Acid reflux , heartburn I guess there are other medical terms but as a sufferer for quite a while and having an account with Gaviscon and Rennie does anyone else suffer it too?

After thinking I was about to have a heart attack, I was diagnosed with acid reflux after an endoscopy – without doubt the most unpleasant experience I’ve ever had, ‘you might gag a little bit, don’t worry’ being the world’s cruelest understatement.

R, it’s annoying init, if it’s constant then check to see if you have an intolerance to certain breads or summink

yep, low dose of prescription daily Omeprazole (SP?) for me – not been troubled at all in last yr or so since taking the meds.

Yep – important to get it checked out with your doctor, as the acid can cause all kinds of problems. I too had the endoscopy, which was pretty much the worst experience of my life.

You’ll probably get put on omeprazole by the doctor, which does work to an extent. Stopping coffee, alcohol, fatty and spicy foods are your own problem though – I’ve not managed that part yet… There are surgery options like fitting a band around the top of your stomach to stop the reflux, but as I already have acid damage to mine, this isn’t an option, as I wouldn’t be able to swallow food.

Gunz… been there too. I was telling Mrs Wilko about it last night funnily enough, in your exact words. THE most unpleasant experience of my life. In fact if I had the choice next time, that camera would go in via my jacksy. It was that bad!

Anyway, turns out I have a weak esophagal ‘valve’ which means acid and undigested food can easily pass up to the esophagus. I’m on omeprazole now every day, and I never suffer from heartburn any more. A life-changing pill for me.

Beaten to the punch – twice!

I used to all the time.

I travel a lot and always had a pack of rennie in my bag. Used to buy the biggest packs I could find.

I cut out starchy carbs; bread, pasta, rice etc. about 12 months ago and I literally haven’t taken a single rennie since. I think in my case it was a reaction to wheat.

wilko what dose are you on?

bigjim – 20mg daily for me

Go have a test for helicobactor pyroli. Had bad acid problems for years until I was diagnosed with it. Now I’m ok

60mg Lansoprazole daily for me I’m afraid.

Miss one day and I get very bad reflux

You really need to get yourself checked out. I didn’t want to take medicine daily for reflux but my own GP has told me
that repeated burning / inflammation of the esophagus can lead to WAY nastier things.

I was tested for that stomach bug but unfortunately I came back clear.

@wilko1999

I was taking omeprazole but found I got tons of musculoskeletal pain with them in my hips and legs.

Moved to lansoprazole and have never looked back

20mg Omeprazole here daily (sorted)

20mg I think jim, but have been having repeat prescriptions for so long I haven’t checked the dose for years

Stu is that a common side-effect of Omeprazole? Might explain a few things, I’ll look into that…

Some of the people I work with have heartburn every day. One chap has had a ham sandwich and a pork pie for his lunch every day for the last 45 years and another has a long list of bizarre food allergies and lives on muesli and cigarettes.

Only one has sought professional help. He is ‘Mr.Big’ and trades prescription Gaviscon for Pringles, cake, tea and milk.

I believe it is Wilko.

I felt like an old man on that stuff. Almost like my hip joints were worn out !
I know I’m 40 but I’m reasonably fit lol!

I don’t feel any side effects on Lansoprazole though.

Go to doctor, MU and get an endoscopy if recommended. My Mum didn’t. I miss her.

What I thought to be heartburn turned out to be an inflammed Gall bladder which was followed by Bilary Colic. At this point you’ll be in no doubt that it isn’t heartburn as it so painful.
Go to the doctors to be on the safe side.

I had it, it was an unsuspected part of something else, and the antibiotics saw it off. As others have said – get checked.

I suffered with it for years. Never went anywhere without Rennie in my pocket for maybe 15 years.

Numerous trips to the doctors, and for an endoscopy etc didnt “fix” anything, and had various different prescriptions which helped but never solved the problem.

I gave up smoking just over 4 years ago and it stopped after a day or so, and has never bothered me since.

I found it odd that nobody ever mentioned smoking as a possible cause in all the oppointments I had over the years. But it had stopped so I wasn’t too bothered 🙂

(Not much help if you don’t smoke, but a possible cause if you do?)

Neal amazed no-one mentioned that. Smoking relaxes the various ‘sphincter’ valves in the body, including the one between your esophagus and stomach allowing stomach acid to flow back up where it shouldn’t. That was one of the first things the Doctor said when I first went complaining about it

10mg of Omeprazole every few days for me. I rarely get heart burn but the reflux makes me have problems swallowing food which is scary

Thanks guys.. doctors appointment booked, don’t like the sound of the torch down the throat business but gonna MU and sort this out.

Another Omeprazole 20mg user here too. If you want instant relief then 1 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda stirred into a glass of water. Sorted!

I’m on 10mg but still need to turn to gaviscon/rennies a few times a week. I wonder if I should upgrade to 20mg.

problems swallowing food which is scary

yeah I’ve had this several times, basically feels like suffocation when it starts filling up to your lungs, genuinely thought it was the end the first time it happened but managed to cough up the food blocking it. Rice is the worst thing for me, just seems to block the old pipe up.

Not eating hours before lying down is a big help for me – I had a big late dinner a few weeks ago and got woken up suddenly by breathing in reflux as it shot up my throat into my lungs… not nice!

Massively common complaint – omeprazole is always in the top 5 prescribed drugs list in the States…

Common lifestyle condition, often caused by (and it’s great cos you can list it off on one hand..):
Being overweight
Smoking
Alcohol
Stress
Spicy foods

Omeprazole (PPI) can often help, but why take pills if you can change your life to be healthier (if you can)..

Your GP should know if you need an endoscopy or not.

DrP

The IMS reports that Americans spent $307 billion on prescription drugs in 2010. The 10 drugs on which we spent the most were:

Lipitor, a cholesterol-lowering statin drug — $7.2 billion
Nexium, an antacid drug — $6.3 billion
Plavix, a blood thinner — $6.1 billion
Advair Diskus, an asthma inhaler — $4.7 billion
Abilify, an antipsychotic drug — $4.6 billion
Seroquel, an antipsychotic drug — $4.4 billion
Singulair, an oral asthma drug — $4.1 billion
Crestor, a cholesterol-lowering statin drug — $3.8 billion
Actos, a diabetes drug — $3.5 billion
Epogen, an injectable anemia drug — $3.3 billion

Common…

DrP

Do you snore?
If you do … do you sometimes make a guck guck noise?

My heartburn turned out to be a duodenal ulcer. Lost most of my red-blood cells before I went to the doctor. 6 pints of red blood cells, “torch down throat”, lots of antibiotics and several months off work followed. Go to the doctor I suggest.

Yep me. Shocking. Had it for years and years and years. Necking quite a few rennie-like tabs daily.

Get it mainly after muesli. Or pastry. Or dough. Or most foods. And at night laying on my side.

Should probably just slope off and shoot myself in the head, actually. It’d be the kindest thing.

Thanks Dr.P interesting to see how many of AZ’s drugs were in that top 10.
I find no real pattern to the symptoms but drinking and the odd cheeky ciggy (social smoking) don’t help.. but even if I don’t drink or smoke for days at a time then I can still get an attack..that could be as my job is rather frustrating…. I’ve never been very tolerant of fatty foods and stopped drinking strong coffee a long time ago. The day of a night ride has to be planned quite carefully with eating and drinking to avoid reflux when on the bike.

Another Gaviscon user here 🙄
Took 3yrs to get diagnosed, regular trips to hospital consultant and a nose job!
Having had a bad dose of manflu and being asthmatic I was suffering badly from night time coughs, suffered during the day as well but not as bad as at night. It seemed natural that docs would associate the problem with my asthma but I could not get through to them that changing my meds was not having any effect and it was not asthma related. Being an asthmatic all my life I was sure. I even had an ECG and the only thing out of the ordinary was that I was surprisingly above average for my age and supposed poor health but he was worried about how quickly my heart rate had dropped to what he though was very low and falling.
Anyway, the consultants changed and after talking through my issues he said there is nothing wrong with you regards asthma/chest etc its acid reflux, take Gaviscon! 💡

Although I can drink coffee in small amounts I have found some cafe “blends” can trigger a coughing fit. Tried a new cafe in town the other day and within minutes I had started, M&S cafe stuff has the same effect. Some breads also seem to start me off as does chocolate?
To get away from my usual breakfast cereal I started using muesli only to find this started me off, including my asthma. Found myself needing my inhaler!
Do coffee makers use nuts of any kind to blend with coffee beans?

if you do get referred for an endoscopy, you’ll probably get the option of either an ‘anesthetic spray’ (lol) or a drug that stops you remembering it all, based on my experience, I would consider taking the drug, though it makes it more complicated as someone has to come pick you up and look after you for 24 hours. Actually if I had to do it again, I would far prefer it up the bum, if that was an option.

Trekster – some coffees are very acidic, it depends on the bean. You can buy low acid coffee, I’ve never tried it though, as I’m going for the full dissolve-from-the-inside-out by 40 approach.

I actually get it pretty badly too!! – definitely noticeable when stressed.
I’ve taken to a prophylactic glug of Gaviscon prior to a glass of voni rouge…

DrP

>was pretty much the worst experience of my life.

I’ve had about 7 now, let me quote the little old lady in her 80’s who was in before me one time.

Daughter: Oh you didn’t have the sedative
Old Lady: No, that would have wasted the whole day, and I wanted to do the gardening.

MTFU

On the subject, switching from omeprazole to lansoprazole helps some people, gaviscon advance is also good for offsetting symptons, especially at night. Raising the end of the bed on a couple of bricks helps also. The very best test is a 24 hour manometry and Ph test to judge the seriousness of it, in the end I had a nissen done to (mainly) fix it.

Omeprazole (PPI) can often help, but why take pills if you can change your life to be healthier (if you can)..

I agree with what you say if it is your lifestyle that’s the cause but if its caused by say, abnormal working of the esophagus (which is my case) then I agree with my GP that long term usage of a PPI is a better prospect than risky invasive surgery

Indeed – hence the ‘if you can’ (but you knew that…)

DrP

let me quote the little old lady in her 80’s who was in before me one time.

Well to quote the lady that had it done after me “I’d rather give birth again than do that again”. Maybe we had a bad doctor, he was certainly pretty physical and was basically rodding a drain, that was my mouth, with his camera.

I had the 24 hour tape too, but right after the endoscopy, when I hadn’t eaten for 24 hours, so had nothing in me to cause reflux, which seemed pointless. You get some funny looks walking around with a tube coming out your nose anyway, people are really nice to you!

I get it once in a while, lifestyle is the main cause for me I think, when I’m good it seldom troubles me, but turns a yoga class into pure torture when its bad. Ranitidine helps me.