Hey guys,
I'm a 37 year old male, diagnosed with small to moderate sliding hiatus hernia back in May. Initially it was a bit of a rough go -- I was 80lbs overweight and would go a week or so eating normally before something would trigger reflux and have me up all night. Anyway, once diagnosed, we tried Nexium. That was a mistake -- on the second day I could barely move -- it felt like every muscle in my body had been pulled tight. Even opening my eyes was an effort.
Stopped the Nexium and attempted to go without for a while. Couldn't, so I tried Zantac, which seemed to be decent but wasn't quite strong enough at certain times of the day. That was 150mg 2x. One other problem with the Zantac was that I started developing a mild vertigo. My GI doc talked me into going the PPI route again, so we went to Tecta 40mg 1x per day. It worked actually pretty darn well for the first couple of weeks. I was also taking the liquid Gaviscon at night to help protect my throat, because I did still sometimes get a late nighttime burn.
The third week however was a different story. Started getting bad headaches every day. Figuring it was just adjustment, I toughed it out. But soon after those were gone, I began experiencing a very different problem. It's as if my head suddenly became heavier on one side than the other. This *intense* pressure. Even the act of just, looking at something, trying to read made me feel like I was going to pass out/die. I stayed with Tecta a few more days but one Saturday I woke up and literally was almost unable to walk. Muscles were weak and shaky... whole nine yards.
Anyway, at that point I had lost approximately 70lbs, so my doc suggested we stop the Tecta (total use was 5 weeks) and try to go to Zantac or something. I tried the Zantac again, but was getting the vertigo thing again without any obvious benefit. Then I tried Pepcid. That worked like a hot darn on the acid, but the fatigue it generated was terrible and the head pressure cranked up again. I have not taken any antacids whatsoever in about a month, but I am *still* having head pressure (not as bad as before) and this intense pulling sensation every now and again with my neck, around the base of my skull.
I did have an full body MRI done as a precaution after these symptoms persisted a while. The radiologist suggested Tecta side effects could remain in my body potentially for weeks, stored in body fat, etc. He did note, however, that there were a couple of bulging discs in my upper neck. He said it shouldn't be enough to affect me.
What I'm trying to figure out is the head pressure situation. I am wondering if anyone else has experienced it, and if they tied it to meds, sleeping position, or something else. If it was meds -- how long after you stopped (if you stopped) did it take for the pressure symptoms to subside? I think it may not actually be 'pressure' per se but a clenching/tightening of head/neck muscles. I think there may also have been multiple things going on.. ie. headaches that were happening on top of the 'pressure' that were related to other factors making it that much worse. I've had my eyeglass prescription adjusted because apparently what I have is now too strong for reading (I'm near sighted but wear the glasses all the time). As I said I've not had any antacids in about a month, yet the pressure persists. I'm assuming the Tecta and its associated effects should be well out of my system by now. Over the long haul it has improved, but it feels like now it's only improving a tiny, tiny bit each day. It does sometimes (but not always) seem to worsen after eating. The pressure sensation is seldom in the same place each day.. and can even move around depending on what I'm doing. SOmetimes it feels like inner ear.. although the doc has checked that out and cleared it for now.
As a side note, when I was first diagnosed with the hernia, I tried a bunch of the home remedy things, like drinking water and jumping. I am thinking now it might be possible that the jumping, esp. with my neck having that disc problem, might have done some damage.