New Members Check in Here First Part 1

Welcome!

You've found a safe, secure, and reliable support community for people battling GERD and Heartburn issues.  You will find the  members here willing to  lend an ear, offer information, and provide support for people who need it.

If you've just recently joined  HealingWell  or the Gerd-Heartburn Forum , please take a moment to introduce yourself to everyone with a brief note about who you are (as much as you feel comfortable sharing) and why you've come to join us.

Thank you for joining us!
Kitt

luigi5

Welcome, we are delighted to have you here and I am glad the site has given you some good info re GERD. I think you may be pleased with the mediction and once you get your sx under control you may be able to decrease the dose of your med.  I take the generic brand of the same med.

The best for sleeping is to sleep with the head of the bed slightly elevated on blocks, about  6 inches.  We used to have just homemade wood sqaure blocks made for the feet of the head of the bed .

Don't elevate your head with pillows as this makes you bend at the waist causing a rise in intra-abdominal pressure.

Stick with us and we will help you and support you.  So glad to have a new member.

Kitt

 

Janice,

I am very happy to meet you and you certainly been through a lot.  I am very hopeful that your surgery will make your quality of life go up by 100%.

We will all be here to follow your post-op recovery so you can count on us.  If you have any quesitons for me just shoot me an email.

I look forward to getting to know you.

Gentle post op hugs

Kitt

Scotty, I wrote a very lengthy post on the thread that I started and you responded to about your bad hospital stay.
So, I hope you read that.

Several of us on here are post-op 1 -2 weeks and from what I am reading, I think we are all in the same boat overall.

I know my biggest annoyance right now is the GAS. Late evening I start passing gas like nobody's business and I swear I could solve the gas crisis single all by myself :) :) :).

I am supposed to go on a weekend trip with a friend next Saturday. We had this trip planned long before my surgery.
I've warned him that I am very high maintenance right now and can only eat certain foods, and I've even told him about the gas (we're sharing a hotel room) and he stills wants to go - now that's what i call a good friend.

Today I had some soft foods and, other than the gas (again), I think I did pretty well. I think tomorrow or Monday I'm going to try some very well cooked pasta and a white sauce to see how that sits with me.

My appetite is starting to come back and I have a craving for PIZZA - maybe I could eat just the toppings off the crust :) :) :).

Cheers!
John

Hey Sis, I've been responding to you on the othe posts so make sure and read those :).

I'm going to try what you've been doing.  I bought a thin crust frozen pizza yesterday thinking, that if nothing else, I could eat the toppings so I'm going to try that tonight.

As I've expressed on my other posts, I'm concerned about you.  Please let me know what your doctor says, ok?

BroJohnIn Seattle :)

Hi all,

My name's Michelle and I'm the mother of a sufferer.  My son Joshua is 14, he's autistic and in February was diagnosed with Crohns disease.  He had day surgery this past week to have a gastrostomy peg changed and while doing this they did an endoscopy and found a highly inflamed esophageous.  Dr. asked if Joshua had been getting heartburn and reflux.  Now because of the autism it's not often that he'll complain of pain that's why it took nearly 2 years to get a Crohn's diagnoses, so we had no idea.  But as soon as the doctor mentioned this I've been thinking back over different things that have happened in the past six months and there has been times when he's been having formula feeds and all of a sudden he'd swallow and say, Oh I don't feel well Mum.  Or he might tell me he's tasted or smelt some food which isn't around.  Thinking now that maybe this is when he's had the reflux?????

I don't know if this is the right forum but I was hoping someone might know if there is meds or certain surgeries that may have helped cause this????

It's very frustrating and scary, especially as if he hadn't had the gastrostomy changeover we don't know how long it would have been before this was picked up.

Thanks for listening.

Michelle

Hi all!! I'm a 23 year old woman and while I haven't been diagnosed with GERD, I'm currently going through tests for frequent heartburn. Here's a little background info...

November last year I had an endoscopy/colonoscopy and was diagnosed with IBS, having suffered from frequent abdominal cramps, diarrhea. I was put on 40mg of Prilosec a day (I'd also been getting reflux and heartburn), 10 mg of amitrypteline, and Levsin for when I had cramps. Following the diagnosis, I was told to make an appointment with the gastro doc for the following month to discuss treatment/biopsy results etc. Well, I was promoted at work, got busy and never went to the follow up appointment. In February, I went back to 20mg of Prilosec a day of my own accord. My symptoms seemed to be controlled at this point. I had changed my diet, given up caffeine, spicy foods etc.

During this time, I'd been getting frequent sore throat/swollen glands and eventually went to an ENT doc. He monitered it for a couple of months and was baffled. Eventually, he decided it was my tonsils (despite the fact that they were only mildly inflamed) and asked if I wanted them taken out. I decided against a tonsillectomy since it wasn't the definite cause and is very painful surgery as an adult.

Then, doing some research back in June, I saw that refulx can cause frequent sore throat (funny how these specialists sometimes fail to see the bigger picture). I went back on 40mg Prilosec a day. I was getting regurgitation at night but since I didn't really have heartburn, I just dealt with it. Then in July, I got agonizing cramps one evening, just below my rib cage. It was completely different to IBS cramps, raw and gnawing and happened every time I ate over the next few days. I made an appointment with my gastroenterologist but by that time the pain had subsided, it had lasted about two weeks. I went to the gastro last week and explained everything. Following this pain, my reflux/regurgitation seemed to worsen and I was occasionally getting that gnawing pain, as well as a very sore throat and that 'lump in the throat' feeling when I ate. He ordered another endoscopy and that's what I'm waiting for right now. His thoughts were that the pain was a severe esophageal ulcer that was now healing and that it may have caused inflammation or I had slowed emptying of the stomach (IBS can effect the stomach too), causing food to stay in my esophagus. Needless to say, he said that I should not be getting heartburn on a 40mg a day dosage of Prilosec. Right now I'm getting frequent regurgitation, heartburn and that raw pain below my ribs and well as that blocked feeling in my throat/difficulty swallowing.

I'm going for the endoscopy next week and am really curious to see what they find. I really don't want to have to go through any more procedures, nor does my husband want me to (he's a physician so in his eyes, no procedure done on his wife is a simple one). I think he's more worried than I am just because he knows too much. Anyway, I guess it's got to be done and the long term implications are a lot scarier if it's left untreated. I think I've left it long enough and that maybe the IBS symptoms have overshadowed it for a while now.

To the top for New Members to post a bit about themselves. I see we have a few new members and here is where you can share a bit about you.

Kitt

BeesGee,

Welcome to HealingWell.  I am sorry your having problems with your GERD.  It certainly is a cause of anxiety for many so don't feel you are alone.

We have a great forum for Anxiety and Panic and may I suggest you start a thread in that forum re your anxiety as I know you will get lots of response.

I know the members in GERD also have anxiety so I am sure you will get answers here too.

Again welcome to the HW family

Kitt

Kitt,

Thank you for your support. I appreciate it. As you know, I'm here cause I need the support.

Beesgee

Hi I'm Shaun,
I'm 31 with two healthy trouble making boys. I've been on some type of hearthburn medicine for 8 years or so now. I have had acid issues since I was 18 or so. It has seemed to have got worse over the years. I've never had to take two pills in a day so sounds like I don't have it as bad as others.

As I've been reading I've had similar problems as a lot of you. I lose a lot of sleep at night due to this, acid will come up my throat but not all the way and it will burn to the point where I have trouble talking. It will get so bad in the middle of the night that I'll vomit. The worst part isn't the vomit but the burning sensation in my throat aftewards. ONE THING THAT SEEMS TO HELP THIS BURNING SENSATION AFTER A VOMIT IS TURKEY JERKEY. Don't ask me why or how but it has always seems to help. I go through phases where I'll vomit in the middle of the night 4 times in a month. Other times I won't vomit in the middle of the night for 8 months. One time at work, in the middle of the day, I vomited all black stuff. It was disgusting!

So obviously I've had my fair share of acid issues. My recent inquiry about our problems is I read an article on how acid blocking medicine does more harm than good. I had a lot of the symptoms that it said the medicne would produce. The worst one of all is it seems I get sick a lot. I use to never get sick. I've really noticed it in the last 4 years or so. I do always seem to be tired and I always feel like something is stuck in my throat. My back always gives me a little trouble but I work for the airlines and lift bags. So I blamed the back problems on the bags.

So here I am after finding the forum reading about similar problems I've had. I wish I would have found the forum before. It's better late than never I though.

My new mission is to not take so much of the medicine and to change my diet so that I can stay away from too much acid in my stomach without the medicine. I'm a social drinker and like to have a few brews during sport events and I love my caffeine. I don't think the rest will be too hard to stop. So we'll give it a shot and see how it goes.

thanks,
Shaun

Hi Kitt,
Yes I've had a scope down my throat and they found a large hiatal hernia. My Gastro dr says that is the problem causing all the extra acid. She says I would be a good candidate for the surgery to repair it but sounds like I could get more problems by having the surgery. So I'm a little worried about having going through with it. She'd like to see if we can control it through medication before trying surgery. Not sure if the medication is any better or me though.

Thanks,
Shaun

Hi, I suffer from gerd and a gastric ulcer.