GERD and Military

Hello,

I have been struggling with GERD for many years. Starting when I was 19 all the way through college. I have seen many doctors who all through meds at me without even explaining anything. I took nexium wrong for 2 years. To where I was taking 2 40mg nexiums and 2 300mg ranitadines a day. I still felt terrible. finally a general practitioner explained how i should take them, 1 300mg ranitidine at night before bed, and a 40mg nexium in morning 30-60min before breakfast. Made a big difference but still lots of pain and reflux. Now that I am out of school I want to live my dream of becoming a military officer. I do well in all points and would have no problems becoming excepted except for these darn pills. I cannot be on a daily regiment of medication to be accepted. The last few months I have been weening myself off them (after being on them for 6 years). So far... not so good. ranitidine every night and nexium ever 3-5 days in morning. And when I go that long there is a lot of pain. I cant explain my huge desire to serve my country. I will do it whatever it takes. My whole family has served and I will not let the GERD stop me! I was hoping to get some advice from the many people here who have had the same hardships with GERD. I am looking at 2 options... Lie and say I am not on meds and either not take any during basic training and face a lot of pain or sneak meds in and try to keep it secret. Or try and talk a surgeon into giving me the surgery to fix the problem and face the side effects afterward. Please help me if you can with any and all advice. I will be eternally grateful. Thank you.

-Hopeful soon to be Lieutenant

Yes, 6 months after surgery I would be eligible if I am med free. The weird thing is that after I am in and passed basic it no longer matters if i am med free. I can have them and take them after that point. they just wont accept someone already on meds.

Also being dependent on meds is not something I fancy... If I can be off them completely and still live somewhat close to normal then thats good for me. I can take some pain. But the vomiting every morning and being doubled over in pain and inability to sleep from reflux is too much to take right now on no meds...

I had a scope a few years back but I am not highly impressed by the caliber of doctor I had looking. To be frank he was a moron.

Good luck with your endeavors! Hopefully you can overcome them!

Chuck,

You know I have not heard of that before... Can you tell me where you have found that info? I am leaning toward the Nissen option. Thanks!

Right now I am taking ranitidine every night and nexium every 5 days or so when the acid is too much. should i try to make a longer gap between nexiums?

I wouldn't lengthen the gaps until you feel OK. Another option is to see a physician and see if they will give you a half strength ppi - Lansoprazole is available in 15 mg for instance. You could try taking a lower dose, maybe daily for a while until you feel good. I wouldn't step down any further while you're in pain. One of the difficulties with GERD is that it is hard to correlate the degree of pain with the degree of damage - I've had a ton of pain in the past which has turned out to be meaningless in terms of actual pathology to be found. But the same pain recently coincided with my GERD making me anaemic......... at which point I had to stop playing with the medication. The other difficulty is that once you have a flare up or obvious signs of damage (pain and burning throat for instance), it can take several weeks for it to heal. And it's not going to heal whilst you are still refluxing.

It may be better to try to get some symptom relief instead of seeing how much pain and discomfort you can withstand - if a lower dose ppi is effective you may feel less "addicted" and more hopeful about future progress. This could take a long time though, and you may have good plateaus followed by flare ups.

I would seek some professional advice before you do anything else - it's worth finding out what state your stomach is in. A fresh scope might not be much fun but it is probably what you need to help make good decisions right now.

I am Active Duty and have GERD. I was diagnosed with it about a year ago, but even deployed while taking Nexium. My heartburn has been hit or miss for the past 12 years, but this past year alone it really went sour. I can ask a close friend of mine who is a recruiter about the ability to join with it or whether to join after the surgery gets performed. Additionally, I will talk to another coworker of mine who is a PA and handles medical profiles and whether you will be able to clear or not. I'm on a temporary profile until 3 months after I have the surgery done.

Emu,

Thank you very much for the info. Anything else you can gather up would be great. The last two times (airforce and army) when I was getting ready to go to MEPS they told me not to bother because I wouldnt get past the medical because of it. They always add in "maybe we can get around it" but they never sound too confident. Did you join and go to basic with the GERD documented and taking meds? Thanks!!

John

Hi John!

I just spoke with a good friend who was in the Recruiting world for many years. I explained your situation to him and his advice is the following:

-If you are currently on medications, you will likely be unable to join. Servicemembers do get sick over time, they are human beings and suffer conditions out of their control. If you become diagnosed after you join for something such as GERD, it can be treated/evaluted at that time and does not constitute as a discharge. (I'm a valid case. My heartburn/GERD came years after I joined. Remedy is the surgery so that I can return to duty without the need of medications).
-If you have the surgery done, you must wait at least 6 months post-surgery to sign-up. He emphasized making sure you have a strong case that you are medically cleared by your surgeon and physician for the condition that was corrected. In his opinion, this may be your best option. By showing that you are no longer dependent upon medications and the problem has been corrected, you have a good chance at getting through the medical screening.
-He also said when it comes down to it, it depends on the doctor clearing you through when entering into service and the type of surgery you have had. If it was a heart transplant or a cardiovascular disease, chances are you will likely not be able to join. Whichever you decide, Just make sure to have a strong clearance letter from your doctor/surgeon.

They don't want to take their chances with sending recruits through who are currently taking medications for liability purposes.

My opinion: if this is a path you truly want to pursue and you are either stuck with taking meds for the rest of your life to offset the impact of GERD or have the surgery done. Medications will be your stopping point of entry. If you have the surgery done, wait at LEAST 6 months before entering into Service, your chances look to be better. If you have any problems that take place while serving and you are Active, you are covered with Health Insurance and pending the problem (let's say the wrap comes undone and it has to be corrected), you will likely be able to get it taken care of through the military health insurance without it having an adverse reaction on a military career.

I've met soldiers who have had kidneys and gall bladders removed, Nissen Fundoplication performed, etc while in the middle of serving their terms and it didn't effect their career. If it had to do with cardiovascular such as heart attacks or strokes, they were medically discharged.

Ultimately, the decision comes down to what you decide. I got the impact that any medications that are currently being taken is an automatic No-Go for entry.

Good luck with your quest John.

I admire your determination & committment to a career in the armed services.

You are an inspiration.

Take care

Lynda