de49152
12-19-2005, 03:29 PM
I was diagnosed with GERD/LPR and my doctor first prescribed prilosec 1x per day. That helped but I was still having reflux pretty bad, so now I am on prilosex 2x per day (morning & night). It is better but I still feel "acidic" all day. It's not full-blown heartburn but still uncomfortable. Would nexium be any different? Or adding a pepcid? Please reply with any recommendations or success stories.
Thanks!
Dan
Thanks!
Dan
Sponsor
warrenpoint
12-21-2005, 01:22 AM
I have been reading all these posts on GERD. Please go back to about page 3 on GERD and look for "There is a cure for heartburn" and you will find posts by me and some others on the success of RAW apple cider vinegar in water. I had terrible heartburn for over 6 months or so and tried all these meds but none of them helped. I tood the vinegar and within two or three days I was fine. Please give this a try. You have nothing to lose and it is much healthier than meds. Good luck. :wave:
jennyVee
12-21-2005, 09:35 PM
Hi can you use the vinegar even if you want to continue taking the meds?
mymeka
12-22-2005, 12:19 AM
Some PPI's are better for some people than others. I have had great success with Nexium, and feel almost normal, along with a healthy, low-fat diet and staying away from the obvious no-no's, such as coffee, citrus, mint, red sauces, etc.
Best of luck,
Lori
Best of luck,
Lori
de49152
12-22-2005, 02:08 PM
Thanks for the replies.
I might try the vinegar, but I am scared it may make it worse. I have had bad reactions to acidic foods and wine.
As far as diferent PPI's... my doctor said Prilosec is the same as Nexium. Is this not entirely true?
-Dan
I might try the vinegar, but I am scared it may make it worse. I have had bad reactions to acidic foods and wine.
As far as diferent PPI's... my doctor said Prilosec is the same as Nexium. Is this not entirely true?
-Dan
warrenpoint
12-22-2005, 10:36 PM
It would be your choice personally to take the vinegar with the meds but that way you would not know which one was curing the Gerd. I personally was taking Nexium, pirolosec etc., and nothing was helping and as a last resort I thought I would try the vinegar. I tried regular apple cider vinegar from the grocery store and that burned, but then I read on a site to try RAW apple cider vinegar. I went to a nutritional store and bought the raw apple cider vinegar and that was about 6 weeks ago and I do not have any heartburn at night since taking this vinegar. I have given it to other family members who have had this problem and it has worked for them too. I have great faith in it but I recommend you start slowly and take about a tsp in 4oz. water twice a day and see if it helps. Good luck and let us know it it has helped. :wave:
jennyVee
12-22-2005, 10:43 PM
Hi just make sure to brush your teeth after using the apple vingear since it can destroy the tooth enamel and also the gums.
blondy2061h
12-25-2005, 12:24 AM
I am on Prevacid 30 mg twice a day. You didn't mention your Prilosec dose. If it is at 20mg twice a day, you can go up to 40mg twice a day. If that doesn't work you can add a variety of drugs, such as zantac, pepcid, or carafate. These drugs are then all pushed to their max. I have been on 800mg Zantac a day, and 10cc carafate four times a day. After that, a propulsid such as reglan can be added. I was on Reglan four times a day at 10mg. After that sometimes an antiemetic can be added. I have used compazine and phenergan in this class of drugs. Occasionally after that surgery is persued, though some doctors, such as mine, will flat out not do the surgery, since there have been studies that show less than 10% of the people who have it done are still off drugs a year later, the recovery is tough, and there is evidence that if drugs don't work, surgery won't either.
gnznroses
12-25-2005, 01:31 AM
i have been on 2x prilosec/nexium/and that other one i can't recall the name of, plus frequent ranitidine or cimetidine (fraction of the cost of zantac, same thing) plus carafate, plus tums, plus gaviscon. didn't help. i've recently ran out of the nexium and carafate and there's little difference. some maybe, but i can't say for sure. the biggest impact anything has is diet, cutting out tomato and all the bad stuff, but i still suffer gerd and lpr. the surgeries all suck, but when my ph tests claim i don't have any reflux to start with, it's not an option anyways...
aswander
12-27-2005, 10:02 PM
If you have LPR, do not pay any attention to those espousing vinegar cures. It won't work for you. The main problem is that your doctor is prescribing the less effective PPI. For LPR, Nexium typically has the most success - read all the posts on this board, just search for 'Nexium" and "LPR". Take 2 Nexium simultaneously every morning - if this doesn't work, you might want to try taking 2 Protonix, another PPI. Try all the PPIs until you find one that works. If none work, then consider the surgery, but only as a last resort.
jennyVee
12-27-2005, 11:06 PM
Hi aswander--i wanted to ask how long did it take you to be able to eat again after having LPR, I am on my 1st week but still cant swallow much, let me know thanks a bunch
aswander
12-28-2005, 08:41 PM
JennyVee,
I never had trouble swallowing food, during the time I had LPR and after diagnosis/treatment. I did lose weight, because I simply felt so sick before diagnosis. All my other symptoms were significantly reduced on the first day I began treatment. I immediately experienced 90% relief, which is now about 05% relief as I have modified my diet as well.
I never had trouble swallowing food, during the time I had LPR and after diagnosis/treatment. I did lose weight, because I simply felt so sick before diagnosis. All my other symptoms were significantly reduced on the first day I began treatment. I immediately experienced 90% relief, which is now about 05% relief as I have modified my diet as well.
jennyVee
12-28-2005, 08:49 PM
Hi aswander your so lucky you didnt experience it since its the worst thing thats ever hppened to me, seeing so much great food during the holidays and not being able to eat it.... almost feels like i am going crazy at times.
i guess if you let the condition go a long time without treatment it gets out of hand and people then have trouble swallowing.
anyway have any of you ever heeard a little zzz sound coming up to your throat?? its so strange i have had this for a long time yet never realized its acide coming up, as soon as it comes up i start coughing like crazy
by th way aswander thxso much for the good info on the nexium it does work pretty quickly.. the first day I took it I noticed the throat tightness went away almost immediately, i was thining of switching to aciphex but I did not take the prescription to the pharmacy, my doc did call in prevacid, but I wont take it since I heard nexium is teh best drug for this problem.
i guess if you let the condition go a long time without treatment it gets out of hand and people then have trouble swallowing.
anyway have any of you ever heeard a little zzz sound coming up to your throat?? its so strange i have had this for a long time yet never realized its acide coming up, as soon as it comes up i start coughing like crazy
by th way aswander thxso much for the good info on the nexium it does work pretty quickly.. the first day I took it I noticed the throat tightness went away almost immediately, i was thining of switching to aciphex but I did not take the prescription to the pharmacy, my doc did call in prevacid, but I wont take it since I heard nexium is teh best drug for this problem.
aswander
12-28-2005, 10:02 PM
JennyVee,
I'm glad the Nexium is helping. It seems to help people with LPR in particular. I went about 7 months untreated before a diagnosis, so I had plenty of time to damage my esophagous, larynx and nasal passages. However, during this time, I was given 1 Nexium a day by an idiot ENT who didn't know about LPR. So my symptoms were there, but they may have been partially helped by the 1 Nexium a day I was taking. But even on 1 Nexium, I wanted to shoot myself - I can't even look back to that time without being overcome by a sensation of pure horror - like seeing a ghost or something terrible.
Since the acid is going all the way up your esophagous, escaping your esophagous and entering your breathing passages, that devilish acid is creating erosions througout both your esophagous and nasal/breathing passages. You probably feel like you have chronic sinusitis and lots of post-nasal drip, but that's just the acid causing inflammation throughout your cavities.
Here's my reco on how you might feel better with food:
-nothing carbonated. The bubbles will only help splatter the acid out of your stomach and into your esophagous.
-Minimal fat intake and NO FRIED FOODS. (NO Sauteed foods either).
-No Chocolate, Caffeine, Coffee, wine.
And most importantly, eat only in small amounts, like 250 calories every 3-4 hours. Keep the portions ulta small - as if you had a gastric bypass. You want to avoid the food piling up in your stomach, which in turn makes the food build up near the lower esophageal sphinchter, which essentially puts the acid right up your esophagous. I swear by smaller meals as being the critical part of keeping me from coughing after eating.
You can modify this - after you get better. What works for some doesn't work for others. But if someone had told me this way back when, I'd have felt a lot better sooner. I've had this damn problem for 3 1/2 years.
Since it's only been a week, give it some time. But I also supplement the Nexium. IF PPIs are the 3rd generation of acid drugs, the drug ranitidine (spelling?) is the 2nd generation. Ranitidine is sold OTC as Xantac (not to be confused with Xanax). At night, before bed, I take 300 mg of ranitidine. I get mine via prescription to minimize the cost, but it's not too expensive OTC if you want to just try it out. The reason you might want to take this drug at night is because PPIs do not really last 24 hours, as they are advertised. in fact, they last 17 hours. This is a major problem for people with LPR, as they need to take greater amounts of medicine anyway, and many insurance plans won't pay for more than 2 pills a day. What i would ideally do is take 4 pills a day - 2 Nexium in the morning, and 2 Nexium before bed, but my plan won't cover 4 pills. Therefore I supplement the Nexium with the Ranitidine.
A standard dose of Ranitidine is 150 mg, but you should double it to 300 mg.
Perhaps you could get some free samples of Nexium from your doctor, and try taking extra pills at night, just for the sake of getting well - even if it's just short term. You need to let those erosions heel!
I'm glad the Nexium is helping. It seems to help people with LPR in particular. I went about 7 months untreated before a diagnosis, so I had plenty of time to damage my esophagous, larynx and nasal passages. However, during this time, I was given 1 Nexium a day by an idiot ENT who didn't know about LPR. So my symptoms were there, but they may have been partially helped by the 1 Nexium a day I was taking. But even on 1 Nexium, I wanted to shoot myself - I can't even look back to that time without being overcome by a sensation of pure horror - like seeing a ghost or something terrible.
Since the acid is going all the way up your esophagous, escaping your esophagous and entering your breathing passages, that devilish acid is creating erosions througout both your esophagous and nasal/breathing passages. You probably feel like you have chronic sinusitis and lots of post-nasal drip, but that's just the acid causing inflammation throughout your cavities.
Here's my reco on how you might feel better with food:
-nothing carbonated. The bubbles will only help splatter the acid out of your stomach and into your esophagous.
-Minimal fat intake and NO FRIED FOODS. (NO Sauteed foods either).
-No Chocolate, Caffeine, Coffee, wine.
And most importantly, eat only in small amounts, like 250 calories every 3-4 hours. Keep the portions ulta small - as if you had a gastric bypass. You want to avoid the food piling up in your stomach, which in turn makes the food build up near the lower esophageal sphinchter, which essentially puts the acid right up your esophagous. I swear by smaller meals as being the critical part of keeping me from coughing after eating.
You can modify this - after you get better. What works for some doesn't work for others. But if someone had told me this way back when, I'd have felt a lot better sooner. I've had this damn problem for 3 1/2 years.
Since it's only been a week, give it some time. But I also supplement the Nexium. IF PPIs are the 3rd generation of acid drugs, the drug ranitidine (spelling?) is the 2nd generation. Ranitidine is sold OTC as Xantac (not to be confused with Xanax). At night, before bed, I take 300 mg of ranitidine. I get mine via prescription to minimize the cost, but it's not too expensive OTC if you want to just try it out. The reason you might want to take this drug at night is because PPIs do not really last 24 hours, as they are advertised. in fact, they last 17 hours. This is a major problem for people with LPR, as they need to take greater amounts of medicine anyway, and many insurance plans won't pay for more than 2 pills a day. What i would ideally do is take 4 pills a day - 2 Nexium in the morning, and 2 Nexium before bed, but my plan won't cover 4 pills. Therefore I supplement the Nexium with the Ranitidine.
A standard dose of Ranitidine is 150 mg, but you should double it to 300 mg.
Perhaps you could get some free samples of Nexium from your doctor, and try taking extra pills at night, just for the sake of getting well - even if it's just short term. You need to let those erosions heel!