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Menopause and GERD

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GERD & Acid Reflux
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Posted 9/30/2010 2:11 PM (GMT 0)
No testing, just a diagnoses from doc. I guess that is my next step. Also the zegerid and apple cider vinager are working pretty well. I live each day in fear that it will flare up.
Posted 9/30/2010 10:45 PM (GMT 0)
The tests are:
Barium swallow- easy
EGD- easy if sedated
Manometry- hard, but very nesessary
Ph test (aka- Bravo)- wire type is hard, bravo is easy
Some people have the stomach emptying test
Posted 10/1/2010 9:17 PM (GMT 0)
I just lost my health coverage so I was wondering if you can tell me how many, if any of these tests can be done at the docs office?It seems that anything done at the hospital costs soooo much more than docs office.The Zegerid is still working pretty well. Thanks
Posted 10/1/2010 11:00 PM (GMT 0)
I had to have all mine at the hospital. You could get a care card to put it on.
Posted 3/8/2011 9:49 PM (GMT 0)
Hello, I have been experiencing GERD since January 1st.  To catch you up to date, I am menopause.  I haven't had a period in over two years.  I have had a pelvic ultra sound, came back fine, had an ultra sound on my stomach, intenstines, etc., came back fine.  I have beenon Prilosec but changed to Previcid and the Prev. did work a bit better.  I am about 85% better, off the prev now since I felt it had been a while.  However, my stomach looks 6 months pregnant.  I cleared the pelvic concern, but can't understand why my stomach is bloated.  I lost most of my peri weight last  year and now have put on 4 pounds back.  I am small so 4 pounds is a lot for me.  I am getting mixed messages, some say GERD can be menopause, some say that is why my stomach is bloated, gained the weight back.  Has anyone experienced this?  I was scheduled for an upper GI but cancelled is via doctor said if symptoms are getting better hold off, but if they come back full throttle, go for it.  Like I said 85% better.  I always feel like something is stuck in the back of my throat and I burp quite a bit.  I am very concerned about this stomach since I don't like it (lol).  Any comments???
Posted 4/24/2011 6:33 AM (GMT 0)
I am 60 years old and have developed acid reflux. Looking back, I believe I had silent reflux for 10 years. I would get this radiated discomfort and heat comining from within right below my stomach. I blamed it on menopause symptoms. Several months ago I developed a dry cough. I thought i was reacting to the cold dry air. When I would lay down at night I heard a crackling sound from my lungs. Which I found out recently from the doctor that it is called wheezing (asthma-like symptoms). In the last month the acid reflux has worsen. My throat is sore and I feel my esophagus has been burned by the acid. I am also feeling the lump in my throat. My Stomach has felt bloated and some burning. I believe that my hormones or lack of hormones has had a lot to do with me developing acid reflux. I have always had problems with my hormones. The doctor has prescribed 20 mg of prilocec which I do not want to take because of it's side affects. Sometimes I feel worse after I have taken it. I do feel better when I eat right, but when I blow it and drink coffee or spicy foods I pay for it. Right now as I write it is 1:00 am and I am having a flare-up (I wonder if its because I had coffee and a chocolate covered donut this morning, duh!). Oh, I drank grape juice on Good Friday during communion. I have placed it on my list of what not to drink and eat.
I like drinking warm ginger water. It seems to sooth my stomach. I don't know if it's good for my esophagus. Would anyone know about this? I am eating small amounts at meal time and trying to eat slower. Like I said these
symptoms of acid reflux came on strong in the last 2 months. I'm so glad I found HealingWell. Reading the posts has been very helpful. I hope I can get this cured.
Posted 4/24/2011 6:45 PM (GMT 0)
Ginger is good for the digestion.
I like Canada Dry Giner Ale when my stomach's sensitive.
Posted 4/24/2011 7:25 PM (GMT 0)
Thank you couchtater for the reply. My husband is telling me that my gerds is psychological. I don't find myself to be that nervous of a person. I am telling him that the lack of estrogen has stressed my body. I didn't drink pop that often, but when I did I always felt pressure in my stomach; the same when I over ate. Also when I would eat fast. I am having to change my eating habits. I hope by writing this it will help someone else. I keep hearing from people who have had acid reflux that with medication they got over it. I am hoping and praying for that.
Posted 4/24/2011 10:03 PM (GMT 0)
Well I guess all things come to an end..............I suffered with this reflux since New Year's Day.  In response to all the replies to my post, it is now April and I can honestly say the symptoms are 99.9% gone.  I ended up having the upper GI a month ago and everything with that came back 100% ok with the ultra sound and pelvic ultra sound.  Basically, this GERD lasted til now.  It took forever to clear up but it did.  I never thought it would.  I was absolutely at my wits end with it.  I have read so many articles on it and it can be caused by menapause as well.  So I took the previcid, and it did clear it up,but then nothing worked.  I waited it out, did all the tests and most if not all of the symptoms are gone.  My recommendation to those suffering, it isn't a short term ailment.  It can last for months.  It does go away and things do go back to normal.  So don't worry as much as I did and not self diagnosis yourself as I did..................glad it is behind me now.
Posted 4/24/2011 10:08 PM (GMT 0)
Land of Oz, I'm glad you're feeling better.
Posted 4/25/2011 3:24 PM (GMT 0)
Land of Oz, I glad to hear you are doing well. Your message has encouraged me. Are you able, then to drink coffee, tea, pop, and eat chocolate and fatty foods? I miss the cofffee mostly.
Posted 9/6/2011 6:50 PM (GMT 0)

I am new to this forum, 48 years old and perimenopausal. The acid reflux appeared from nowhere since the last 2 months. My obgyn says my acid reflux has nothing to do with my hormones since my periods are regular! I don't drink coffee, alcohol or eat chocolates. But, I do drink black tea. That is the only indulgence I have. Do I have to quit that too? I am pretty depressed with this. I am otherwise healthy, active and not overweight. Has anybody tried apple cider vinegar for relief? I don't want to go on PPI yet.

Posted 9/6/2011 7:20 PM (GMT 0)
Menopause was surgically induced when I was 39. I was put on hormone injections immediately in the hospital. I injected myself for many years then went to the pill, Estratest.

A couple of years ago, I took myself off hormones. All he*l (GERD) broke loose.

I believe hormones cause and exacerbate GI problems.

BTW, Zegerid worked wonders for me in the beginning and healed my ulcers. But when I went back to it a year later, it didn't help at all.

Zegerid contains a lot of sodium and some doctors won't prescribe it to patients with hypertension. Mine did but I had ankle edema the whole time I took it.

Blessings,
Cme
Posted 9/6/2011 7:28 PM (GMT 0)
Funny how I have been searching for info on this a lot the last few days. I am 48, peri-menopausal, still get my period but my GERD is bad bad bad, among many other digestive issues. I believe it is directly related to the menopause being on its merry way. I have been using Zegerid for about a year with good results as well, some days it does not work at all though so I have to add tums or something else to help.
Posted 9/6/2011 8:20 PM (GMT 0)
Hi there,

Mine is definitely hormone related. For sure.
Posted 9/6/2011 9:14 PM (GMT 0)
I have no pain but a soar throat and occassional feeling of smelling clorax bleach followed by sneezing! The sour throat is more earlier in the morning and tends to be less severe in the evening. I have no cough. It is bizzarre! I did not know how acidity felt like before this all started.
Posted 9/25/2011 8:47 PM (GMT 0)
I have been peri menopausal for 5 years, I am 54, my period is a bit erratic, but my digestive issues are awful...belching, food not digesting the way it used to, I have lost the taste for foods I used to love, so strange!
Had all the tests, all is well, thank goodness...who would ever think this mid life change would also wreak havoc on my gut!
Posted 10/12/2011 9:27 PM (GMT 0)
Good thing I did this search and ended up here.

The reflux is hitting hard within the past week, so hard that it's been rather scary, I thought for a moment that my Barrett's had come back full force with a vengeance and was delivering me some sort of horror story to be found in an upcoming endoscopic. I am still going through with the endoscopic, however...

This truly stinks... I work so hard to stay fit and healthy, that the increase in hot flashes shouldnt even be there... I have managed to control them with a fitness workout in the past, only feeling their wrath when I haven't exercised in a week.

Ok.. new chapter.. this reflux is so bad that it hurts me beyond that area with a migrating pain to the head and upper chest. Went to Dr's at penn and all they can do is say swallow study, which comes with radiative food etc.

After seeing this message board, I upped my regular bioidentical hormonal progesterone cream, back up to the level the doc said i could go to... for the smaller dose may not be enough...

53

fit

Dont eat any nosh stuff anymore

Workout regularly

I even veggie juice.. which is wonderful if you are having problems with solid food come night time... (I can tell people how to go about doing that) at least I still can get nutrition in me late at night due to that being taken in readily by my body.

This is screwed though.... I really thought I had finally run into something that was a health disaster. The Drs don't say when was your last period.. are you in menopause... They just want to test things and prescribe double doses of Prilosec.

When this first hit the first sign was hard reflux.. the next acted like a blockage, total stop of motility of my digestive track. One other thing was easy bruising.

What's helping that movement... working fiber back into my diet to the tune of alternating between fruits veggies (pears, prunes, plums, avocados are high in fiber) with whole grains, along side of lots of liquids, veggie juicing and oh my probiotic i use Udo's choice and I would caution anyone who is buying a probiotic to get a great one from the refrigerator section (cant buy it online for you don't know how its been stored or shipped.

I go for my endoscopic next month... Drs are so slooooooooow, its a good thing this isn't hopefully more serious.

Will keep an eye on this board and update if I get lucky with something (such as the probiotic, progesterone cream kicks in.... this is such an insult menopause... No period in last three months... and I usually get a period once in a blue moon.. I guess that once in a blue moon was keeping me in good shape... I hope it returns now with the upping of the progesterone cream.. yikes...

Thank goodness winter is coming... at least the flashes won't be so bad.

Hopefully I will have this beat soon. Oh I almost picked up the other form of prilosec, but noted it has an additional ingredient.. baking soda... jury is still out on if that screws up the brain later.. hmmmm.

Rose

Post Edited (Irose) : 10/12/2011 4:36:37 PM (GMT-6)

Posted 12/4/2011 5:51 PM (GMT 0)
I'm so relieved to find this thread.  I'm 47, really fit and GERD started suddenly four months ago.  My PPI doesn't seem to really help.  The physicians I've seen spend a total of 10 minutes with me and just switch PPI brands in response to my continued reflux/pain complaints.  I never thought to connect this illness to perimenopause until a friend last night told me her heartburn started during perimenopause.  Why don't doctor's know this?  My life has completely changed for the worse in the last several months and I've gone from running marathons to struggling with 3 mile runs due to acid refluxing into my throat.  I want to get off the PPI but am afraid to try it because I had rebound acid reflux when I stopped abruptly two months ago (my doctor didn't explain that you have to taper off of PPI's).  Has anyone had relief from a low carb diet?  Really frustrated and sad... 

 

Posted 12/4/2011 11:07 PM (GMT 0)
I have had the same problem! I just turned 49 and have had this on and off for a few years never thinking it could be a Peri-menopause symptom but it definitely is. After doing some research I found it is very very common and doctors don't know and don't seem to care either.
Posted 12/5/2011 12:20 PM (GMT 0)
I'm sure there's a hormonal element to GERD for us ladies of a certain age ;-)

My first bout was within 6 months of childbirth - though coincided with a major bereavement... so hard to separate out cause and effect.

My second (still ongoing) bout of acid reflux started 18 months ago. I've always wondered about a hormonal aspect to it because my symptoms fluctuate so much (though not specifically in a cyclical fashion). I was terribly poorly when pregnant with reflux and it wasn't due to the expanding belly - it started from the first month of pregnancy!! I think progesterone is known to relax the LES, so perhaps as our oestrogen levels drop and progesterone has less oestrogen around to oppose it (or balance it), the effect on the LES causes reflux? There are probably other combining factors (like a hernia or weight gain) but I'm sure the hormones are up to no good too!!

http://www.power-surge.com/php/forums/index.php?showtopic=19420

You can read some other ladies comments on the subject on the above link.

I am trying wild yam at the moment so see if that helps. I had only taken it for a few days when I had a flare up of my bladder problem (which is mostly quiet these days) so I have stopped it whilst that settles - I think I possibly felt better on it but I haven't had long enough to try it.

I wonder if there's any information on which herbs used for menopausal symptoms don't cause worsening of acid reflux? Wild yam is supposed to be helpful for gastritis, so that was my main reason for trying it. I haven't looked into the other common herbs used for menopause (agnus castus, black cohosh etc).

MMM
Posted 12/5/2011 12:56 PM (GMT 0)
http://ukpmc.ac.uk/abstract/MED/35979/reload=0;jsessionid=EE5839B9D0F0141CF38A4B750DE010E3

This isn't a very up to date piece of research but it does show that acid reflux was more likely to occur in the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle, which is post ovulation and when progesterone is at its highest.

http://etheses.bham.ac.uk/3008/

And this second link talks about oestrogen being protective.

Interestingly, I just read something else within some blurb on menopause herbs, that mentioned licorice - apparently it contains phyto-oestrogens - maybe that's why it helps some people and not others!!

MMM
Posted 12/16/2011 5:19 AM (GMT 0)
I've been on the low carb diet outlined in "Heartburn Cured" for 10 days and am having substantial relief. My night sweats also disappeared during the first week of really low carbs (25 grams per day). Now I'm eating 45 grams per day and had some nights sweats but GERD symtoms still 80% gone. Anyway, I'm back out skiing and running for the first time in months, so I'm hoping this this works for me.
Posted 12/16/2011 3:22 PM (GMT 0)
trailrunner

Welcome to HealingWell.  Thank you for sharing with all of us what is working for you.  Congratulations on finding a diet that helps you and I envy you your energy to get out and ski and run.............I am over the hill.  devil

Feel comfortable starting a thread of your own as we love new members.

Kindly,

Kitt

Posted 12/31/2011 9:50 PM (GMT 0)

Hi I have just found this site. I am 48 and this past year have found that my periods have changed from being regular to closer together then missing 1. They also last longer and the pain varies depending on the period. I have had some hot flushes but these seem to last for about a month then go before reappearing again. My main problem now is GERD. I have had it for awhile and have been given some PPI by my doctor to take for a month. So far they have helped a bit but sitting here I can still feel a burning in my throat which worsens on lying down. :-(  I also get crashing fatigue which only sleep helps and sometimes after about half hour in bed feel really sick like I've got a stomach bug and convinced i will be spending time over the toilet that night but then nothing happens. It just stops. Has anyone else had this?  I am fairly fit and exercise 4 times a week and also try to eat healthily but the worst problems are the GERD and the fatigue.......hot flushes etc don't really bother me.  confused

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