What to do now? - Acid Reflux / GERD Message Board

Gijill91 · 03-24-2009, 09:12 AM

I was diagnosed with GERD/Gastritis almost 3 months ago at 31 and suffering great frustration! How can this suddenly just appear 1 day and then nothing you do gets rid of it? I have a hard time understanding all of this. Nothing I do works or helps...and the drs don't seem to care. I have made all the "recommended" changes--even though I had a healthy lifestyle to start. I even ended up losing 20 pounds and didn't need to to begin with. All of my tests (blood, stool, hphlyri, abdominal ultrasound) are negative. Scope showed mild gastritis/GERD. I inquired about why I have GERD and the GI dr said he SAW extra acid in my stomach. Then, the GI dr said he doesn't know what is causing this problem for me as there are no lifestyle indicators or other organ malfunction. I even started major "stress" management through yoga, meditation, and acupunture--in case that was causing it. Nothing works!

Anyhow, I only took a PPI for 10 days and had to come off due to side effects. I tried Zantac for a month and got very sick. Now, I take Carafate and Pepcid AC max. It seemed to work for a couple weeks but now it appears to be getting worse. My symptoms are chest discomfort alternating with a sore throat and belching. Sometimes I get water brash or an off-taste but that isn't daily. I have heartburn all day sometimes! I never want to eat but do because I have to and try to simply ignore the pain and go through my day. Initially, I was so sick I ended up staying home a lot.

I have read a lot about the antacids/acid reducers making people worse and that they are very bad for you. Any thoughts on this? This makes me very, very nervous and so it keeps me for taking a lot of medication and I wonder whether I'm doing myself a disservice in the process. At the same time, I wonder whether not taking the maximum medication offered to me is only prolonging my torture. Am I just being impatient? How can you really tell whether this is getting better or worse? Does it ever go away or am I doomed?

1sunny1 · 03-24-2009, 09:22 AM

The meds prescribed for acid reflux do work, but sometimes there are other problems. Did you have a endoscopy to see if there is any problems with your esophagus? I have taken prilosec since 1993, and if I don't take it, I will get heartburn. I do also get the pain in the center of esophagus, feels like a heart attack, but it is esophageal spasms, a muscle relaxer will take care of this problem. Hope you are feeling better, I know gerd is a pain in the ***!

mocha1061 · 03-25-2009, 08:40 AM

Yes the meds do work, my son is on Zegerid. Acutally has worked very well for the acid pain...which he has suffered with for four years! Now it has done nothing for his nausea, so unfortunately we are still working on that... but as far as the pain and the acid, it has worked!