Wow.!I looked at some of your posts and it appears that many of you are really suffering.I was diagnosed with GERD also but frankly it never really bothered me much.I never complained about stomach pains or problems.
A while back I was hospitalized for a heart ailment and for some inexplicable reason they decided to listen to my stomach.Apparently they didn`t like what they heard.After they got my heart condition stabilized, the doctor got after me about my stomach and i had an endoscopy and colonoscopy. I was told my stomach lining was scarred, i had GERD and also diverticulosis (or is it itis).
I really didn`t want to hurt their feelings, but this is the LEAST of my problems.Other things bother me far more.It seems ironic that the Prevacid, which I`m supposed to take twice a day(if I remember) is the most expensive medicine and the one that seems to do the least good for me.
I`ve discussed the idea of going off it for a while just to see if i do experience any ill effects but my wife is dead set against the idea and threatened to call my doctor if i dont get the prescription filled.
Clearly I have never suffered the way you have from this GERD and i wonder if that was a mis-diagnosis.I`m also wondering if an over the counter drug may not be just as effective?
Thirty days worth of prevacid costs $272 out of my pocket.Could it be the specialist gets a kickback on each prescription he writes?? Spending that much hurts, but I would not be complaining if I were convinced 1) something is really wrong with my stomach and 2) that terribly expensive drug is actually providing a tangible benefit.
It seems that that stomach scarring was most likely caused by taking lots of aspirin and later ibuprophen due to pain from spine, joint and bone injuries(including osteomyelitis in my 20`s) and gout.I`d much rather be spending that ammount of money, if i had to , on arthritis or whatever it is that makes me wake up many mornings feeling like every other bone in my body hurts. Unless someone is sneaking in while I`m sleeping and beating on me so cleverly that they leave no bruises, I think this is arthritis.One summer morning the feel of cool air from our air conditioner caused me so much pain in my arms I put on a long sleeved, heavy wollen shirt in an effort to relieve it.
While i`ve complained about foot pain which could easily have been prevented by allopurinol my doctor would not prescribe it because he felt allopurinol would do something to my kidneys.I was put on a diuretic, which can aggravate Gout but the response was "You can live with the gout". True, but allopurinol prevents flare ups. I finally got my allopurinol when i limped into his office with a foot swollen to elephantine proportions and wrapped in a towel since I had no shoe big enough to get on it.
Other than my stomach rumbling and not being able to enjoy tomato sauce based foods anymore this GERD, if it really is GERD dosen`t really bother me. Have i been sold an expensive bill of goods or are they trying to prevent greater damage.? I`ve taken prevacid for almost a year, so it`s cost me over $3000 and I`m thinking if that same money were spent on arthritis treatment instead, I`d probably be enjoying life much more.
Right now I `m taking 2O mg BEXTRA, after VIOXX was withdrawn. Maybe I`m not considering something important here but I`d rather spend $14 on my stomach and $272 on my spine and bone pain.