Acid reflux/diverticulitis

[tagurit]

I only wear sweats at home. Even my work pants have elastic waistbands, so I'm good there.

I'm digesting the advice/suggestions here. I'm still on the fence about the MediWedge.

I lost the extra 15 pounds I'd been carrying around, a few months ago, and am at my target weight, which isn't skinny, by any means, but comfortable, so I'm good there, too.

I'm finding that it's not only the acid backing up causing pain that's interrupting my sleep, it's also worry about that acid and what it is/might be doing to my esophagus, mouth, teeth, and sinuses. Let's not even talk about lungs. I don't even want to imagine such a thing.

ETA: I'm composing an email to my PCP, which she'll read before I see her tomorrow, which is a nice way of making sure I don't forget anything. I agree I need to change or up my Prilosec.

[E. Q. Taft]

One cheaper (though less effective) alternative to a bed riser: try adding another pillow. It may help a bit.

[CenTex]

From what my doc told me, adding another pillow just raises your head, not your esophagus, so it it really isn't that effective. I take pantoprazole for reflux (slightly stronger than prilosec). My Doc said that drug companies have to put temporary indications on OTCs, but that it can be used as maintenance medication. And yes, add calcium, because the reflux drugs interfere with your body's ablility to digest calcium.

ETA: Prilosec is supposed to be a slow working drug, take it once or twice a day and it works all day. It is not as effective if you take it right before a meal.

[crocoduck_hunter]

That depends on where you put the pillow: try putting it under your shoulder blades.

[tagurit]

My pharmacist told me to wait 20-30 minutes and then eat. Is that not correct?

I'm a side sleeper. I think it's helpful to sleep on my left side, but I prefer my right, so have to be careful there.

[tagurit]

Originally Posted by Bettie Page Turner

Diarrhea might be from the antibiotics. Wouldn't hurt to add some yogurt and probiotics to the regimen.

I think you're right about the antibiotics. I'm on some I've never heard of before, and probably both generic. I know the Cipro (also never heard of) is. It's Ciprofloxacin and the other is Metronidazole.

I feel a lot better today, still with the diarrhea but fewer incidence. Now I have a bad case of the hiccups though. That's one of my little symptoms I've had for probably 4 or 5 months. I don't usually hiccup and while it seemed odd, no one is going to go to the doctor for hiccups now and again, even at (occasionally) 3 occurrences a day. I just dealt with them.

ETA: So many of you are dealing with acid reflux. I've read GERD is fairly common. I'm so sorry any of you have or are going through this.

[overyonder]

For the GERD, which I've been fighting on/off with for the last 15 years... My main "fix" has been to watch my diet. There are a lot of things that can trigger it, so more so than others. And even the combination of 2 of them can exponentially increase it.

My sure-fire way of GETTING it was drinking Diet Coke and chewing mint gum. May as well call the haz-mat team for my stomach if I did that.

Diet sodas are banned from my diet at this point, as are most caffeinated drinks.

Pepperoni pizza gets nearly every time.

You may want to get GI specialist to do a H.Pylori test on you. It's not often the cause, but it's worth a check.

For the lower end, that's a bit more difficult. Are you a user of Aspirin/other anti-inflammatory drugs? I was an occasional user of Aspirin, but it would have negative effects on my stomach creating lactase (the enzyme we need to convert lactose to simpler sugars). Once I quite Aspirin, lactase levels came back to normal, and the stomach came back to normal. It was, in effect, lactose-intolerance.

OY

[RocMills]

A year or so back I was diagnosed with severe acid reflux, and I was prescribed a newer medication called Dexilant. It has worked wonders for me. I take one pill a day, usually right before going to sleep.

[Horse Chestnut]

My stomach was pretty much eaten away from taking naproxen sodium, so I started taking Pepsid and Prilosec OTC, and that did help some, but I was still suffering from some long painful sleepless nights. Then I decided to give slippery elm capsules a try. I found that it worked better and faster than the OTC meds.

The nice thing too about slippery elm is it just forms a mucilaginous barrier, so there are really no side affects to speak of. It is not expensive, but it can be hard to find. I can buy it at Whole Foods if I want to make a trip clear across town; otherwise I have to order it online.