Help please

Hello Lynsey,

It could well be reflux, and the doctor is hoping that time on the meds will ease it and allow healing of damaged tissues by suppressing the acid production in your stomach. It can take a fortnight or so for the acid level to drop sufficiently. But it is a matter of time and care. You would likely be investigated further if the doctor felt that was right once you've been on the pills a certain length of time, or if other symptoms develop.

The things below - you might have seen them before - may help you to some degree and are worth learning and trying. And do take care not to bend like you did, which squeezed your tum like a balloon. Hang in there for now, though I know it is very hard. Best wishes.

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

Fried foods, high-fat foods/meats, dairy, high-salt foods, spicy-hot foods, tomatoes, 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 up easier, so they are bad. I use a fruity toothpaste, and strawberry gaviscon tablets for the now only occasional 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 even that can hit me. 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. Because of this I lie down about an hour and a half to two hours after last meal, and this is much better. I lie 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. Other people raise the bed-head itself about 6 to 8 inches or use a wedge affair..

Another thing that helps me greatly is to not burp after ten minutes after eating, as this 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. It can happen even with non-ill people. I learned that the best way to get my daily requirement is to drink around 130 ml or so with each meal, which, in my case, is added to by some sips of a nutrition drink. So generally I don't have to drink between meals, a thing which would slow my digestion a bit anyway and interfere with my set meal times.

In tests there was an indication that some people with reflux suffer heartburn through drinking water in several gulps because their lower eosophageal muscle doesn't open and close correctly when doing this with fluid, and so acid 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 that cannot always be done easily - certainly not in my case, where I need to eat every couple of hours or will lose more weight. I can't have between-meal water slowing things down. So I find that a little drink of water with each bite of food that gets well chewed, then a few more af the end of the meal does the trick. I also have water with two cereal meals, which may sound utterly bland but is fine to me, as I avoid dairy milk and have yet to try my cereals with the likes of oat, rice, almond or soya milk. But they 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.

 

Try asking for a different medication, omeprazole doesnt always work.  Theres a newer version called esomprazole which i found worked better.  I too had the coated tongue, and what looked like a burned patch on it all the time.  Esomprazole has helped a bit with that

Hi, the upper part of your stomach is beneath the lower half of your left ribs. I have pain there in the worst periods. But the pains can be elsewhere in the chest too, on both sides, including when they are due to burning or damaged tissues in your oesophagus.

Hi Lynsey! I too have very little faith in doctors, having had seven spine ops., involving five fusions, and am still in terrible pain 45 years after getting major injuries in the army. Regarding reflux, or not, as the case may be, try eating an apple, as it helped me a lot. Avoid milk and milk products, e.g. chocolate. Try charcoal capsules from H and B for the burping, as they absorb the gases in the stomach and digestive tract. Charcoal granules are used in the filters in gas masks. Don't worry too much about the coating on the tongue unless it's really bad; it's supposed to be there. I was getting pain under my arm and in the chest area and was told by a natural cure friend that it could be an adverse reaction to the deodorant I was using, so I changed it and it worked. Can't remember what it was, sorry. Good luck with the problem and I hope this helps. Regards, Chris