Gaviscon makes me want to throw up - what are the alternatives - please

[bigmouthstrikesagain]

I am 15 weeks into pregnancy no 3 and heartburn is kicking in - bleurgh so I have bought me Gaviscon but I cannot take it anymore!! I think I have reached my limit after chewing my way through boxes of the stuff in the 2 previous pregnancies I feel pretty much the same about peppermint tea. What else is there that works??

I have just had 2 of the lemon flavoured Gaviscon in the vain hope that the slightly different taste would fool my gag response - no joy.

I also no longer drink cider or rum due to over indulgence in my misspent youth - shudder just the thought of a pint of strongbow is enough to make me want to hurl.

So suggestions please - heartburn is a b*gger .

Have you tried ginger tea?

Also, I swore by Remagel - they aren't chalky and didn't make me feel sick!

...and I best not mention how I dealt with the removal of TWO dead (and whiffy) mice from my house yesterday - cooking fats!!!

the trouble i'm having now is all food turns me off.

i have to force myself to eat anything at all.

i am hungry, but then i see the food and it nauseates me.

most smells also make me sick.

TMI ALERT! DONT READ IF YOU VOM EASILY***

it also seems to get stuck in my stomach so that i'll chuck something i ate like 12 hours before.

i have lost about a stone since falling pregnant.

but the heartburn is already back and ready to party.

oh, god, nancy, a couple of weeks ago i ate a Chicken Select meal at McDonalds about 4.30PM.

it came back up 5 hours later.

Starlight - The hiatus hernia is a family thing and pretty much everyone on my dad's side has one. Apparently it normal affects people in late middle age, so I suppose I'm just unlucky. I get crippling reflux and heartburn all the time, although I do try my best to manage it by diet, not much spicy or rich food or I suffer for days. However when I was pregnant it was just out of control, I was literally weeping with the pain some days.

sorry McD's is out I am veggie and I used to hand out leaflets outside the premises warning of the horrors within! (check profile pics...

But if it worked for you Nancy I am glad

expat, i thought macdonalds worked for me because its not really food, more like eating cardboard!

that sounds awful, nancy!

you poor soul

Weird thing is everyone else in the house got a vomiting bug last week - 'cept me

So I had the 'pleasure' of running around with the bucket and disinfectant changing the sheets wiping the fevered brows.

remegel seem ok but gelatine means i cannot eat it

god, bigmouth, i'd have spewed.

DD2 vomitted the other day and i just had to go and hurl before i could clean her up.

it was awful! she was standing beside me, covered in sick, repeating 'a cuddle! a cuddle!' (she's 2) and i was just boaking for Scotland.

In a weird way you sort of get used to it, but it was scary when it first started in my late teens, I thought to begin with I had some kind of weird constant sore throat virus! We are think about TTC dc2 and I know if I'm lucky enough to get pregnant again then I will be literally banging on the gp's door demanding drugs!!

Expat - poor you and DD

That reminds me my 2yo dd threw up on her older brother last week too his horror and I had to control my gag response to get them upstairs quick smart and hose them down. TBH it was the effect the bug had on the 'other end' which was harder to deal with as the stench from dd's nappies was truly awesome... anyway I think I will go and make myself some nice ginger tea!

I know many of you will not want to take prescription drugs during pregnancy but I had to go to the GP to get something. They were initially reluctant but my acid reflux was sooo bad. I was prescribed Ranatidine also known as Zantac. My husband is a pharmacist and researched the effects and was ok about me taking this. I would only go down this route if you are seriously effected.

I have ridiculous heartburn. It is so annoying as I'm also really hungry. Didn't get it really bad until the end with DD but I'm only 28 weeks now. Can't imagine 12 more weeks of this. Here's what helps me.

Sparkling water, don't know why but drinking loads of it seems to keep it at bay.

American Tums. If you can get someone to send you the extra strength berry flavor, they are not so bad as the others, perfectly safe and they do really help.

Rice pudding. Ew at most times but whatever, it works now.

And never ever lying down flat ever. Worst was having a filling done last week. Took forever and they basically hang you upside down for it. Awful.

chewy rennie!

Zantac can be found amongst the other indigestion remedies at the supermarket, if you want to avoid the Spanish Inquisition from the pharmacist you can just throw it into the trolley as you whistle past. I'm not pg, but have been known to get chronic heartburn/indigestion - one tiny little Zantac pill (which you swallow instead of chewing) sorts me out and keeps it all at bay for 12 hours or so. I know nothing about being pg but I'd imagine one little pill (if it's safe to take when pg) would be better on poor, squeezed-up tummies than gallons of chalky fluid.

My medicine was warm milk, fantastic. Didn't sure it completelt but was better than anything else.

I only got heartburn towards the end, in fact when I'd been under observation in hospital and had to eat their greasy food. Milk was the only thing that settled my tummy.

i had severe heartburn in my first pregnancy.
It kept me awake at night and made the pregnancy unbearable (especially after having thrown up every day for 22 weeks). i was afraid to eat and threw up if i took gaviscon.
My mid wife referred me to a homeopath at about 30 weeks. She sat with me for 20 mins and questioned me about loads of things including emotions etc and then prescribed a homeopathic remedy that knocked the heartburn on the head immediately. it was amazing. it is perfectly safe to use in pregnancy but you have to see a homeopath as they can recommend different remedies depending on your emotional state as well. I was never into homeopathy but i was willing to try anything as the heartburn was so bad. so i would recommend you try to be referred to a homeopath.
i hope you find something that helps as I know how miserable it makes you feel.

Ice cubes - i used to walk around with a pint glass full and just suck on them all the time.

I had severe indigestion last pregnancy. This time it started earlier. Often have to stop the car on the way home to throw up it made me so bad. Healthy eating (lots of veg) helped a bit and gaviscon used to do the trick. When it stopped working, was going to go to dr's to try ranitidine but then randomly started drinking milk. It seemed to help so drank more.

Am 30 weeks pregnant and am now on 3 pints of semi-skimmed a day - on stressful days I can drink 4 pints. Should cut down to fully skimmed in case I have a heart attack from all the fat! LOL.

Helps me a lot, except people at work think I'm weird.

...and also reached the point where I couldn't take gaviscon without puking.

Peppermint tea used to help but not a patch on a nice pint of semi-skimmed.