Reflux nightmare

I am taking ranitidine and lansoprozole and my consultant as recently added domporodine because he said I need to lose weight before I can have surgery. I think that's just an excuse to save money really. I know you hate taking drugs we all do but what about trying some others just to see if they can help the problem.Having said it for literally years I have finally been told I have a HH so I will definitely try to restrict my diet to lose some weight is that also something you could do.

With regards to surgery by what I have read its not always successful so don't pin your hopes too much on that. Finally I mentioned the Hiatus Hernia have you been diagnosed with one because if you haven't then keep insisting on further investigations as its taken me three years of insisting I have one to get my doctors to believe me. As I said keep trying the drugs because if you can at least get a decent nights sleep you will feel better for it. Best wishes Ted

There have been a couple of changes I've made, they seem to have helped lessen the level of pain and discomfort. The primary change has been my job, specifically in terms of what it means for me physically. I used to drive every day and it was growing increasingly difficult to do so, and I believed (correctly) that the sitting position was making my symptoms worse. I now do a job where I stand and walk and it definitely made a difference. If you are spending your time at home or work sitting down a lot, if there's anything you can do to change that I'd recommend it.

Although I can generally tolerate dairy I switched to lactose free milk a long time ago. I used to go through pints of milk but had lots of acid and didn't realise I was making things worse. With lactose free milk I don't experience such high levels of acid and can use it to sooth my symptoms without worrying about the acid problem getting worse.

I started using apple cider vinegar with my meals after reading these forums etc, and I do think that anything that helps with digestion is beneficial. I could barely eat a normal sized meal without spending hours in agony as though I'd stuffed myself. I don't get that feeling anywhere near as much.

in addition I decided to try high PH water, even though I don't have LPR, it seemed logical to use a method like this to combat acid. Understand I usually struggle to drink water as I find it makes my acid worse, but I've been able to do this without any problems so it might be worth a try.

I've strruggled to ID dietary triggers but in general processed foods are not good. I began eating salad sandwiches (wholemeal) for lunch, drinking the water. Sometimes for dinner, drinking the apple cider vinegar. I've been able to tolerate a bit of tomato and onion with this.

As I looked around for other natural help because I can't tolerate the drugs I discovered another aid for digestion I haven't seen mentioned on these forums. Its called IntestCare, a blend of fruit juices and turmeric which is simply to aid digestion. I feel that using this and the ACV is making a difference on that front and would suggest trying it out.

Because I have oesophagitis my chest hurts a lot. Milkshakes or ice cream can help to temporarily sooth that pain because of the combined cooling and coating.

Finally, I have a prescription for Gaviscon Advance. At one time I relied solely on this stuff. Not a miracle cure but that coating effect was key to helping stem the pain. If you have not tried advance please do as it is much better than standard gaviscon due to the higher viscosity.

Thanks to the combination of other things I don't need Gaviscon all throughout the day and night as I used to, but I always have a carton of lactose free milk and a bottle of Gaviscon for when I need to get on top of the acid feeling. I take both to bed on the nightstand so I can use them if need be during the night. 

For sleeping I have also generally found lying on my left side is best.

I some of this might be useful to you. Good luck.

One final thing if you are considering surgery, please be aware there are now three options for treatment and Nissan Fundoplification is the most common but the most severe and irreversible. Other treatments are the lynx collar which can be removed, and there's a radiotherapy treatment I forget the name of. So please consider your options wisely. The other two are less common but personally I'd rather avoid surgery on my stomach and would push for an alternative first.

Cheers

Al