Re: Taking a giant leap of faith going off of PPI's!
Heh Gonzoe have you asked your doctor about surgery? I see your in Canada as am I , wondering what the odds of getting this surgery done without going thru an extremely long period of screwing around with PPI's hoping for a fix. After reading several sources on the net it seems that PPI's don't work about 80% of the time for those with LPR and not the typical GERD symptoms. Becoming more and more convinced that extending the period on PPI's may just do more harm than good , aggravate other areas of the body such as your lungs etc. without much benefit. The answer seems to be surgery for a small group of us that have reflux that involved the lungs etc..
Wondering how common this surgery is done in Canada. Will be having that discussion with my gastro doc. I would much rather get it over with if that is the fix. My sphincter doesn't seem to be working and PPI's aren't likely to fix it just help minimize the symptoms.
Re: Taking a giant leap of faith going off of PPI's!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Johnah
Heh Gonzoe have you asked your doctor about surgery? I see your in Canada as am I , wondering what the odds of getting this surgery done without going thru an extremely long period of screwing around with PPI's hoping for a fix. After reading several sources on the net it seems that PPI's don't work about 80% of the time for those with LPR and not the typical GERD symptoms. Becoming more and more convinced that extending the period on PPI's may just do more harm than good , aggravate other areas of the body such as your lungs etc. without much benefit. The answer seems to be surgery for a small group of us that have reflux that involved the lungs etc..
Wondering how common this surgery is done in Canada. Will be having that discussion with my gastro doc. I would much rather get it over with if that is the fix. My sphincter doesn't seem to be working and PPI's aren't likely to fix it just help minimize the symptoms.
My doc said surgery isn't normal etc and hasn't heard of people doing it and gve me nexium and life went downhill from that lol from cramps here n there to chronic pain n stricture
Re: Taking a giant leap of faith going off of PPI's!
I have same problem ever since I had excessive coughin my sphincter doesn't work so basically if I lie down it leaks so I just sleep elevated n don't over eat n jump around. But these docs gave me ppi bc say can cause cancer if don't take it, with ppi I Chet chronic heartburn after eat n over prdouction of acid n instead of sleepin 6 inch raised I sleep upright. Thy don't understand that I was way better off without
Re: Taking a giant leap of faith going off of PPI's!
Are you going to a specialist or your family doc Gonzoe?
I am going back to see the specialist on Oct 2nd and intend to press him on what needs to happen to progress to surgery. Seems to me the odds of the sphincter suddenly starting to work again after a few months of PPI's is slim to none.
I find I'm doing all the right things, have been on PPI's since March and sure they help to relieve the symptoms but it isn't going away. Seems the only difference is less acid to come up as a result of the meds so it reduces the irritation but changes little as to the function of the sphincter. Certainly don't want to screw my lungs up longer term by just taking the meds and not getting at the root cause.
Re: Taking a giant leap of faith going off of PPI's!
Diet changes to more alkanine and elevated bed helped me. Ya I been to specialest recently and he didnt even do an endoscopy and gave me prescription for dexilant and said that will heal me. Waste of time waited so long for a specialest. He said he's been on ppi since he was 15, although he's a young doc that still is a long time. My doc is the one gave me nexium that ruined my life at this point he thinks people with relflux should be on ppi. I'm startin to think these docs don't believe in doing research never heard of rebound and side affects of ppi. Maybe bc I'm in vancouver and doctors aren't good here
Re: Taking a giant leap of faith going off of PPI's!
Odd Gonzoe, I was put on PPI's by my family doc in March , had an endoscopy done end of May and started with the specialist then. Had a number of tests done in the hospital in between including a Catscan , EKG's, blood tests etc. as I felt pretty sick and they were trying to rule out what it could be. Looking back I think the timelines and workups they did on me were pretty good.
My family doc and the specialist I find to be excellent docs, trouble is that like many health issues there isn't as clear a solution for this as we might like there to be. I live in a smaller town of about 350,000 though not like Vancouver, maybe that helps.
Re: Taking a giant leap of faith going off of PPI's!
Wow that is for sure a better doc even after the night I burnt my esophagus severely from the nexium I still havent gone to do an endoscopy. And this first time have difficulty swallowing solids and tight swallowing. I'm starting to think maybe I shouldn't have bought the generic one because it was cheaper.
Re: Taking a giant leap of faith going off of PPI's!
I know on the internet there are some phony versions of Nexium, hopefully you didn't buy one of those. My understanding is some of those on the net have no medication in them at all , that might explain why it didn't work for you.
Re: Taking a giant leap of faith going off of PPI's!
Pharmisave reccommended because I dont have cover. It's a pink tablet, and suppose be much cheaper. I just checked today online and it's suppose be capsule. So I'm wondering if the generic one caused me to have immediate rebound maybe
Re: Taking a giant leap of faith going off of PPI's!
Hmm. Maybe the guy at pharmasave was mistaken, and what you bought wasn't Nexium at all. Getting rebound bad enough to burn the esophagus from one dose... That just isn't how PPIs work.
Re: Taking a giant leap of faith going off of PPI's!
I suspect what you thought you were buying wasn't Nexium at all. He may have given you a H2 like Pepcid or something as they come in a pinkish colored pill but they only work for a few hours. The over the counter one's are limited in strength as well. Unless you had a prescription for Pepcid it is likely you got a over the counter med, they are cheaper. I don't believe you can buy PPI's over the counter in Canada yet.
Re: Taking a giant leap of faith going off of PPI's!
Label looks legit it says apo-esomeprazole 40mg. Doesn't say nexium as that I'd a brand name, has apo stamped on the tablet, hopefully it was time released like the capsule. Oh ya label also says esomeprazole magneisum trihydrate 40mg. I also started accupuncture that made me super relaxed don't know if the combo of starting meds and being relaxed gave me anxiety and over acidity but what got me was during sleep. Slept elevated approx 6 inch but I guess acid leak so bad it travelled up n burnt me and woke me
Re: Taking a giant leap of faith going off of PPI's!
MountainReader, how did they discover that your reflux was coming up in a gaseous form and irritating your lungs? I just wonder because I get breathing issues all the time too, sometimes so bad that I wonder if I'll make it through the day/night.
Re: Taking a giant leap of faith going off of PPI's!
That's the generic version of Nexium. Didn't realize it was available in Canada yet. Last time I had a prescription of it it was 2010 though. Didn't think it came off patent here until 2013.
As Jane points out the PPI likely wouldn't cause your issue. Might be just a coincidence that you had a bad night of reflux after taking the pill. Certainly reflux can do all the things you described with burning your throat but not likely the pill itself. Obviously you were already having issues or they wouldn't prescribe a PPI.
Reality with PPI's is the first day you take a pill not much happens as far as relief, takes a few days to kick in.
Did by chance when you have the acupuncture done that day did you lay flat while it was done. That would certainly give the acid a chance to back up into your throat.
Re: Taking a giant leap of faith going off of PPI's!
Throat wasn't the problem. Whole esophagus got burnt at night bc more than usual acid flow and I slept aliviated plus at accupuncture too although not as high I woke up middle night burning severely where it was spasming and throbbing it was as if I drank whole bottle of acid. Afterwards I slept upright. After this night I hve a stricture. Now I'm taking Zantac after two months it settling but I would have 2 good days n 1 bad day hopefully gets better or back to before. Before I might wake up do to acid leakage but it was minor pain and I can go back sleep. This one was do bad it immediately swelled up. I really don't know why it happened but I did take plus before for a bit raberzole and it was fine until I stopped it gave me chronic heartburn whereas before my symptoms where throat clearing. After wards I settled t with diet change an Santa for few months. I took ppi again bc my doc thinks people with gerd should be on it do there is zero backsplash. So that's why I took his nexium prescription but he said if I needed it but I can take Zantac everyday. Idiot I am I tried nexium. I'm guessing it might be I have low acid and ppi makes it out of wack bc I never had heartburn in my life. Btw the clearing throat n leakage started from excessive coughing one day whih probably caused me the hernia do it happened after one day I'm not really sure how you people got gerd? Mine I can attribute it excessive cough I get this pain upper abd when it happens and only did it twice past 4 years and each time goth got gerd symptom the second one gave me side cramps first one throat clearing but those were only symptoms
Re: Taking a giant leap of faith going off of PPI's!
I try not think about it bc inget depressed bc what kind moron doesnt chew properly or takes too much food at time whereby get something irritate or stuck in throat so coughing like crazy to get it out, as result get reflux. I'm such an idiot give my self gerd, it's bc not used have something stuck throat so I panicked, plus now I'm an idiot popp nexium without trying Zantac first to see if side cramps ago away after second cough b really I rather have occasional side cramps than eating liquids n burning pain everyday allday, and used to have breathing prolems the first week rebounded. Don't know how everyone goes through this I'm like hanging by the thread here lol. 2 months
Last edited by Administrator; 09-06-2012 at 12:10 PM.
Re: Taking a giant leap of faith going off of PPI's!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tribulation
MountainReader, how did they discover that your reflux was coming up in a gaseous form and irritating your lungs? I just wonder because I get breathing issues all the time too, sometimes so bad that I wonder if I'll make it through the day/night.
I already knew I had acid reflux issues and a loose LES from regular 24 hr pH tests and Manometries.
I developed a continually irritated throat and severe breathing problems. My ENT had me do another pH test. This test was very new at the time and his office was one of the first to get it in. It should be more available by now. It is an upper 24 hr pH test by ResTech. Upper probes are in the throat above the upper esophageal sphincter. This probe differs from ordinary pH probes in that it is specially designed to measure acid reflux in its gaseous form. Normal pH probes aren't that sensitive. The results were extremely surprising. I actually felt good on the day I had the test and the results showed extremely severe reflux with tons of extended periods of refluxing way beyond anything normal. What really surprised me was that I was on high dose PPI's at the time, literally. With the prior tests, I knew I had bad GERD. My ENT wanted to see how well the PPI's were actually working for me in dealing with my LPR since I was really trying to find a solution for my breathing problems. I can't imagine what my results would have been off the PPI's at the time.
Anyway, you should check around to see who might do the upper ResTech pH tests in your area.
Also, I found the esophagram and modified barium swallow to be very helpful as well. The esophagram actually showed the acid coming up to irritate/aspirate tmy lungs and throat. Those tests are done chewing and drinking various thicknesses of Barium while they watch a live video x-ray.
In all fairness, I actually got my LPR under control for about 5 years before it became out of control and I really developed the life-threatening acid reflux issues.
Re: Taking a giant leap of faith going off of PPI's!
What I meant by "hanging by a thread" as in Iv'e trying to hold of on taking PPi's again. Most likely I will hoping after 3 months It stops, I just started 3rd month. Right now I only have severe pain after breakfast and lasts half a day. Weird, later it's fine.
What do you mean life threatening symptoms? I didn't know Gerd can do that? I had difficulty swallowing but you can eat liquids etc. Even now I eat slowly and still get food stuck and have a squishing sound when i swallow.
