Help Against The Gerd! (reflux)

[allison]

Please guys, it's so bad! I went to the ER last night b/c my chest hurt so bad--and it was the GERD again. (Apparently both acid from my stomach and bile from my small intestine).

I'm on prevacid--it's OK.

But what do you take over the counter for immediate relief? (Opinions on the best ones are welcome!)

And I know there are all these foods that you are supposed to avoid, but I'm having trouble doing that given a)my lack of an appetite and b)the fact that I'm already on a celiac diet. Does anyone know what the worst triggers are (other than alcohol, caffeine, chocolate)--like is cheese really all that bad?

Heeeeelp.

Allison

[Ruth52]

I take Pariet (proton pump inhibitor) for reflux and my dr told me not to take any ant-acid over the counter stuff because it would stop the Pariet from working properly. So when reflux rears its ugly head I usually drink lemonade - it seems to calm everything down. Though I find that the Pariet will calm the reflux in about 30 minutes.

I avoid onions, tomatoes and anything really spicy. I also drinks loads of water.

Hope this helps.

Ruth

[trents]

Try 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda in 8 oz. of water. Works better than any over the counter antacid. Might not be a good idea if you have high blood pressure because of the sodium content, however.

Steve

[Fiddle-Faddle]

Make VERY sure that you avoid citrus and tomatoes (especially tomato sauces--very acidic). For that matter, ANY fruit juice should be avoided (they all have vitamin C added--which is citric acid); sodas are also highly acidic). For some weird reason, bananas also gave me bad reflux, never figured out why, as I can't think of anything blander than a banana. Eat half as much twice as often--do not eat a full meal, as half of it just might end up coming up your esophagus! Don't let your stomach get completely empty, as then you will have an empty stomach full of acid. Plain white rice always seemed to help me--maybe it absorbs some of the acid?

[Guest Norah022]

I am on Aciphex and it works decently. I had to come off of it for 2 weeks and had reflux 24/7. I also take 150 mg over the counter zantac. I take the Aciphex to reduce the acid production in my stomach and the zantac is to take care of any heartburn symptoms that may appear.

[Ellen]

  allison said:

Please guys, it's so bad! I went to the ER last night b/c my chest hurt so bad--and it was the GERD again. (Apparently both acid from my stomach and bile from my small intestine).

Check with your doctor about Eosinophilic Esophagitis. It's a type of reflux associated with food allergies that alot of people with celiacs have. It is untreatable with the typical GERD medicines...it's not caused by the proton pump so taking a proton pump inhibitor doesn't help. I'm waiting for the biopsy on mine now.

[ravenwoodglass]

  allison said:

Please guys, it's so bad! I went to the ER last night b/c my chest hurt so bad--and it was the GERD again. (Apparently both acid from my stomach and bile from my small intestine).

I'm on prevacid--it's OK.

But what do you take over the counter for immediate relief? (Opinions on the best ones are welcome!)

And I know there are all these foods that you are supposed to avoid, but I'm having trouble doing that given a)my lack of an appetite and b)the fact that I'm already on a celiac diet. Does anyone know what the worst triggers are (other than alcohol, caffeine, chocolate)--like is cheese really all that bad?

Heeeeelp.

Allison

Since my GERD is definately celiac related I avoid scripts, by the time most act the gluten reaction for me is over anyway. I use pepto bismal, it relieves the pain and the nausea almost immediately and I rarely need a second dose. It does darken the stool for a day or so, that's normal.

[Guest cassidy]

Gaviscon is the best over the counter medicine. I don't take any of it anymore. If I have heartburn I take apple cider vinegar capsules. I never thought that would work but I tried gulping some vinegar when I was desperate and my heartburn went away. I was on aciphex twice a day at that point.

Tomatoes, chocolate and citrus really get to me. I know it is hard to avoid things but I'm pregnant, I don't want to eat anything but I'm constantly hungry, and craving things with gluten, and I still don't eat the things that set my heartburn off. You must have been in a lot of pain to go to the er, so maybe it is worth it to try a bit harder not to eat bad stuff. I truly know how hard it is.

[Nancym]

If you're eating a diet high in refined carbohydrates (starches and sugars) you could be making your problem worse.

Dr. Eades has a lot of good articles in his blog about GERD. You might read them over and see what you think. I think this one was particularly good: Open Original Shared Link

[Mr J]

  cassidy said:

... If I have heartburn I take apple cider vinegar capsules. I never thought that would work but I tried gulping some vinegar when I was desperate and my heartburn went away. ....

an endocrinologist once explained to me that just about every regulatory mechanism in the body is based on the principle of a "feedback loop"

so whats happening there is that you are adding some new input for the acid production feedback loop to adjust itself.

the acid in apple cider vinegar enters the small intestine and this causes 2 things to happen

1. the pancreas releases bi-carbonate into the small intestine to neutralise it. This is necessary to allow the pancreatic enzymes to survive and digest.

2. A signal is sent north to the stomach to say ok we have plenty of acid down south, turn that acid production down.

a remedy of one or two teaspoons of apple cider vinegar mixed with some honey was given to me by a friend who recommended it for all sorts of things. For me it works to prevent gerd as opposed to calm a bout of gerd, and therefore needs to be taken on a completely empty stomach before eating a complex carb meal. I do this once a day before one of my carb snacks.

cheers,

Mike

[Mr J]

  Nancym said:

If you're eating a diet high in refined carbohydrates (starches and sugars) you could be making your problem worse.

......

everyone has their unique set of digestive idiosyncrasies so i'm no going to dispute someone who says that carbs calm their gerd.

i've certainly got my own unique set of digestive misery - currently unknown cause. However the above statement from Nancym applies to me. If I say take a mix of protein and complex carbs eg. eggs and rice, I am asking for heartburn. What happens to me I think is that the amylase carb enzymes in my saliva get started on the rice, then sensors in the stomach figures out there are eggs in the mix, so releases lots of acid and pepsin to try and break down the protein. The pepsin is happy in the acid but the amylase gets prematurely destroyed. Then in a desparate attempt to deal with the confusion my stomach seems to produce even more acid. I think what happens in a normal person is that the destroyed saliva amylase is not a problem coz the pancreas has amylase too and will finish off the incomplete digestion job on the carbs. But I've got unknown malfunctions happening in my small intestine.

anyway whatever is happening I cope better if I take no acid reduction methods and eat a meal thats protein with no carbs. Protein needs acid to break it down and the pepsin which gets breakdown of protein going in the stomach actually requires the acid for activation. So in that situation my stomach seems to produce the right amount of acid.

cheers,

Mike

[bluejeangirl]

I agree with alot of what Mike said. Whenever I lower my carbs I start to feel better. I don't have alot of acid type fruits and veggies like tomatoes. I also had to give up wine which was hard and I only had about 5 oz. with my evening meal. I hope I can have that again. I have a hard time eating liquid meals like protein shakes and soup. It just sits and wants to migrate up.

I'm having about 10 to 15 carbs a meal and 5 carbs a snack. Three meals and three snacks. Try and go complex carbs since you need the fiber and you can subtract the fiber from the carb total to come up with the net carb.

I have found these great tortillas from french meadow bakery. Here's the ingredient list. Organic sunflower seed, filtered water, organic flaxseed, organic pumpkin seed, organic hemp flour, orgainc hemp seed, organic amaranth flour, organic unrefined sunflower oil, organic sesame seeds, organic arrowroot, unrefined sea salt, guar gum non'aluminum baking powder, organic cayenne.

It crazy but I love these things, I make alot of pizza's with them and roll up sandwiches or just spread almond butter on them. So the net carb is only 2 grams. That fiber really gives your stomach acids something to wrap around in. I'm feeling so much better eating like this and don't have to take the acid reducers as often.

Check them out I think its FrenchMeadowbakery.com or google if not.

Gail

[Ksmith]

  bluejeangirl said:

I have found these great tortillas from french meadow bakery. Here's the ingredient list. Organic sunflower seed, filtered water, organic flaxseed, organic pumpkin seed, organic hemp flour, orgainc hemp seed, organic amaranth flour, organic unrefined sunflower oil, organic sesame seeds, organic arrowroot, unrefined sea salt, guar gum non'aluminum baking powder, organic cayenne.

Gail

Have you had the "Woman's tortillas "with soy flour? I'm curious if those are good...Thanks!

[allison]

Thanks guys! I am definitely going to try the apple cider vinegar fix...

I have a doc who told me to try taking little bits of mylanta every hour, and I think that is also helping.

I am already avoiding the chocolate, alcohol, caffeine, tomatoes and citrus. Definitely a good idea, but not helping me at all--since it's worse than ever and I haven't had those in a while!

I'll check out the carb thing too!

[bluejeangirl]

  Ksmith said:

Have you had the "Woman's tortillas "with soy flour? I'm curious if those are good...Thanks!

Yes those are good to but in the freezer they broke in half so you have to be careful to lay them flat.

gail

[key]

Are you on any other medications that heartburn could be a side effect of? I am very frustrated about having heartburn. It doesn't seem to matter what I do I have been having it. I have decided to try yoga and exercise more. I am SICK and tired of being miserable. I was taking Prilosec, but it does seem to make my stomach hurt and cause indigestion for me. I think from what I have read, that fat is the very worst thing for heartburn. I haven't gived up caffeine, because it doesn't seem to make a difference and I just refuse to give up the last "pleasure" in my life. Although, I have tried to cut back. Also try digestive enzymes and probiotics. This may help. Sorry you are so miserable. It does stink@

Monica

[rez]

coffee kills me!!!! anything deep fried, no way! Peppermint is bad too!

[allison]

i find the peppermint particularly odious. it helps so much with nausea, and now i can't have it!!

  rez said:

coffee kills me!!!! anything deep fried, no way! Peppermint is bad too!

[Ksmith]

My GERD has been incredibly painful lately...to be honest, it made me realize that I had it when I was eating gluten. It went away for a couple years and now it's back worse than ever. Is there a link between gluten consumption and GERD? Thanks!

[par18]

  Ksmith said:

My GERD has been incredibly painful lately...to be honest, it made me realize that I had it when I was eating gluten. It went away for a couple years and now it's back worse than ever. Is there a link between gluten consumption and GERD? Thanks!

I like to think so since my chronic reflux/indigestion went away along with the lower GI issues as soon as I went gluten free last year. It has never returned. Just as well as I think I had enough Gavicon before Dx to last me 2 lifetimes. Thankfully just another thing I don't need to use anymore. I bet there are a lot of people out there with just refllux that would improve being gluten free. Fat chance of ever getting any of them to try it though.

Tom

[allison]

Hi guys, hope you had a good thanksgiving!

I think celiac and GERD is very much related. That's what I've read...This doesn't explain why it's so bad now for me, because I've been off gluten for a long time (unless I'm accidentally CCing). Anyway, I've been having horrible diarrhea every morning for a few weeks, and I'm starting to wonder if it is related to antacid drugs with magnesium? I read that they can cause it...any one have any experience with this?

Allison

  par18 said:

I like to think so since my chronic reflux/indigestion went away along with the lower GI issues as soon as I went gluten free last year. It has never returned. Just as well as I think I had enough Gavicon before Dx to last me 2 lifetimes. Thankfully just another thing I don't need to use anymore. I bet there are a lot of people out there with just refllux that would improve being gluten free. Fat chance of ever getting any of them to try it though.

Tom

[Ksmith]

Allison,

Are you really stressed? I haven't has acid reflux since I was eating gluten (3 years ago)--and now I'm gluten free but got some major stress...the GERD kicked in after I was in a bad car accident and because I have a fairly stressful career, it just doesn't want to go away! I know they say alcohol is bad for the GERD, but a glass of wine with dinner actually helps me relax and my food digests with less discomfort. Of course exercise is a good way to relax also...

[azmom3]

If prevacid doesn't do the trick, you should ask your doctor if it could be eosinophilic esophagitis (Ellen mentioned this, too). The symptoms mimic GERD, but it does not respond to treatment. It's believed to be caused by allergies. Cases of this are on the rise since the mid 90's. It can get a lot worse if it's left untreated if this is what it is. Good luck!

[Guest Norah022]

My acid reflux appeared after going gluten free having never had it before. So it doesn't always get better once going gluten free

[chrissy]

allison, i think i have heard that the antacid meds can cause the runs if you take alot of them. i just recently had a scope and was told i have severe reflux esophagitis. i knew i had reflux, i've had it for over 15 years----but i did not realize it was as bad as it is---my symptoms just didn't match. i am now on prevacid as are two of my celiac kids. this stuff costs a fortune and i don't really want to be on meds the rest of my life for it. surgery is sounding better to me all the time.