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Sudden onset indigestion/acid reflux - gone in 5 months

Posted , 38 users are following.

noo-noo
noo-noo

I hope this is the optimistic upbeat post someone is looking for. I'm writing it because there was nothing similar for me when I suddenly (overnight) developed acid reflux (acid high in the throat, rather than the mid chest pain). I'm not overweight, stressed etc. In fact, I'm vegetarian and virtually teetotal . Doctor couldn't offer any cure (or even any reason for it) only acid suppressant (Omeprazole 20mg) to control the symptoms. I felt I was on my own. I couldn't find any good news stories on the internet of people who'd got better, just loads of people who'd had it for years and were suffering. If you are in the position I was in, take heart - I did get better! It took 4 and a half months from start to finish. I've never been ill for so long in my life! (I'm 50). I reckon the last month was simply about getting off Omeprazole and if the doctor had given me better guidance on how to do that, I might have come off it even sooner. When I first tried to come off it he suggested I just skip the tablet every other day. Big mistake! After a day or two the acid reflux comes back even worse. Much better for me was to open the capsules and roughly divide the contents and take a half dose every day for a week. The next week take a quarter dose every day. Then try a week of no doses at all. At the end of the third week, I was off Omeprazole with no symptoms. The Omeprazole took about a month to kick in and even then almost never took away my symptoms completely. I tended to have a slight sour taste most days, but once that symptom was stable (ie nothing worse than that for two weeks) I started coming off Omeprazole. I found chewing gum gets the saliva and digestion going and fennel/licorice tea helped to cover up the sour taste (but steady on the licorice tea as it can increase blood pressure) and I ate a lot of kiwi fruit, banana and pineapple which are supposed to have enzymes in them.. As I was coming off Omeprazole, I also took lycopodium, a homeopathic remedy which of course I don't believe in. (How could it possibly do any good? The science is non existent.) But I wouldn't be giving you a complete story if I didn't include that bit of information. Also, keep a detailed food diary. It will make your doc realise that you aren't eating junk and it makes it easier to judge if some foods make you reflux worse. I gave up tea, coffee, chocolate, hot spicy food, fried food, butter, fat in general, but have now reintroduced all these into my diet with no ill effects. Now, I might get a slight sour taste maybe once a day or less, readily relieved by a simple glass of water. But maybe that's not necessaily abnormal and I'm just hypersensitive about it now - it might just be slight dehydration. I consider myself "cured" anyway. I do hope this story gives hope to anyone newly suffering from this symptom. There's a reason why they want you to wait 6 months before they put a tube down your throat to have a look - you never know, you might have got better by then.

7 likes, 61 replies

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  • Lazlow80
    Lazlow80

    Posted

    Hi, I just want to thank you fro posting your experience. I am in the same shoes but I'm not cured yet. I am also vegetarian and I eat a healthy diet. and I don't know how this happened with me. I was actually juice fasting for few day when I made a batch that was apparently too strong. I put kale, cucumber, apples , lemon and way too much ginger. I felt a sudden pain in my stomach which made me sweat. I was so worried that I decided it would be best to try to throw up and so it worked. I felt better but I ws still worried I caused my stomach some harm. That night I took a sleeping pill and went to bed. The next day i woke up and still had a weird pain in my stomach but other than that I felt fine. I worked through out the day had lunch and had no problems until that afternoon. I started to feel sharp pain in my esophagus which was getting worse by the hour. I tried tums but it didn't help. I had to go the the ER I was in real big pain, they gave me a GI cocktail which helped for a hour and a half. That also proscribed me pantoprazole 20mg for 30 days which help to relieve my pain for two weeks. But then I started getting this excessive salive and mucus which is driving me crazy. Now I am on 40 mg and I feel somewhat better but it still not perfect. I would also like to get off teh meds since I can't imagine taken pills for the rest of my life. So I just wanted to thank you for posing, it give me hope for recovery. I will also post if feel I'm cured.
    • Lazlow80
      Lazlow80 riya06211

      Posted

      Well, I'm still on ppi's (Prevacid) but have no reflux or pain anymore which is good. Once I tried tapering off the pill but it gave me a horrible rebound. I had heartburn that felt like boiling pot and my chest was burning like hell. I tried absorbing the acid with food such as bread and oatmeal but I just went right through me. I recently read that the ppi's can cause kidney problems and that it can also damage the inner lining of blood vessels which could cause heart issues. I strongly recommend trying to use ppi's as a last resort. Good luck!

    • shee98558
      shee98558 Lazlow80

      Posted

      Hi! This reply is a bit old but what you wrote reminded me of a time I made a ginger tea and felt super bad after it. I normally drink ginger tea with no problem, but apparently somehow that tea or that ginger was too strong. I had a sharp pain immediately after I drank it and had it non stop for 3 days. It would get worse every time I would eat something or even if I had a sip of water. I practice yoga so I after the 3 days I realized maybe some poses that are indicated for digestion and for increase of blood flow to the digestive area would work. I did the bow pose ("dhanurasana"wink for about 7 minutes and the peacock pose ("mayurasana"wink for 1 or 2 minutes twice in a row. It was like magic because I had absolutely no pain at all right after that (like the second I stopped the pose). I drank and ate without any problem. They are not easy poses to do for a long time, especially the peacock pose, but it this advice might be helpful for someone that is a good practitioner! I don't know how it would have been if it would have gotten worse and I would have gotten reflux, maybe it would have been different.

      I'm also a vegetarian and eat a healthy diet so the ginger episode was very surprising for me.

  • marilyn24
    marilyn24

    Posted

    Thanks for the posting - it's the optimistic upbeat post I need! Both my husband and I got sudden onset indigestion middle of January 2013 whilst on holiday. Not quite the same as you describe - ours is not acid reflux. Its more burping, fullness and inability to eat much. Unfortunately for him, my husband 'ticked all the boxes' for an emergency endoscopy back in the UK (i.e. he is male, white, almost 65 and never had indigestion before). The result came back clear, as did the test for HPylori. We're non smokers, moderate eaters and drinkers and not overweight. So all the doctor can do is to prescribe omeprazole for both of us, and tell us to come off it once the symptoms disappear. He hasn't a clue really. Thanks for the advice about coming off the drug - I'm going to wind it all down a bit next week as I'm currently on 40mg a day!
    • bastpg
      bastpg marilyn24

      Posted

      Hi Marilyn -- I have exactly the same symptoms... Your post is 1 year old -- how are things going now? What did you guys do to solve the problem? My issue started ~1 week ago: I started having constant bloating/indigestion out of the blue after a trip to Asia. I wasn't sick during the trip or anything. I am pretty sure I don't have acid reflux either, and don't have heartburns. Pretty confusing... Let me know if you have some advice for getting over this!

      Thanks,

      Bastien

       

  • joyce67598
    joyce67598

    Posted

    I have recently started to get mild indigestion. Could not figure out since I am not overweight and eat healthy. The only thing different is that about a month ago, after hearing on Dr Oz show that it could speed up metabolism to keep a pitcher of water with cut up Apple and I stick of cinnamon in the refrigerator and drink all day. I so excited to read one persons account that too much water can cause this problem. I will definitely cut back on my water intake and hopefully return to normal.
  • rjdriver
    rjdriver

    Posted

    I hate to change the upbeat nature of this discussion, but I recommend noo noo and Lazlow80 get an upper endoscopy. You may have your symptoms in check, but damage could have been done to your esophagus.

    Over a period of maybe 10 years, I had about 6 incidents of mild acid reflux, always at night and always when lying down. Never thought much of it. Than about 6 months ago over a 3-4 month period I started, for the first time in my life, to have heartburn. There were only a few attacks, and I could not associate them with any food intake or time of day. I was getting close to schedule my 5 year colonoscopy so when I saw the doctor I mentioned the recent incidents and he said while I was under he would take a look at the upper end at the same time.

    It's a good thing I mentioned it. He found Barretts esophagus. It's a scarring of the esophagus due to acid, and due to the organ's unique capability of trying to change it's cells to mimic stomach lining in order to protect itself from the acid. Only a small % percent of those with Barretts lead to cancer of the esophagus, but the chance is there.

    The reason I stress getting the upper endoscopy if you have had any heartburn or reflux at all more than a couple of times is because there are no symptoms of esophageal cancer - NONE - until it has reached the untreatable stage. A lady at work recently found out she had brain cancer after experiencing headaches that would not go away. Eventually they found out that the cancer had started in her esophagus, and had been growing for more than a year. She's probably not going to make it.

    The endoscopy is the only way to find out. So after you have one you can go back to your optimism, but I would not treat it lighly.

  • marilyn24
    marilyn24

    Posted

    Just a brief follow up to my posting in April. Both my husband and I continued to have indigestion throughout the year. It didn't get any worse, but it didn't get any better. My husband was eventually referred to a gastro specialist in September 2013. The specialists view was that we had picked up a viral infection somehow and somewhere, and that our immune systems would eventually prevail, but it could take up to two years!

    In fact, we are now much better, if not cured. My husband started to improve late in November and myself

    more recently in January. But its taken a year, and we are aware it may come back!

    (Incidentally, I mentioned before that we picked up the viral infection abroad - but don't imagine somewhere exotic. We were in the Canaries!)

    • Sniezynka
      Sniezynka marilyn24

      Posted

      I think that it is likely that viral infections lead to indigestion, unfortunately there is no info on the link between both. Doubt anyone ever researched it and your and your husband having the same problem at the same time cannot be a coincidence. In my case, I often know a cold has attacked me as I experience indigestion for a day or two, during or even before other symptoms are apparent. At present I have week long indigestion - heavy feeling in stomach, burping, overproducing of saliva, whether on empty stomach or after eating (strangely only during eating I feel normally). It also happens that I have viral infection called pityriasis rosea Gibert and I'm almost sure it is connected to my indigestion. 
    • Sniezynka
      Sniezynka

      Posted

      I should add that I only have indigestion when I'm also being infected by virus as described above.
    • Space73
      Space73 marilyn24

      Posted

      I was just going to say I think you have both got a viral infection from where you were abroad or some bad bacteria from food thats stayed in your gut. But then I see your later post. Hope you both cured now, since your last post was still a yr ago!
    • claire48307
      claire48307 Sniezynka

      Posted

      Hi, I'm 29 and have had heartburn and indigestion this week for the first time ever and I'm trying to work out what is causing it. Then I read your post saying you had pityriasis rosea, I'm about 2months into a outbreak (also which I have never had before). So now I think it could be related, I don't want to go to the doctors and waste there time but it seems strange that just as I'm getting over the  pityriasis rosea I start with the indigestion. Anyway I hope this helps some other people .
    • susan32309
      susan32309 Sniezynka

      Posted

      These are my symptoms exactly, mild indegesion, a feeling of fullness and over production of saliva - I feel perfectly normal during eating.  I have a feeling of a burp which is stuck if that makes any sense, not acid reflux, just a need to burp but I can't.   My gp has had me on ranitidine for a month which made little or no difference, gaviscon works but I'm afraid of taking too much.    I've had acid reflux in the past when taking anti-inflamatory drugs prior to knee replacement surgery earlier this year.   I must admit to being a little concerned that it's not going away after 2 months but hoping that it will . .  . I plan to give it another month and if it's still a problem I'll go back to my doctors.
    • mike27075
      mike27075 Sniezynka

      Posted

      I think I might have this pityriasis rosea Gibert too and my indigestion problem started how long did it take you to feel better please reply so scared right now I'm 18 years and about to start college I don't want this affecting me for life

    • mike27075
      mike27075 susan32309

      Posted

      I think I might have this pityriasis rosea Gibert too and my indigestion problem started how long did it take you to feel better please reply so scared right now I'm 18 years and about to start college I don't want this affecting me for life

    • mike27075
      mike27075 claire48307

      Posted

      I think I might have this pityriasis rosea Gibert too and my indigestion problem started how long did it take you to feel better please reply so scared right now I'm 18 years and about to start college I don't want this affecting me for life

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