Sudden onset indigestion/acid reflux - gone in 5 months

Thank you for this post! And thanks to everyone who contributed. I am new to this and everything else i read was discouraging to say the least...I am 37, female and a smoker. Underweight but with healthy appetite. I had sudden onset reflux started mid Jan, following a bout of viral or bacterial enteritis which lasted one day but pain and lethargy lasted for a week. The months preceding this i also had to take several rounds of antibiotics following some procedures, unrelated. Severe stress in the preceding months also. I feel all this likely contributed to the weakening of my digestive tract and subsequent issues. The violent daily reflux for the most part subsided or was reduced after 2 weeks on its own, but was replaced by a constant acidy taste in my mouth, dull pain in upper left quadrant as well as feeling full after a small meal. And I am hungry all the time which is cruel. There is a constant feeling that my stomach is torn in one spot or that a stone is sitting there... Alternating pain and pressure. Both manageable but unpleasent. After a total of three weeks I visited a gastroenterologist who ran an ultrasound for surrounding organs and prescribed a PPI. After 5days of headaches and double-vision he suggested I switch to zantac twice daily. Had no side effects but can't say I have seen any improvement in symptoms in over 3 weeks. I eat small amounts around 5 times per day. Have excluded everything I was told. Reduced cigarettes with a view to quitting. Started light exercise. The acid comes and goes, now also along with food but I guess that is due to less acid there to digest plus my gut has, after the onset of reflux, become really slow to empty, sometimes taking over 3 hours. He suggested prokinetic drugs but I am stalling on this. Feel uncomfortable about adding drugs when we don't even know what is wrong. Could be hernia, could be an early ulcer, could be need to repopulate and re-line my gut after all those antibiotics...whatever. I am hoping it will calm down over time and once i am off meds i can work on repopulating the gut and all Reading all these experiences have me some hope. Sharing mine in case they help someone else link up their dots. All the best.

Thank you for sharing

I am 37 yo. Taking rabeprazole for 4wks. Due to pain in RUQ (right upper quadrant) but no heartburn, acid reflux. Dr in ER never really told me if I have GERD, gastritis or acid reflux. Blood test, urine and ultrasound are all clear

I quit taking it after 3wks as per I feel a bit better but not 100%

Few days ago pain in RUQ went away and i feel like it went up my throat w/ very light ear ache. Today I took 1 pill again and every time I eat I feel sick but no pain in stomach but sore throat and mild ear ache.

Any thoughts on this everyone?

Hi I was glad to read this, as nearly every other comment is negative! I also came off Omeprazole as I had a reaction to it, and it did not do a thing for the silent reflux! Someone recommended Apple Cider Vinegar with Mother and I have been taking it morning on an empty stomach, and last thing at night, and I am not speaking too loudly!!! I think it's working slightly!!! 

hi noo-noo,

Thought I would share too as my acid reflux is not quite gone but very much getting better by the day since I made a few changes.

Back in February, my wife got a job in KFC and was bringing home food now and then. problem was, she was getting off work at like midnight, bringing home the food and I was stupidly eating it. I developed a case of acid reflux after about a month of this. I took her to the hospital one day and saw a poster on the wall that the sensation of food "sticking"may be a sign of cancer and i got spooked. I went to the doctor about 2 weeks later as it showed no signs of getting better, in fact the opposite. I got given Omaprozole as usual and guess what it didnt help at all. I did the same a noo-noo and took that stuff out the capsule but to real avail. I came off it after a month as it was useless. After 2 months, my wife got a better job in london as a market research analyst and back to normal office hours so i stopped eating the KFC and more importantly, i stopped eating late at night. My acid reflux didn't get much better at first and i still had the lump in the throat for another 2 months or so but then i really cleaned up my diet and llittle by little it has got much better. I do eat fast food occasionally (2 times per week) but i try never to eat after 2000pm unless its just cheese with some wine or something very light. Little by little my acid reflux has started to get less severe and I feel my general health is improving. I went back to the doctors the other day and he thinks that i am much better too. He offered the Omaprazole again but i refused it.

One thing to keep in mind is not just what you are eating but the times you are eating at and eatng late is often a problem people have without realizing it. I still eat fast food but only at lunch or early evening and it's not affecting me. I drink alcohol too but only twice a week and no more.

I hope this helps someone out there. Just try curbing the food late at night and eating a little less grease.

Thanks,

Azza

Thank you all! This is my second bout of this. First was on a college internship, now it's about ten years later. I have not been on medication between, but do all the cultural things to keep myself okay. Both times followed cold like illness. Both times also followed a severe drop in physical activity. The first time I went from doctor to doctor, did not get relief from acid reducers or anything else. Instead, what worked was muscle relaxers. Maybe that has something to with a muscle spasm in the esophagus or something and the thing isn't closing right. I found watching how I position my head (to not strain my neck) stretching and massage helped least time too as I got off the muscle relaxors. This time I hope to get back to working out hard to see if that helps. In the mean time, to address the acid, I am taking some ranitidine and sipping lightly chamomile tea, along with really watching my diet.

Hi, thank you for the post. I'm experiencing the exact same thing, I'm 46, never any indigestion issues, then overnight it's every day, but I don't trust western MDs. I will try the natural alternative and the other one too.

So what exactly is it that you do besides chew gum and drink water? I've had this for 4 years but get chest pain as well (heartburn) I don't drink caffeine, alcohol, eat spicy foods and never get relief. My doctorbwven went as far as removing my gallbladder and repairing 2 hernias I had and still no relief. Btw I'm also a nurse and have tried most everything I know to try! I'd love to test your theory as well!! Please help! Thanks!

I've been suffering from acid reflux for about 6 or 7 years anyway it was caused because of poor diet. I'm 33 so just looking to help anyone who is new to the world of gut problems and I know it's confusing reading everyone's problems with few cures... So what I did was start to drink more water, eat at normal times no more midnight snacks, cut out chocolate, caffeine, fried food, although one off is ok, cut out nicotine as much as u can, for me nicotine made my reflux so much worse. Eat fresh fruit and vegetables basically live a healthy lifestyle for a couple of months and if ur really bad u could take ranitidine and try boiling a little ginger in water and sip that it helps me a lot I'm able to sleep now and my acid reflux doesn't keep me up all night anymore so that's good. Hope it helps somebody let the ginger boil till the water is yellowish taste it if it stings the throat that's good stuff :D and it should help if it makes it worse then it ain't for u but it should do and good luck.

Hi noo noo,

Well done you, what a great story with usefull information.  At the moment I am trying to wean myself of 2 x 20mg esomeprazole twice daily.  Therefore could you please advice me how much and how often you took lycopodium.  Please answer as I am desperate to come of PPI's due to low red blood cells and the event of further side effects.

Yama.

Hi noo noo,

Well done you, what a great story with usefull information.  At the moment I am trying to wean myself of 2 x 20mg esomeprazole twice daily.  Therefore could you please advice me how much and how often you took lycopodium.  Please answer as I am desperate to come of PPI's due to low red blood cells and the event of further side effects.

Yama.

What a good news story and kind to share it.  I am 50 too and my dyspepsia self-cured with no diagnosis really.  My observation : if someone justs get a pain like a winded feeling below the sternum that is dyspepsia, if you get burning higher up it is GORD.  The latter may gradually in very rare causes cause low-throat cancer.  Very rarely, dyspepsia can be a sign of stomach cancer.  A friend Professor David Mackay had dyspepsia, he's dead now but his cancer blog is still on line.  Age 46 they gave him omeprazole, as below age 55 NICE guidelines do not let the GP prescribe endoscopy (unpleasant) unless you have advanced symptoms of possible incurable stomach cancer like blood in vomit or dark blood in stools and anaemia.  He didn't have that so omeprazole it was.  Omeprazole for most people is brilliant, I had dyspepsia ?last October quite bad, my weight plummeted from 80kg to 72 kg in a month and I suddenly felt full far too soon.  As David died of stomach cancer in April last year I was a bit worried as his cancer had started the same.  In most cases it is a stomach ulcer or gastritis or unexplained dyspepsia for no cause (latter = 60%), but omeprazole does wonders for most.  The hiatus hernia thing is more common for people with higher body weight who are over 60 and omeprazole still helps as HH leads to GORD and the omeprazole reduces stomach acid hence reduces GORD symptoms.  Omeprazole also helps gastritis cure and helps ulcers get better.  You are right that getting off it can be hard as stomach makes a lot of acid, at first.  Rarely Omeprazole ?will if you do have stomach cancer, suppress the growth of it inside the stomach but it still grows in the lining and out into body cavity, so in those rare cases O. can merely suppress or delay the time when Ca Stomach causes the tarry stools etc, and make a cure less likely.  My doctor only prescribed O. but I insisted also on a test for a stomach virus that 15% of us have, H Pylori, that makes Ca Stomach more likely, you have to STOP taking O. for 14 days before the stool test and only take ranitidine, last 24 hours take nothing, so the best thing is for GP to get the test done before you take your first O.  Anyway that was clear, I found I could get by without anything from mid January and weight is stable (at the new slimline weight), no symptoms, can eat plenty now, so have stopped worrying about Ca Stomach, my friend who died age 49 of Ca Stomach was just ultra-unlucky.  Albeit my grandad died of Ca Pancreas age 48, and his son = my dad's brother (=my uncle) died of skin cancer age 38 so we are paranoid in my family about cancer in the men.  Anyway since mid January no symptoms, now May so anything malignant would be making itself known I imagine.  I would have had endoscopy if offered but do know that it is not nice. 

Hi there I'm suffering with acid reflux and I suffered for 2 years and over and I'd dint know I had it I had an endoscapy and I'm waiting for the results and I have just found out I have hiatus hernia so I then started taken medications but they dint work I wa son the medication for months and upto a year nearly and I haven't had any improve ts my dad died of cancer two years ago and I am scared that if tablets haven't worked am I at risk of getting cancer as my dad had acid reflux but he didn't know he had it so all his life he never had it treated I'm scared about getting the results what they'll say but can anyone tell me do you think I'll get cancer I hope I don't my dad died at 68 I love my life I have two lovely kids and I want to live for a long time can anyone put my mind at rest my acid reflux is quiet bad