muckefuck | Lost day

Entry tags:

bellyaching

Lost day

Nothing like thinking you have a chronic condition under control only to have it rise up and smack you in the face. Or, rather, esophagus. I try not to whine about my GERD because it's pretty controllable. I know that certain things (e.g. anything spicy or acidic) will cause it to flare up so I either avoid those or treat myself knowing that I'll be up all night popping TUMS. That's why I've been caught so flatflooted by this recent outbreak. Sunday's lunch was cheese spaetzel, coffee, and a bit of tart. (How did you guess I was at Café Meinl?) Dinner was split-pea soup. Nothing there that should've caused me any problems. Yet there I was, sitting up at midnight with the Pepto pills. (My last resort after I've maxed out on TUMS.)

Monday's fare was even milder. And yet, the problems were if anything worse. I got so little sleep I called in, hoping to nap through the morning. But despite the fact that nothing had passed my lips, stomach acid would not leave me alone. I finally did sleep for a couple hours in the afternoon, but there went my hopes of getting anything done with the day. This time I ate and drank so little that I woke up in the middle of the night with a headache--and reflux. At this point, I'm really not sure what to do. I've wondered if it could be something else--the sensation is similar to what I've gotten from food poisoning in the past, but I don't have any other symptoms.

So it looks like toast, broth, and more bismuth for me until I get this figured out. Even herbal tea isn't beyond suspicion at this point. I guess it's high time I heeded Diego's advice and started drinking kefir on a regular basis.

ETA: Reading last year's entry for today, I find myself in exactly the same boat. Maybe it's seasonal?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Have you seen your GP about a short-term dose of any of the OTC, or prescription strength Acid-reducers?
I say this as someone with two stomachs, at least one of which has had some acid-reflux.

I've been taking Prilosec for years. When I saw my PCP in September and told her it wasn't doing the job, she said, "Double the dosage." I did and it gave me stomach cramps, so I stopped.

Could you maybe report this back to your PCP and get a referral to a specialist? Maybe your symptoms don't make any sense and medication doesn't work because your diagnosis has changed, or was wrong to begin with?

I got the double the dosage recommendation too a year or so ago, though it seems to have mostly worked for me. Possibly see if you can try a different PPI (Prevacid, Nexium, Aciphex, Protonix, etc.) to see if the side effects are less? Alternatively, maybe change the time of day you take it to see if effects can be maximized at night?

(Edit: to be clear, in my case "double the dosage" was "take it twice a day", not take two pills once a day. I don't know which your PCP recommended.)

Edited 2011-01-13 02:10 (UTC)

What schedule works for you? I used to take my pill in the late afternoon, but it could be frustrating getting the timing right. (I found I had to wait two hours after eating something and at least an hour before eating something else.) Now I take it in the wee hours of the morning so I can still have breakfast.

I generally take the first before breakfast, and the second either before or after dinner (trying to get them roughly 12 hours apart). But I haven't found it to be as sensitive to taking it on an empty stomach as you have, and I don't think it wears off as fast.

For me, it was more that my morning dose wasn't cutting it by nighttime. I was having problems usually stating in the evening (more Tums) and continuing late at night to interfere with my sleep and/or make me wake up with a sore throat. Also a chronic feeling of needing to clear my throat that persisted for some months before I talked to a GE and he recommended the dosage increase. (And an upper GI endoscopy.)

I've also found that when I have eaten too much too late for the Prilosec to do the job, sleeping on an incline (I use our reclining couch) combined with Tums can help reduce the reflux symptoms enough to get through the night. (My whole back has to be on an incline though-- just trying to prop myself up with pillows doesn't help, and may make things worse.)

When my first stomach has been in a bad place I took zantac, it has a different mechanism for controlling acid. This may sound odd, but Bananas are supposed to be a stomach-friendly thing, and it seemed to help. What concerns me most about your take on things above is the "nearly unable to eat anything" bit.

I keep hoping this is just some temporary flare up. What concerns me is that I can't point to any proximate cause.

Let's see what kind of difference a quart of kefir makes.

Kefir is a good thing. I find the fruited versions too sweet, when drinking Kefir I found that either a 1 to 1 mix of plain and fruit kefir worked just fine, or Kefir and a teeny bit of Pom Juice was helpful.

I too hope this is a temporary flare-up.

I have reflux and the MD told me to sleep at a 45 deg angle... don't sleep flat and not on the tummy. I am a side sleeper, so the position isn't a problem. I take meds, but I am blanking on which ones... I take 13 different ones so keeping track is difficult.

I'm a side sleeper, too, but that high of an angle gives me neckaches. Maybe I need some specialised cushions?

I just use pillows

Ever tried raw almonds? I've heard people swear by them as a cure for heartburn, though I realize this is not that.

(Also, forgive me if you've already talked about this and I missed it -- but have you tried any changes in dietary approach -- not just giving up a handful of trigger foods? I've heard of several cases of GERD alleviated with low-carb diets, for example.)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only