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Started with acid reflux on holiday and it wont go despite being on tablets - help

Posted , 6 users are following.

joed1977
joed1977

Hi - I am a 40 year old female and I consider myself fit and healthy. I went to Florida in December and in week 2 I started with acid reflux. I put it down to the junk food and assumed it would subside when i got home. Unfortunately it hasn't and my doctor has put me on Lanzoprozole which was almost 2 weeks ago. My acid is still here although not as bad. Yesterday I had none but today its back and i haven't eaten anything differently. It makes me feel like my lungs are full of fluid and i keep having to cough to get it out. Can anyone tell me how long the medication normally takes. I am scared to death that this is something really serious. I also have a sore stomach and I am bloated. It doesnt help that I have health anxiety but this is really scaring me. Any advice. Thanks Jo.

2 likes, 16 replies

16 Replies

  • sue162
    sue162 joed1977

    Posted

    Hi,

    mine took about three weeks to go once I took the meds,  the grinding and burping have gone now.  At first mine was ok one day then not the next.  Maybe it was the stress of travelling as well.  Have you got IBS, just wondering with your bloating.  You may be having an IBS flare up as I read you can acid and IBS together.  My stomach noises also seem to have gone.  Stupidly my hospital appointment is tomorrow from gp referring me a month ago, I feel a fraud going now but I will still go.  Maybe try a bland diet for a while, no tomatoes or acid things etc. 

    • joed1977
      joed1977 sue162

      Posted

      Thanks for posting Sue. I have never suffered from IBS but I am thinking that stress may be causing it. I went to the doctor last night and he checked my upper stomach though i did tell him that my lower stomach hurt like i had done sit ups. He didnt seem concerned. He told me to stay on the tablets for another two weeks till the end of the course and then come back if i am no better. Let me know how your appointment goes?how long have you had this in total? Jo
    • sue162
      sue162 joed1977

      Posted

      Hi Joel,

      stress does awful things to us,  I wonder if something you’ve eaten has made your intestines inflamed and it’ll hopefully calm down.  On the PPIS just watch headaches I started to get them after two weeks.  I’ve never had IBS but after my Mam died last year I started with it,  the consultant today said to have a camera.  H Pylori is negative and my stomach scan was ok so he said it is probably stress related.  I’ve had it off and on five years now.  He was lovely though said he doesn’t think I’ve had support from Mam dyeing, which I agree with.  He said to watch acid food, and to chew properly and not to eat late.  I don’t chew properly I don’t eat late though.  So at least you know to carry on with the pills and after them see if you feel healed. X 

  • sue162
    sue162 joed1977

    Posted

    Sorry I too have health anxiety and everything to me is the big C word,  if we had that I don’t think we’d be good one day and not the next though, we’d be getting worse. X
  • wknight
    wknight joed1977

    Posted

    You usually take it for  about 8 weeks to see if it makes you better, and then it takes about 4 weeks for the PPI to initally work. In my case the initial low dose wasn't enough so it took a while  to get it fully under control. If the PPI works then you should get sent for an endscopy (go the sedation route so you know nothing) that will tell you if there are any problems. Its highly unlikely acid reflux is very common. 

    The important thing to remember about a PPI is that it heals your insides so you if you stop taking it, then the healing stops. As for all the stories you hear about PPI, I have been taking for 10 years, just remember this, a PPI has never killed anyone, but the car you get in or drive kills people every day. We get in our cars without a care in the world but we wont take a pill in case it causes side effects, does that make sense?

    • klm1213
      klm1213 wknight

      Posted

      Just come down with acid reflux after I started perimenopause. Just finished taking a PPI for 14 days as directed on the box should I take it for longer? It did help while I was taking it
    • sue162
      sue162 klm1213

      Posted

      My gp prescribed them for 28 days.  Some people stay on them a long time and use when you have a flare up.
    • joed1977
      joed1977 wknight

      Posted

      HI - you make a lot of sense thank you. Rationally i am thinking that the tablets must be working because i do feel better. I think the fear lies in coming off them and that it will return. I need to give it more time though. The doc said that because i also have a cough and cold my immune system is fighting these as well so the whole process is taking longer than it should.
    • wknight
      wknight joed1977

      Posted

      My body generates too much acid so I am on the PPI forever, very little I do will change that. I am not bothered at all because I am symptom free virtually all the time and that is priceless. Why worry about something that might never happen. Do you worry when you get in a car that you will have an accident, of course not? so why worry about taking a PPI if it makes you feel better
    • joed1977
      joed1977 wknight

      Posted

      Yes you are right but I always worry about what might happen. Yesterday in work i only had bananas, a yogurt and a tuna light lunch and the acid came back. I have stopped drinking carbonated drinks. I was so upset when I got home because i just cant understand how one day it can go and then the next it returns. However I ate my evening meal and i had none??? i just cant get my head around it. Maybe slowly I am getting better but i am having episodes of it coming back. I am going to eat the same today to test it out again and see if it returns. Also whats bothering me is that my lower stomach is still sore. this could be related or unrelated or it could be stress. I just done know but i know its not right. im wondering if acid can cause this? its not tummy ache but it feels like my muscles in my lower abdomen have had a major workout!
  • hope4cure
    hope4cure joed1977

    Posted

    Don't sleep flat in bed. Use a riser propped up head above gut . This position was recommended to help keep the stomach acid from coming up to the esophagus area. See your doc for long term treatment and possible endoscopy .

    • sue162
      sue162 hope4cure

      Posted

      lol.  I tried this but ended up down the bottom half of the bed, husband too.  It works though.  
    • joed1977
      joed1977 hope4cure

      Posted

      Yes I have been sleeping with three pillows which is helping a lot and its quite comfy.
  • joed1977
    joed1977

    Posted

    I have had the acid back today. I dont understand it because i have eaten exactly the same as what i had yesterday and yesterday i had none. any idea why this happens? when i am drinking and it goes down i then feel like i have to cough to clear my pipe and lungs.
  • thomas09742
    thomas09742 joed1977

    Posted

    Hi Joed, 

    I have it for over 5years now, if those scary symptoms are acid reflux, dizziness, terrible feels  in my chest, sore throat, difficulty breathing, down and just feels sick, some doctors said it's chronic fatigue syndrome, anyway, they are scary to have but I am still alive and normal after 5years, episodes are less frequent now

    • joed1977
      joed1977 thomas09742

      Posted

      I feel like when i eat and drink although not burning like it did over christmas it is uncomfortable i am getting a really uncomfortable feeling like my lungs are wheezy and i then need to cough to clear them. does this make sense to anyone? i just want it to go away. i have a good day then bad day but eat the same food so i dont understand any pattern.
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