GERD questions/relief ideas?

Hello! How long have you been taking the prescribed drugs?

In fact, I've been suffering from GERD since last November. Now I'm still taking rabeprasole. Heartburn is irritating, but no so intense as when no PPI is taken.

Is it the first time you're going to get your endoscopy done?

If you run out of prescribed medication, you can use the ones over the counter such as Zantac which also helps or Renie for heartburn. The symptoms you have is from too much acid in your stomach. Try to drink more water when it sores. You better have your medication in surplus for it is not good to live like that. I am a Gerd and I used Nexium. Before that I have symptoms of nausea due to my reflux but since I took Nexium it reduced and now I dont take tablet anymore but I have used it for 6 months. I now chew carefully and slowly, eat small meal and stop drinking alcohol or cafein. When I sit down, I sit with my belly up straight. I avoid bend over and try to exercise though I am loosing lots of weigh. I stop eating wheat for I have celliac diseases. I also stop drinking milk but soya milk. Changing diet is a good way to combat this diseases. Hope this help a little bit comfort. 

Dear Rachel - I can so relate to some of the symptoms you are having and it is really debilitating. So much so that it's difficult to function on any level at all. I don't have any answers other than what others have suggested with trial and error.  Please know you are not alone.  Healing thoughts and let's hope we all feel much better soon. X

I'm so glad I read your post I've only recently started getting stomach problems only since January but it has on days made me really miserable and scared. I get dizzy spells after eating a lot of strange pains in my stomach chest and arm I have had heart tests done like ecg and blood tests doctor said it's indigestion and acid reflux I'm glad someone else has same symptoms of dizziness

Hello Rachel, very sorry about your awful troubles. I will put at the end the main measures that might give you some help, which other ladies here have seen to the point they'll be sick of the sight of them!

As for the nausea you experience, if the mucous-coating that protects the lining of the stomach is broken through by becoming too thin, or the stomach-lining itself becomes sore through acid and other stomach-fluid damage, it can cause your brain to do its brilliant job of trying to get the damaging stomach fluid out by vomiting. That you are feeling the nausea but not vomiting is one good thing at least. The endoscopy will show what condition your stomach and elsewhere is in, and this might explain the cause of the nausea and reflux in your case.

Regarding the dizziness - light-headedness? or full spinning? - with your not feeling hungry and eating little, there is a chance you will not be drinking enough water each day either, and so you might be dehydrated, and this too can lead to light-headedness and dizziness. Of course with stomach and reflux troubles, getting enough water in can be difficult. So you're in a tricky position at the moment.

Try eating bland food meals every couple of hours if you can, as hunger itself - especially with an ill stomach - can cause some bad feelings, including sickish ones with some people - me included on a few past occasions - which can ease once food has been eaten.

Another point about you not feeling hunger, is that when my stomach was at its worst, hunger didn't feel like normal hunger, likely because my damaged stomach couldn't work quite as normal; so I had to eat going on reasonable meal-timings in most cases till hunger eventally felt a bit more normal again.

Reflux can happen any time really, and regardless of your morning pancake, it could be the fact that your stomach tissues, or some other area down there, is sore at the moment that is giving you the reflux trouble, but some foods can make reflux and stomach pain worse than others.

An antacid is the thing to take if reflux heartburn occurs, as that will counteract the acid, whereas a PPI medicine reduces the amount of acid your stomach produces. A PPI is not for immediate heartburn relief, but longer-term use.

It is very hard for you, Rachel, and improvement can take time, but hang in there best you can, and tell the doctors all of the details. Write them down so nothing is missed. And now here are the measures that have given me help with my trouble of gastritis. I'm sorry they're long-winded. Get your Mom to read them too, in the hope that some help rather than none might come from them. Best wishes to you.

Several small/medium meals per day (I have seven medium, one every two hours or so), rather than fewer bigger meals, so you don't overfill your stomach. Eat relaxed, chew well. Be sat upright for and after meals, so you don't squash your stomach and press its contents upwards.

Fried foods, greasy, oily, high-fat foods/meats, butter, cheese, full-fat dairy, high-salt foods, spicy-hot foods, tomatoes, tomato sauce, onions, peppers, carbonated drinks, caffeine, alcohol and chocolate can all impact on stomach and reflux troubles for some people, so personal experimentation is key. Minty foods relax the lower oesophageal muscle, as do some of the above foods and drinks, which can let acid/pepsin up easier and cause heartburn, etc, so they are bad. I use a fruity toothpaste and strawberry gaviscon tablets for the occasional reflux acid burn.

Wholewheat bread, cereals, bananas, hardboiled eggs are a few of the foods that suit me, but there are pulses, rice, various beans (not kidney beans apparently) and many other things to try. Chicken is one of the best meats due to its lower fat content, though I am off it presently. Trial and error.

Stress, excercise and bending activity that pressure and squeeze the stomach are also to be avoided. Be as calm and stress-free as you can.

Having your last meal a few hours before bed can prevent or lessen reflux at night, but I found that waiting to be too empty caused hunger discomfort, assorted spasms and kept me awake or caused some burning through the spasms. I lie down about an hour and a half to two hours after last meal raised a bit on three pillows, on my right side, though the left side is usually recommended and there were test results to support this as being best for many people. Other people raise the bed-head itself about 6 to 8 inches with blocks or bricks, or use a wedge affair..

Another thing that helps me is to not burp after ten minutes after eating, as burping can bring acid up and cause heartburn. I get the swallowed air out gently just after the meal, sittiing a little forward, then don't burp till after the next meal.

Water triggering heartburn is common, even with some non-ill people. I get my daily water requirement by drinking around 140 ml or bit more with each meal, which, in my case, is added to by some drinks of a nutrition drink or very low fat milkshake. So generally I don't have to drink between meals. Everyone has to find their routine to get sufficient fluid.

In tests there was an indication that some people with reflux suffer heartburn through drinking water in several gulps because their lower oesophageal muscle doesn't open and close correctly when doing this with fluid, and so acid/pepsin can escape upwards. But just adding water to your stomach between meals, when there is still food and fluids in there, will increase its volume and raise it nearer to the top where the muscle is, the pressure of which, if too much water is drunk, can then cause the muscle to open and let stomach fluid up. Cold water can also cause spasms, so sips of usual water is best.

Some say to drink water only between meals at points when the stomach is empty, but this cannot be done in my case where I need to eat every couple of hours or will lose more weight by slowing digestion down. So a little drink of water or nutrition drink with each bite of food that gets well chewed, then a few more at the end of the meal suits me. Oat milk, rice milk, almond milk or soya milk are good milk substitutes for people who don't/can't have dairy, unless a person has issues with them. But we are all different, so, again, trial and error is the way.

I have been having some very low-fat milk-shake drinks lately, and they have not impacted badly on me compared to how, for example, butter on bread always did.

I am also having some peanut butter - very bad normally for these illnesses - with two of my sandwich meals each day, and this might go badly in time, but for now quite ok, and is good for helping me get some more fat into my diet and extra body-weight on.

Hello

I have also gerd/acid reflux . You feel full every its sign of indigestion try to take domperidone 10mg 30mine before you eat. And try to research about gluten sensitivity ,you said you eat pancake pancake contain wheat flour that can cause irritation to your stomach . That so why you suffer for acid reflux. And try drink water every 30mins 2-3sip only in then try to eat one apple and banana every to reduce your gastric juice.

I hope this will help you