Wishing this feeling would go away! Any Relief ideas?

You need to give more Time with your meds. Also no fatty foods and very low fatfoods, nothing with acid in it. I have had keyhole surgery just over 4 weeks ago so understand the issues with gallstones, but also suffer with Barretts Oesophagus, can only speak from my own experience but sounds a bit like reflux combined withgallstones. Ask GP if you can have scan to check for stones, at least if it comesback clear you can eliminate it. Let us know how your doing.

Pibolarman,

Being at peace within your body is the goal.

There are natural things you can do to support your stomach lining, but most things take time.

Even when we take the medications, it's good to do whatever it takes to correct the problem not just treat the symptoms.

I am taking:

Ompreazole 20mg prescription,

DGL licorice 30 minutes before meals.

Digestive enzymes with meals.

Probiotic every other day.

Krill oil

Manuka honey

Drinking kombucha.

Eating raw organic sauerkraut.

A low acid diet 

Eating 3 meals a day with little snacking

Eating 3-4 hours before bed.

Sleeping on pillows.

My symptoms were burning in my back and rib cage, burping and constipation.

Have you taking anything for anxiety?

There are natural solutions like herbal teas and valerian and hops, camomile too.

Hi there,

Certainly get a quick painless ultrasound to rule out gallstones.

I cannot tolerate any of the 'prazoles' omeprazole, esomeprazole, lansoprazole and so on, I get an allergic reaction and the symptoms are unmentionable here.

I can tolerate Ranitidine, however, but it is not a very effective drug for me.

I also get upper-Gerd which means laryngo-pharyngeal-reflux (LPR) and acid is affecting my throat and voice-box and that is really horrible indeed.

Plus the typical pain in the diaphragm, frontal area, just to add insult to injury.

Try sipping cold water to ease the pain, eat small high protein meals frequently and sleep on your back with several pillows to elevate your upper torso.

Of course this can give you a really sore neck if you try to sleep on your side.

Better still buy a bed which electronically adjusts and can elevate without the discomfort of too many pillows.

I find, despite what the literature says, that carbonated water helps me burp and instantly relieve the symptoms, but possibly not the damaging acid.

So trapped gas is a big part of the lower GERD pain, for me anyway.

Gaviscon double action (mint) also does calm the pain for me as does 'Peptac' available on prescription (a bit like gaviscon liquid).

Failing all these even 'Love-hearts' are useful at times.

Long-term strong medicines are going to damage your system anyway so we  need an alternative.

I suspect the diet is critical to this and although it is hard to follow I think it is best to eat mainly at the early part of the day and let the stomach calm down, eating no later than 5pm, if possible.

Eating fatty foods (as mentioned by others) is bad (only use skimmed milk) and so is too much starch.

Sweets (I don't mean desserts) generally seem to help me but not sure why.

Keep trying and you will find something that helps eventually.

Most green vegetables are ok and some doctors (they generally don't advise on diet though) suggest eating pulses.

Good Luck !!

and let us know if you find anything that works as we may not have tried it yet.

 

thank you everyone for your current suggestions, ideas and reassurence. i will keep you posted if there are any changes

I take Ranitidine 150mg 4 times a day, the advice says it doesn't matter when you take it, but I know the 'prazole group - omeprazole, lansoprazole etcetera - are best taken half an hour before a meal to shut off excess acid production, so I tend to do likewise for Ranitidine.

All proton-pump inhibitors will lower stomach acid, resulting in food digested less efficiently, affecting contents of the bowel and some noteable change in consistency and colour.

Looking at postings on various sites I think some people seem to take tons of 'snake-oil-remedy' stuff that may not be much use.

Having said that I find some theoretically 'bad' items like ginger beer or small pieces of 'mars bars' can give quick relief, so who am I to judge.

Avoid tomato-skin and bell-pepper skin and capsicums generally (they don't digest)

Cooked tomatoes (minus skin) seem better if you must eat tomatoes.

But pasta/spaghetti drenched in tomato-based sauces are bad for me.

Sauces and gravies are of course a threat anyway as they are too rich in fat.

Nuts are 90% - steer clear!

Meusli with nuts does make me feel quite unwell.

Eat as little as possible, enough to stave off hunger pangs, but do this frequently and avoid eating large meals late in the day, something we all tend to do as there is more time to relax in the evening.

So, in a family setting, it is a matter of going against what everyone else wants to do at meal times and that can be quite difficult to do.

Avoid drinks during meals  as they tend to overfill the stomach, putting pressure on the sphincter and they also weaken what acid there is (after PPI's) have lowered it and make the food stay longer in the stomach, so increasing symptoms.

Between meals it is good to drink plenty of water.

Bear in mind that the stomach works well first thing in the morning and you should be able can eat most reasonable food without ill-effect, but later in the day, around mid-afternoon, the stomach starts to shut down and loses its ability to deal with food effectively.

Some people say avoid stress to lower GERD symptoms but that is difficult as GERD can make people very grumpy anyway and then get stressed more easily and intolerant, so it is a vicious cycle.

Perhaps relaxation/meditation CD's (easily found on 'Amazon' etcetera) are helpful after all, they are certainly very pleasant to listen to anyway

I meant to post that nuts are 90% fat - steer clear!!

Frequent clearing of the throat (hopefully when nobody is present) and coughing up of mucus is very common (for me) with LPR (Laryngo-pharyngeal reflux).

It seems that the acid reaching the whole upper-throat stimulates protective mucus production and 'post-nasal-drip' is also an issue, and probably involved in all this.

Vocal chords can become affected by the acid travelling in that general region and coughing can also happen as it may affect the trachea (tube to the lungs).

Food again.

Try to eat grilled or baked fish which has not been 'farmed' i.e. wild salmon instead of 'farmed' types which have a high fat content because they are penned in and accumulate fat in their tissue.

Turkey or chicken breast should be tolerated. (again not fried but grilled)

I keep forgetting that 'Tofu' may be a good alternative to meat generally, although you have to eat twice as much to get the same protein.

Try looking up diets for GERD and you will find that there is a lot of advice ouit there but it seems there is no 'one-size-fits-all' diet.

 

In my case diet did not help much PPi where useless. Here are the things that help. Little : stop cofee and chocolates, taking ranitidine 150 at night along with melatonine(help sleep) , liftin my bed 7 " and taking dip cups( sucralfate) prescription to protect your throat from acid. 

here are the things that help a lot: taking antianxiety medicine for stress triggred by your symotoms and specially when you have panic atack triggered by chest pain and dificulty breathing from acid refluxe. I took ativan when I got really bad and it helped me a lot. Not only make symptoms go away but also help me eat better. Ofcourse you can not take this pill often but only when it is really bad. I found out that the main triggered of lprd is your brain. 

Some people go have a 24 ph monitore and manometry test to see if yor LeS is not working. If your LES is not working you can try other drugs. 

I can keep taking for ever on ths subject for now I will just advice you to take something for your anxiety