HealingWell
Search Close Search
☰

SEVERE GERD with no relief in sight

Support Forums
>
GERD & Acid Reflux
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply
❬ ❬ Previous Thread |Next Thread ❭ ❭
Posted 10/26/2010 3:01 AM (GMT 0)
Hello - I have been diagnosed with GERD last year.  This past month has been a living hell.  My throat is swollen and is painful.  When I talk it sounds as if I smoked 3 packs of cigs.  I am a healthy 31 yr old female.  I went into the GI Dr and was prescribed 60 mg of Dexilant twice a day.  And 2 tabs of GavisconES for every meal and 4 tabs at bedtime.  NOTHING is touching what I have going on.  I have been following the GERD diet - which is blah - for quite a while now.  Does anyone have any suggestions? 
Posted 10/26/2010 4:18 AM (GMT 0)
Stacy-
Welcome!
It can take quite some time and trial and error of different meds to find what will help some times. How long have you been taking the meds? Have you elevated your bed yet? I know a lot of members have had great results with crarafate also. It coats the throat and seems to help them a lot. Just a suggestion to ask your doctor about.

Take care,
Bill
Posted 10/26/2010 10:13 AM (GMT 0)
Hi Stacy. Sounds like me, My throat and voice are hardest hit, with hoarseness, tightness and globus, although I have now developed an explosive belching symptom which is at best painful, but also causes great embarrassment. I am on 20mg pariet twice a day, and gaviscon, and also domperidone now which i haven't started yet.

My best results have been from keeping meals really small and eating very frequently. I have also lost weight this way, as although weight wasn't a problem, I did have the tendency to over eat. I have had the major problems now for 2 years, but I do seem to be improving at least in the globus area, which is the most distressing. I drink pineapple juice very regularly and also find that helps.

I know that if i do break the food rules i am MUCH worse, so even if it doesn't feel much better, it certainly must be doing some good.

Liz x
Posted 10/26/2010 10:51 PM (GMT 0)
What kinds of testing have you had done? Do you have a weak LES?
If your LES is very weak, no amount of medicine is going to help, I'm sad to say.
You may need surgery to fix it.
Posted 10/26/2010 11:06 PM (GMT 0)
Wow - thanks for the feedback!  I have been taking Prilosec for a year, then recently the knew Dexilant.  I have had my bed raised as well.  I drink tons of water.  I go in for the endoscopy next week - if I remember correctly.  I am now cursed with the horrid burps as well. 

One thing I recently noticed is that I eat so fast.  I have my entire life.  i get done eating before everyone.  I have been reading that you must eat very slow.  I will start to do that and see if that makes a difference. 

The Dr was leaning on severe GERD, EE, or a Hiatal (sp) hernia. 

Thanks again for all of the support!

Posted 10/27/2010 9:35 PM (GMT 0)
The EGD is usually the first test done.
Others to come:
Barium swallow
Stomach emptying
Bravo or Ph wire test (I perfer the bravo)
manometry test (aka. motility test) Not fun, but nessesary.
Posted 10/27/2010 10:54 PM (GMT 0)
Aaah Stacy I eat too fast too! I think its my general pace of life actually. I get to sit down and eat, and dont take a pause, just wolf it all down.

What helps there is when I sit down to eat, I do a few relaxation techniques, drop shoulders, take some slow cleansing breaths, in through the nose, out through the mouth. I try to get my head into "lunch mode", which is a generally more slow relaxed state. A pineapple juice before eating also helps, so I dont feel so hungry I need to gobble down the food.

Liz x
Posted Today 12:38 AM (GMT 0)
Hi Stacy,

I have been going through hell with GERD since I had a respiratory virus in Feb.   Try the SCD (Specific Carbohydrate Diet).  I have also been using apple cider vinegar and baking soda.  I was terrified to try it but it has really helped.  I was able to get off the  80 mg of nexium I was taking each day plus zantac.  I couldn't eat anything without severe reflux and getting any sleep was impossible.  I saw a difference as soon as I started the diet.  If you google legal scd food you will find out exactly what you can eat.  I bought the book but you don't need it. I am also taking digestive enzymes with meals.  Good luck.

Posted Today 6:18 AM (GMT 0)
You might want to try eating more of the so-called 'alkaline' (anti-acid) foods and less of the so-called 'acid' foods. See this post for a list and more discussion:

https://www.healingwell.com/community/default.aspx?f=45&m=1942384
Posted 12/5/2010 10:54 PM (GMT 0)
about a year ago I almost choked on chinese food, then it happened several times again on various foods over the span of this year and after that first incident. The food wasn't going down. I thought it was from eating too much too fast. But it wasn't the case. So I finally couldn't swallow well at all with or without foods. Ended up in the ER so scared. Thought I would choke or my throat would close on me. They did an endoscopy a day later and found out I had a condition called eosinophilic esophagitis. It was a struggle for several months after that. They gave me some meds- Nexium- and we hoped for the best. I showed some signs of improvement and then would get bad again for weeks and weeks. They did tons of allergy testing and I was negative for all. MRI of throat was negative of anything abnormal. All the other tests negative. pH monitoring test showed acid. I have no other symptoms at all. No heartburn pain etc...None!
Now at this point 5 months after that initial diagnosis I am still struggling having a hard time eating foods getting foods to go down and swallowing. And now believe my symptoms to be in my throat. And all along. That is where the food gets stuck and won't go down. Then I get so scared. I have to drink tons of water in hopes it will pass and go down. The last endoscopy shows no more eosinophils present and my esophagus is open now. So it is something else. And I believe something with my throat or trachea. The Dr's now say it's possible it's acid reflux causing this. Sometimes feels like a lump in my throat and a pressure and very hard to swallow and often even without foods. Been to so many different Dr's and tons of tests. I do have acid reflux present.
Not sure what to do next. I am not living life now and haven't been for some time. Just existing. I want my life back!
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply