Hi, I just saw your post for the first time. I can really sympathize with you, because I have had acid reflux since I was 15. I'm 21 now. I had an endoscopy done the summer before my 16th birthday. It is really nothing to be afraid of. This is how mine went: I couldn't eat anything the night before, after midnight. I got to the hospital around 8am, got checked in, was told to undress from the waist up, had an IV started, etc... Was taken into the endoscopy room, laid on the table, the doc sprayed my throat with something to numb it, I was told to bite down on a plastic piece to protect my teeth from the tube, then I saw some funny looking white medicine dripping into the IV tube, it burned for a second, and before I knew it I was out cold. I woke up probably about 20-30 minutes later. I didn't remember anything past the time that I saw the funny white stuff coming into the IV. They moved me into the recovery room, the doc came in to talk to me, and then they made me eat something to make sure that I could keep food down. After that I was allowed to go home. Over all the entire process took about 2 1/2 - 3 hours. (a lot of just waiting around!)
So anyway, the endoscopy showed that I had gastritis, duodenitis, and antritis, which are just basically inflamations of the lining of the different areas of the stomach, duodenum, etc... He said that my stomach was one of the reddest he had ever seen. he even showed me pics.
He gave me a prescription for what I now consider to be one of the best medications out there. I mean, I had been at the point where I couldn't eat anything because I would bring everything back up as soon as I swallowed it. You've probably never heard of it. It is called Carafate. It is a really chalky, white pill that you either dissolve in water (eew) or swallow whole about 5 minutes before you are going to eat a meal. I think that the first time I took it I noticed a difference. It took a few weeks for it to really start to work, and within a month or two I was back to being able to eat again (with the exception of tomatoes, orange juice, etc... all that acidy stuff). What it basically does is coat the stomach lining so that it does not get irritated when you eat, therefore allowing it to heal. I think I was on it for about 1 1/2-2 years. Then they switched me to propulsid, because I didn't need my Carafate anymore. The Propulsid went off the market, so they switched me to Prilosec, which was also really good. I am off of that now, because I didn't need something so strong anymore, and now I take something called
Aciphex once a day. I still get the reflux sometimes, but it is not NEARLY as bad as it had been, and if I have an accute attack, I am allowed to just take an extra
aciphex that day to get it under control.
Another thing that you shold know, aside from the foods to stay away from, is that when you are on any sort of medication for reflux, you should not use anything like Mylanta, Tums, Maalox, etc... I mean, it is OK to use them once in a while, but wait at least an hour after taking your prescription medication. Otherwise it can interfere with the absorption of the prescription med.
Hope I have been helpful. Good luck with your endoscopy, and don't be nervous. It is really nothing to be afraid of.
Elyse
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