Does anyone know anything about Acid Reflux?

i'm sorry to hear you're having a rough go of this, and sorry your doctors sound shitty

omeprazole and pantoprazole are drugs of the same class. when i used to work as a pharmacist i noticed doctors would try one after another in the same patient, a practice that baffled me. now that i've been to medical school i can't say i understand it any better. have you tried twice a day dosing? that is usually the next step after once a day dosing fails

it seems as though you've been seen by an array of docs, including a GI doc, so there's not much advice i can give you that you haven't probably already heard. lifestyle and dietary interventions do tend to work well in my experience, but not for everyone. losing weight almost always helps, if that is applicable in your case. coffee, spicy foods, soda, and fatty foods are often implicated, though the effects are individual-dependent -- thus the usual recommendation is typically to avoid whatever happens to trigger your episodes. chewing gum, or sucking on hard candy (anything that increases saliva flow) tends to help as well, as you've found. peppermint is often overlooked -- it actually causes the sphincter connecting your stomach and esophagus to open, increasing the likelihood of reflux. elevating the bed often helps for nocturnal symptoms,

i can't imagine you havent tried an H2 blocker yet, but nighttime dosing of an H2 blocker like famotidine or ranitidine is often useful (though the effects tend to wear off after a couple of months)

best of luck

I had pretty bad reflux and wouldn't leave the house without ranitidine in case something triggered it. It kinda went away after a combination of that + seeing a therapist/psychiatrist and taking lexapro/welbutrin. I was scared the reflux would come back when I stopped taking lexapro, et al once I got off that stuff a couple months ago but so far so good.. Not sure if this advice is useful but good luck man. Not a fun problem to have.

What does the medical establishment think about aloe?

can't say i've ever heard of it used for reflux (though i'm sure some use it). can confirm that it is yummy

A woman I worked with years ago told me that she took it every day for reflux and then when my partner had a bout of reflux, I tried it. I mixed aloe gel and a little not-super-acidic fruit juice (guava or peach iirc) and he drank it every morning for a week or two. No more reflux, but I wondered maybe it was placebo?

Thanks for the recommendations, I will try an H2 blocker and aloe. I can confirm the problem with peppermint. For a long time I avoided chewing gum as after chewing the reflux got worse. Then I discovered it was the peppermint flavour. Now I chew a gum with lemon taste which works fine against the reflux. Higher doses of omeprazole did not change anything. Right now I am taking riopan whenever the reflux gets insupportable. Not sure if it works but it seems to calm me down a little.

woke up yet again choking on vomit, cos I stupidly ate late at night and didn't sleep on an incline. always fun. happens 4-5 times per year.

guess another endoscopy is in the cards (had one ten years ago)

I was going to make a dumb joke and say that I though that this was an ILM thread.

Sorry Neanderthal, hope you feel better.

Lol the capitalization made me think the same at first

happened again Monday morning in the middle of my sleep (for same stupid reason as before - overeating right before sleep). this time, I don't know that I was successful clearing everything (a first). i was clearing stuff from lungs all day.

had a fever of over 100 all day, no other symptoms - possibly due to dehydration, or presence of foreign material in lungs, idk. went away immediately and permanently after I got a normal night's sleep and hydrated profusely. did the usual COVID tests, not that, and today I feel normal other than occasionally coughing up residual gunk. everything I can read suggests that if my respiratory system is fine, this type of minor aspiration should clear up in a day or two rather than become pneumonia.

anybody else had this happen? naturally, in my situation, I have to make sure ER visits are truly necessary before I make them, as it would require my brother to take FMLA leave to back me up w/ the folks.

I have never had anything quite like that or anything remotely approaching pneumonia myself. I don't know if this is your situation, but my (US HMO) healthcare provider has phone consultation and often non ER appointments available in a few days.

FWIW as embarassing as it is I do mostly sleep on a wedge anymore. Recently in another thread I was praising the effects of (non peppermint) gum and slippery elm tea, which fortunately has almost nullified any symptoms (after about 8 years)

I'm all better now. Definitely not eating late anymore. Yikes