Does anyone know anything about Acid Reflux?

Haha, XP.

Now I'm trying to figure out if my kid has reflux! he's on baby zantac but I don't much like the idea of it.

What has helped, though:

** I've stopped taking rinatidine (I think it's the UK version of Prilosec) and started taking acidophilus pills twice a day -- the friendly bacteria -- they're good for replacing the "good" acids, like cider vinegar. Incidentally also v. helpful for candida and thrush. It's probably not as effective as prilosec, but stops me feeling like I'm a medicine jar.

** I can eat spicy foods and even drink coffee (although I use a lot of milk to cut the acidity) AND beer (! but never orange juice gah) but a slice of cake will have me gobbling the Prilosec for a couple of days afterwards.

Yeah -- it's stupid of me, but I'm just NOT willing to give up cafferine and alcohol. However, cakes/biscuits/choc/prefab sliced white bread aren't so difficult to cut down on -- and they're much worse on my reflux than booze and coffee anyway.

** Avoid citrus fruits and juices, esp. tomato, orange and the supermarket ones with added sugar. If you're bored of drinking water, pick up some sugar-free pomegranate or cranberry juice from a natural food store. (They're much tastier, too, imo.)

** Yoghurt is awesome, especially kefir or any other live bacteria-containing pot. Again, go for plain without sugar, and add your own fruity accompaniment.

** And belches! I only get a certain, froggy type of belch when my reflux is bad. When I'm not getting those belches, it's a good sign that it's getting better.

gaviscon works for a while then just exacerbates the problem.

WAH? I sure as fuck hope not! I have it again (second pregnancy). I hatehateHATE it. I've been sipping on Gaviscon like mad. :-( Just small sips really, cause I hate the taste of it. *sigh*

elevating the head of the bed is meant to help quite a lot. fuck knows how I'm supposed to do that though.

Andrews is the best, I find.

I don't have a "horrible burning" in my throat, but an annoying / scratchy tickliness for the last 8-10 weeks. ENT doctor suspects GERD and its ilk, so I have been prescribed an antibotic and a nasal spray.

I have to stop drinking diet dr. peppers and margaritas if I want to sleep well.

heh, I just had a Diet Dr Pepper as a caffeine substitute!

wait whats gerd

why did he give you a nasal spray and antibiotics for gerd?

are you sure he doesn't reckon you have allergies/sinus problems?

Gastro Esophagal Reflux Disorder

And yea - antibiotics?

That hasn't been ruled out, Ronan.... sorry, I guess the antibiotic IS the nasal spray, the other drug is Nexium.

I've been sick for about 3 years with some combination of either sinus probs or gerd, never properly diagnosed, just was interested to see them connected I guess.

Ronan, did you ever try that thing with the apple cider vinegar and honey?

I've never heard of using nasal spray for GERD. do you have a chronic cough or something?

No. Will an occasional stabbing pain in my throat do?

Haha, my HMO won't cover Nexium! Time for OTC; that's America, you & me.

Eh, acid reflux is the worst. one of the downsides to pregnancy for sure. I feel for you guys (who suffer from it permanently). :-(

I had this only once, it happened when I took some antibiotics before bed that didn't agree with me. woke up in the middle of the night feeling like my chest was on fire. I had it pretty bad - I seriously thought I was having a heart attack. swallowing food was so painful it nearly doubled me over. unfortunately I left for vacation to new orleans that week, so I spent several days in the food capital of the south with a painful aversion to eating anything. but big ups to the prilosec, that helped.

Ronan btw you elevate the head of the bed by putting bricks under the two bedposts at the head - just a slight elevation does the trick

I still have this, it sucks, I don't take care of it unless I'm at work/on tour, the amount of health problems that start stacking up at one point if you've always treated yourself rather roughly is exactly as intense as they always said it'd be

see I haven't had this burning awful pain y'all are describing, but the ENT doc said this can happen w/out even noticeable heartburn.

OIn the bright side, my bed elevation was askew to begin with.

No actually Jed I must give it a go. Kind of one of those things I've been meaning to try out. I've been drinking Aloe Vera juice (mixed with water or normal juice) a bit lately, that seems to have helped me feel a little better, though can't be sure.

It's weird with me, reflux seems part of other probs, I don't often get that mad painful form of it, but I do find myself swallowing mucus/acid fucking incessantly, like until my throat is just fucked. Constant frog in throat etc.

I only have two bricks is my problem for bed elevation! Where do I rob some bricks? (I also need to elevate my monitors, to avoid bass reflux affecting neighbours)

fuck a gerd, seriously

I prefer to think of it as "the gerd." As in, "I need to be careful what I eat today. I have a touch of the gerd."

I had an attack of this yesterday and again this morning, disallowing me from finishing breakfast. Extreme, frightening pain in my neck, throat, and lower sinuses that there seems to be no stopping once it's started. Nothing to do but sit there and experience the unique sensation of my esophagus being burned away by stomach acid, as my mouth waters uncontrollably, my sinuses drip desperately, and tears roll down my face. Good times.

most the meds for this are over the counter now

nexium still beats all tho

I take one prilosec (otc) every morning and my heart burn is gone

i used to get this when i was a kid/teenager. i didn't really know what it was or that i could just like take a tums and it would go away. I would just lay there awake half the night thinking i was dying.

I used to get this ALL the time. It was undoubtedly caused by the extremely poor diet during law school, the excessive consumption of beer and my smoking.

All of which have been changed, so my Acid Reflux ain't around no mo'.

fucking hell

when will I learn not to gorge myself on Cape Verdian food the night before a concert

A couple weeks ago I downed a humungous coffee then minutes later had this crippling tight pain all in my chest, sides, upper back - nothing helped. It eventually went away after 15 mins but came back a couple of days later for longer. I was wondering if this was anything to do with acid reflux or would I have had some pain in my throat etc? I've never really known what's meant by "heartburn".

FUCK THIS SHIT. I have felt like I have a piece of food stuck in my throat on and off for days, I'm burpy, bloated and feel like I ate corks. And I didnt bring any Zantac to work. :(

Wahhhhh.

I should know better than to eat large meals. It always does me in.

Here we go again. Actually lately it hasnt bugged me much, but when it occasioally does, its that full on "I'm having a heart attack oh my god" stabby rocks pain. Like today. Ow.

And the Zantac's doing arse all... WHYYY. God. I knew I ate too much rice.

hi thread

my ENT thinks i have this so i'm going a month without eating any good food and taking prilosec every night. it seems to have gotten worse, tho i haven't gone all in on the diet at all ("i'll start tomorrow"...). still apparently the prilosec should be doing something by now. everyone else seems to take it in the morning, not sure why i'm supposed to take it at night

and i seem to have it similar to a few people here, where there's no heartburn or pain or really any symptoms other than a feeling of liquid rising in the throat. until my ENT handed me the GERD pamphlet i was certain i had been experiencing swelling. that's all it feels like. went to my GI this morning to talk about it and my enduring intestinal issues and he seemed annoyed at how often ENTs jump to GERD when there are other reasons for it. i hope he's onto something bc i don't think i'll always be able to afford pills and i also don't think it's humanly possible for me to cut out coffee. if it comes down to it i just might deal with having the frog-in-throat feeling all the time, but mention of esophageal cancer itt has me worried

afaik you are supposed to be taking it in the morning!

everybody's talkin about the gerd, gerd gerd gerd, gerd is the werd etc

diagnosed with gerd a week ago, have been taking prilosec since last Tuesday, and have been trying to hit the diet pretty hard wherever I can. have scaled back my coffee intake considerably, dialed back to one small single shot latte with 2% milk which I don't have til after lunch or when I finish work, instead of first thing in the morning.
prilosec seems to have kicked in now, I am finally able to sleep through the night, and I'm not feeling food-pregnant when I wake up.

timing of this whole lifestyle change was pretty terrible though -- this weekend I went to a concert and then a tailgate the following day, a weekend which would normally be wall-to-wall booze. I was unprepared, at least on Saturday night, for how much it suuuuuuuuuucked to be the person choosing to be sober when every single one of your friends is drinking. tailgating on sunday was easier, it didn't gnaw at my brain so much.

biggest downside so far (sry for tmi) - fucking prilosec made me constipated as a motherfucker. it's stressful to have to not only figure out my diet for reflux but to also figure out okay where can I add more fiber gah. hello psyllium my old friend

might not be prilosec! gerd is often connected to intestinal/bowel issues (HIIIIIIIIIIIII)

ugh

yeah but since I started prilosec on Tuesday and was constipated by Friday, I'm kiiinda thinking prilosec in this case

might be worth it to try out zantac

I took the slow-release prilosec & it was great for the 3 or 4 months or however long

but I got a bit weirded out by a lot of the things I was reading about how it can have long-term adverse affects on your stomach if you take it for too long

Now that I'm off it I'm pretty much back in gerd world...I got lazy and it flared up again recently. But now I'm torn between going back on prilosec again, or trying to ride it out with diet changes etc.

idk

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