Acid Reflux!

The wheezing could be the acid getting into your lungs. I rarely burned, but I kept getting acid in my lungs causing lung issues.

Hi Mark,
What you're describing is classic reflux/GERD. Symptoms vary from person to person, but they are all pretty much the same general symptoms.

Yes, weight loss can help reduce GERD symptoms, but there are very thin people with it as well. If your LES is weak, it can't hold the acid in your stomach.

You can have reflux without traditional "heartburn" symptoms.

If you have severe reflux and the acid or bile is getting into your esophagus, it can also affect your lungs. I had very mild reflux, but it was enough to send my asthma into high gear.

If you're as bad as you describe, probably the PPI (Omeprazole) is your best bet. You could take the Ranitidine before bedtime, to keep things calmed down while you sleep. I was told by my GI doctor that it takes two weeks for it to work at peak performance, so one week wasn't enough time to see if it worked.

Do you have the head of your bed elevated? You can put blocks, or bricks, or buy bed risers, and put them under the legs of your bed at the head of the bed. It is one of the best things you can do to help yourself.

I ended up with 40mg PPI morning and night, so there are a lot of options out there.

Glad you've joined us! Good luck getting your symptoms into control!
Take care,
Denise

To find out if you have a weak LES is go to a GI who will do a scope to see it.
The acid won't stop your breathing, just congest it. Like a bad cough.

Both Denise and I had the surgery to fix ours because we couldn't go on with the acid messing with our lungs. I coughed constantly with mine and was getting lung infections.

I had good results with Nexium for seven years. It stopped working for me the last three years of taking it. That's when I chose surgery.

Hi thanks for the replys :)

Is not a nice thing this, it just came on out the blue.
Sorry for the question, but it's good to know what i should be doing next.
Did you get the burning of the throat as well ?

If i saw a GI Doc, which i'm sure my doctor will refer to. will he just ask what my syptoms are, and maybe put me on another med to see how it goes ? or will the GI Doc refer me to get a scope?

Did you 2 have to be put to sleep when you had you're scope done ?

Thanks for you're help, really gratefull :)

Mark. x

Hi Mark,
Yes the Omeprazole is meant for people with a weak LES. It turns off the acid pumps so your stomach so there isn't so much acid to reflux up into your esophagus. Many do well with just that.

If your worst time is during the day, take it a half hour to an hour before breakfast. If it's at night, take it before dinner. The Ranitidine is a good bed for overnight, as it's not timed release, and will only last the night.

Most here are sedated for a scope. Actually most (I believe) are put out completely. My first scope came after a colonoscopy, and I was awake for both, although sedated for relaxation.

Knowing what the endoscopy was like, I opted for no sedation the second time. It's not a picnic, but certainly very doable, and if you're aware, you can help swallow down the tube, thus avoiding the sore throat that comes with the doc poking it down without your assistance.

Your GI may just prescribe meds and then have you come back after a trial period to see if you're still having trouble. (I think that's very likely in your case, since it's a new issue) He/she will schedule an appointment to see how everything is going, then if you're still having trouble, may order a barium swallow to see if you have a hiatal hernia, and look for reflux there. The endoscopy is not usually the first procedure you'll get, although it can be.

Good luck with your doctor visit!
Denise

Hi,

Thanks for you're replys once again.
I was taking the Ranitidine twice a day for 8 days now.
They seem to make me worse, make the acid 10 fold!! i have stoped taking them for 2 days now, as the side affects we're making me ill.
So after 2 days, the burning has gone from 100% to 5%. but the bloating is higher, and get this pain centre on my rib cage, just left a little.

this was the whole reason why i stoped taking Omeprazole, as it gave me much worse burning, but no side affects like the Ranitidine has.
What was this indicate what could be wrong? i know i will ask my doc, but won't see him till the 14th of this month.
Also, would Kolanticon Gel or Gaviscon be ok for the bloating untill i see my doc ?
what would u recomend?

@droper. i couldn't do that last night for some reason lol think i spoke to soon :(

Thanks once again for you're kind replys.
Mark.x

hi, i have acid reflux and i take malanta do u? try it it helps alott

Hi Mark, sorry to hear of your symptoms, I understand your pain and frustration too well.

Just seen your endoscopy report, which looks normal (although it looks a lot more detailed than my reports were haha;)).

It mentions non ulcer dyspepsia, which is what I've been diagnosed with. So basically you don't have any ulcers, and there's no evidence of any inflammation on your stomach. But you're still having acid symptoms, I think that's all non ulcer dyspepsia means. Basically that your stomach's upset but there's no evidence of inflammation or ulcers with your scope. That's really good news, despite how annoying your symptoms can seem. That's all the second paragraph in the conclusion means. Not sure about the first paragraph sorry, maybe someone else can help.

I had 2 scopes done, and both were normal too. I have heard that too little and too much stomach acid can cause similar symptoms. You mentionned Omeprazole made you worse? That's also the same with me, I tried 3 different PPI's for almost 18 months (I just believed the doctors knew best and they kept on prescribing me them lol) and they did nothing for me, they made me worse. I also had to deal with horrible side effects from them like diarrhoea, constipation. I eventually stopped. Your report also mentions trying the medication domperidone. That basically helps food move down your digestive tract faster, sometimes it can help with nausea and to prevent you from vomiting. I also tried that for a while, but it didn't do a lot. It didn't give me any side effects though, so domperidone is usually pretty safe to take. You can also buy domperidone over the counter as well as on prescription in the UK. But personally, I just needed to change my diet. Have you been tested for coeliac disease at all? If not, I'd ask for that. They can do a blood test, and also a biopsy. That is a condition where you can't have gluten and it can cause GI symptoms in some cases amongst other things.

You mentionned dietary changes don't work...what have you tried eliminating and for how long? Sometimes it can take a good few weeks or even up to a few months for your body to notice the difference. I never believed food was a culprit for me, because I'd never had food intolerances before, but after exhausting the prescription pills route, I eventually tried. Wheat gives me really bad indigestion so I've given that up. I've also got to limit fatty and acidic food as they can cause burning in my stomach and some reflux. I've even got to limit my intake of chocolate, shock horror...;) It's restrictive and I've really got to watch what I eat, but after 18 months of feeling ill all the time, it is worth it to feel well. I originally just wanted a pill to put me right and not have to change me eating habits but that didn't happen! ;) Even if dietary changes are not the full answer, often they can ease a lot of gastrointestinal symptoms. From my experience, doctors are pretty rubbish at giving advice on nutrition and diet, I had to pretty much work it out on my own, the only thing doctors seem to do is just throw more pills at you. Acid reflux can sometimes be a symptom of food allergies. The thing to remember as well, is that reflux is often described as a symptom, rather than a condition in itself, and it's important to try and find out what is causing you to have reflux. Do you drink or smoke if you don't mind me asking? Often it can help to cut back as well, as that can make it worse. I no longer go near alcohol.

What symptoms are you having right now? I had a sore throat a few weeks ago due to having reflux and I had a few spoonfuls of manuka honey and by the next day my sore throat was gone. It's not cheap, but completely natural and it provides a coating on your throat and stomach. Before trying pills, I'd try natural remedies. My GP was my first port of call when I felt sick as well, but sometimes natural remedies can help, and you don't get yucky side effects that you can get with medication sometimes. Please let me know if I can help in any way :)

I hope you feel better soon, and feel free to contact me if you ever need to talk. You have my sympathy, I know it's not fun. Hello from a fellow UK member! :)

Post Edited (judy02) : 12/17/2010 9:24:43 AM (GMT-7)

Hey, I'm sorry to hear of all your problems.

I hope the Omeprazole helps. They do seem to help some people, so not saying there's no place for them, I just know that for whatever reason, they really didn't do anything for me :)

With your scope being normal, it is possible that it is down to too little stomach acid (not definite but possible). As there's no vissible scarring or inflammation caused by excess acid. If you have too little stomach acid, I don't think the scope picks anything up. Hopefully your doctor can help explain some things to you as well when you see them next. They often call it non ulcerative dyspepsia, if you're getting reflux but a normal scope.  I know both my scopes were normal, which I couldn't believe because at the time my acid reflux was so severe, I was even bleeding from my stomach at one point, I could taste blood at the back of my mouth and I was starting to have black stools on a couple of occasions, yuk! All that whilst having horrible burning and reflux. :S That calmed down when I came of PPI's though. I rarely get reflux now, only if I eat really bad foods, other times it feels like I don't have enough stomach acid, just horrible bloating. I'm still learning with my diet, sometimes I can eat the wrong thing and feel ill for days or even weeks later. But yeah, not all experts agree with patients taking PPI's such as Omperazole if their scope was normal though so just tread carefully in taking them! I learned that PPI's caused me to have a lot more acid problems, even though I'm not 100% now, I feel healthier off them. They work by preventing the stomach pump from producing acid properly so if you do have too little acid, it can often make the problem even worse. Another of our members, Cecelia also had that experience. Naturopathic remedies for indigestion, such as digestive enzymes can do pretty much the opposite I think, where they increase the stomach's ability to produce more acid. They've helped for some people too. A lot of mainstream doctors tend to think that indigestion automatically = too much stomach acid, but it's not the case for everyone.

I still don't really know what caused my problem unfortunately. I started to notice about 4 years ago I seemed to have somewhat of a sensitive stomach. I couldn't get away with eating like a teeager anymore, if I eat too much fatty, sugary foods, I'd easily start to feel sick. I had to be more healthy. I'm only 26 now so I'm dealing with these issues relatively young. Although I'm a bit embarrised to admit that about 18 months ago, I drank a bit too much after a night out and my stomach's been a lot worse ever since. I haven't touched alcohol since! :S So I don't know if I've always had a sensitive stomach, and been prone to digestive issues, and the alcohol exacerbated it even more, or whether it would have just happened over time anyway *shrug* No one seems to know, unfortunately some people just seem to have more sensitive stomaches ;) Annoying I know, I haven't really had an answer to why I'm like this, or even exactly what it is. I just treat myself as a chronic indigestion sufferer.

These are 2 websites with some natural remedy suggestions to indigestion, hopefully they might be helpful to you:

http://www.home-remedies-for-you.com/remedy/Indigestion.html
http://www.journey-with-crohns-disease.com/indigestion-causes.html

Also, if you get a lot of acid trouble, another member on here shared this food chart:

https://sites.google.com/site/healthguy99/home/foodchart
Basically it contains a list of alkaline and acidic foods. If acid is a big problem for you, maybe eat more alkaline foods and see if that helps to neutralise the acid and give you less pain? Hopefully the PPI's such as Omperazole might help for you as well?

It sounds like acid is coming back up into your throat giving you that burning, tight feeling :(

This is a website I consulted when I had a sore throat due to GERD:

http://beatacidreflux.com/2008/12/how-to-relieve-a-painful-throat-difficulty-swallowing-due-to-acid-reflux/

As crazy and unlikely as it sounds (to me anyway) a few spoonfuls of manuka honey really did get rid of my sore throat due to GERD. I was always more an advocate of prescription medication so I was surprised this worked. Also, make sure you avoid eating anything a couple of hours before going to bed, definetely don't eat right before going to bed, that's what caused my sore throat, as acid came up into my osephagus, giving me that sore throat feeling. Lying down after eating can cause the acid to come back up into your throat. Ideally, a lot of the literature says to leave it 4 hours before going to sleep after eating, but as long as I leave it at least a couple of hours, I seem to be ok. Sometimes, it can just be trial and error as to what works for you and what helps you.

Have you raised the head of your bed at all, so you're lying more elevated and not as flat? People who get throat problems due to GERD/reflux, that can really help and make a difference. It helps to keep the acid in your stomach rather than coming back up your throat.

If natural remedies and lifestyle changes don't help with your throat problems, and if it's a really bad persistant problem for you, I made a thread about sore throat problems a few weeks ago here:
https://www.healingwell.com/community/default.aspx?f=45&m=1968967

It's possible your doctor might be able to prescribe you something for the throat problems if you can't get it under control.I'd try natural remedies first though, ;)

Good luck with everything! Hope you manage to get it sorted. One thing I've found sometimes, is different things work for different people and you have to work out what works for you. You have my sympathy, I know what you're going through isn't pleasant. Switching to more alkaline foods though might really help, it helps to neutralise acid so it might help calm down your stomach (hehe, this illness kinda reminds me of GCSE Chemistry, and the PH chart). I switch between acidic and alkaline foods depending on my symptoms.

Post Edited (judy02) : 12/21/2010 5:37:15 AM (GMT-7)

Hey, no problem. With the manuka honey, I'm not sure, it's not cheap stuff but was really helpful for me. And it tastes great as well if you have a sweet tooth! :D I got a 10 strength, but there's various you can try, 10 worked well enough for me.

For me, the Omeprazole took about a week after I stopped taking them to get out my system (at least that's when the side effects of the meds wore off me). Eugh, horrible stuff, they gave me diarrhoea :(

You could stop them and see if you feel any better or different. I'm not sure how long you're meant to try them for (I took them for 18 months so think I gave them a good run to see if they worked ;))

As for the PH test, I'm not sure, you'd probably need a referral from your GP either for the test or to see a gastroenterologist. I never had that done, there are other tests out there which I haven't had but at the moment, I don't feel like I need them, or that they would do anything to help me any further.

Good luck anyway in finding treatment that works for you, and have a good chat to your GP about your scope result and your current symptoms and concerns also when you next see them and see if there's anything further they can recommend also.

Hope you have a Merry Christmas, and can enjoy it despite your health issues! All the best :)