I'm 24 weeks now and have had heartburn on and off for a while, but now it seems to have become constant! Drinking milk helps but only short-term, and I've stayed away from Rennies etc so far as I'm not sure if they're safe to eat. Apart from avoiding vindaloos, any tips...?

Just in case this is relevant

rennies are fine and I thought the chewy ones worked better but if the pain is really bad and constant now perhaps you should ask your mw to check your bp etc just to rule out other problems. I wasn't sure about adding this link because I don't want to worry you and it almost certainly is just heartburn. I never knew heartburn could be so bad until I was pregnant - was convinced I'd woken up with food poisoning or some gastro bug.

ah good - someone else did the link before me. Please don;t panic though

I had a check up at my GP just yesterday (checked urine, blood pressure) so I don't think it's anything serious - and at the moment it's not agonisingly painful, just constantly annoying! But will certainly now watch out for it getting suddenly worse.

I had heartburn all day every day practically from the day I conceived to the day I went into labour so I KNOW how horrible it is.

Things I did;

1. Gaviscon (litre bottle) in my bag night and day (swigged it straight from the bottle in the end). Like you, was very aprehensive about taking meds but when my GP said she had a bottle of it under her table when she was pregnant and swigged it between patients, it made me feel a lot better.

2. Eating evening meal at 6pm - if you digest the worst of your dinner 4 hours before you go to bed the heartburn is SIGNIFICANTLY better. Took my second pregnancy for me to really work this one out - and I kicked myself for not doing it earlier. Also healthier to eat early.

3. Fresh pineapple (tinned or juice doesn't work) worked really well for me. Makes a nice alternative to 4)...

...4)Milk, lovely BUT beware. I drank 4 pints of full fat every day for weeks and then got kidney stones which were almost as bad as labour. Also put on loads of weight... So don't overdo it on the dairy

5. Avoid fatty, spicy food - which you know already.

Good luck - only one who has had constant heartburn knows how debilitating and miserable it is, hope some of this helps x

Will try the pineapple trick! Are Rennies definitely ok in pregnancy then?

Rennies and Gaviscon are FINE to take.

Avoid toast
pastry
tomatoes
black pepper
fried foods
acidic food

Gaviscon!

Keep bottles everywhere and/or the tablets in every pocket!

Don't eat whatever seems to set you off!

Look at it this way, you can now see that your body is sooooooo good at all this relaxing stuff required for labour that you can be confident knowing that your body knows what to do. It really is awesome but these days women have lost the faith in our bodies we should have.

However, I'm a little narked that evolution hasn't figured out a way by now of leaving all the relaxing of ligaments etc until about an hour or so before labour starts! Now, that would be cool, cos then we would know when labour was about to start... >

I just asked my midwife about this two days ago and she sent me straight to the pharmacy for gaviscon and rennies so I guess they're fine! It's really helping for me.

I've heard that papaya is a very good remedy for heartburn

Gaviscon was my saviour. Drs will prescribe it - you don't need an appt, just pop a note into them and they should write you a prescription. Swig it out the bottle, I also kept bottles everywhere.....

Just bought some Gaviscon from Boots. Hadn't thought of getting it on prescription, will try that next time I'm at the GP. Thanks!

Gaviscon and rennies are fine - your GP can also prescribe ranitidine (zantac) which is safe and very effective - sympathy I am 39+2 and was sat up in chair downstairs from 1-3pm with horrific heartburn and nausea could NOT lay flat....and that was despite TWO zantac rennies and gaviscon - ate too much toast after dinner that's learn me !

I had awful heartburn with both of mine,
(both were extremely hairy too!)
Gaviscon tablets were a god send!

Another vote for Fresh Pineapple

I was heartburn queen with DS1 and DS3 (not, oddly, with DS2) - I vividly remember walking along the street swigging from my bottle of Gaviscon (in a brown paper bag, natch).

I even tried acupuncture with DS3 but it only afforded me temporary relief (it did however result in DS3 being born on exactly his due date which was a result, I suppose).