Good afternoon everyone,
Bare with me while I paint a brief history of how I got to this forum.
32 y/o male diagnosed with a small Hiatal Hernia, GERD and Gastritis in November 2010 via endoscopy. GI doc gave me some samples of Nexium, which I never took seeing that my symptoms were not that severe. He said it was my choice to take it or not, but advised against long term use of it.
Made some minor lifestyle changes to accomodate the hernia/gerd, and generally felt OK, with just a few bouts of reflux and minor abdominal/shoulder/back discomfort. Fast forward to September 2011, I finally eliminated caffeine (colas) and experienced some wicked withdrawals a la sinus infection and headaches. Reflux acted up a bit during that time as well. Doc RX'd flonase and then two weeks later Amoxicillin (antibiotics).
Day 1 of taking Amoxicillin, I started getting a lump feeling when I eat/drink, with some refluxy gurgling in the throat/chest. It's nothing significant, but it prompted me to scheduled an appointment with the GI (but can't get in until Nov. 14). Since the reflux seemed to getting bothersome, I began taking the samples of Nexium that my GI gave me almost a year ago.
For 10 days (antibiotic cycle), I've had the dysphagia symptoms, and I've taken Nexium for 9 of those days. I'm done with the antibiotic cycle as of two days ago, and stopped taking Nexium today because I've read that there is a small chance that one or both of these can cause dysphagia (extremely small percentage).
As far as I know, I have no allergies to antibiotics. Anyone ever experience dysphagia as a result of Nexium and/or antibiotics? It doesn't seem likely that amoxicillin would cause such a reaction, but I haven't had the need for antibiotics since I was in my early 20's, so don't know if it could upset my GERD/Hernia symptoms.
What medications are effective at treating mild cases of dysphagia and are there any natural alternatives? I'm preparing to do a body/liver cleanse detox next week (for 3 weeks), which I'm excited about, so that's why I stopped taking the Nexium.
Thanks for any input you may have.