Question about my recurring heartburn

[j***@gmail.com]

I was diagnosed with Hatial Hernia in 2005 and since then I have been
taking Nexium once a day. I was perfectly fine. I could eat anything ,
drink anything including beer with no heartburns at all. I avoided
tomato. Other than that I was perfectly fine - until two weeks back. I
got a new refill of Nexium and it stopped helping me. I have been
suffering since then. My doc asked me to take Nexium twice a day.It
got a little better for a week but keeeps coming back. I have it
almost all the time. My wife thinks its all in my head.

I don't know what the hell happened. My wife bought the organic milk
around the same time. I used it for cereal.
Don't know what happened? But somehow Nexium stopped working or
something.

Basically I am confused. I am hoping that it will be better in a few
weeks.
I started to take digestive enzimes. I also take apple cide venegar
and a spoon of honey in water after dinner.

Any thoughts? What should I do?

[[e-mail] |]

Post by j***@gmail.com
I was diagnosed with Hatial Hernia in 2005 and since then I have been
taking Nexium once a day. I was perfectly fine. I could eat anything ,
drink anything including beer with no heartburns at all. I avoided
tomato. Other than that I was perfectly fine - until two weeks back. I
got a new refill of Nexium and it stopped helping me. I have been
suffering since then. My doc asked me to take Nexium twice a day.It
got a little better for a week but keeeps coming back. I have it
almost all the time. My wife thinks its all in my head.
I don't know what the hell happened. My wife bought the organic milk
around the same time. I used it for cereal.
Don't know what happened? But somehow Nexium stopped working or
something.
Basically I am confused. I am hoping that it will be better in a few
weeks.
I started to take digestive enzimes. I also take apple cide venegar
and a spoon of honey in water after dinner.
Any thoughts? What should I do?

I have a list of thoughts.

1. Have you talked to an alternative medicine provider about
the use of digestive enzymes?

2. What type of digestive enzymes are you taking?

3. It would be illogical to try cider vinegar and take PPI meds at the
same time.

4. I oppose cider vinegar as it will worsen GERD symptoms
by sweeping away the protective mucus layer that lines
the esophagus. If you decide to take betaine HCL to
increase stomach acidity to promote stomach motility
and prevent reflux after talking to an alternative medicine
provider understand the capsules get the acid pass
the esophagus and into the stomach. Also always
take them during the meal and NOT after. It is really
nice to swallow an number of boluses of solid food
to make sure the caps aren't hanging up in
the esophagus.

5. It may be in head but not how the wife means it.
There likely is a neurotransmitter aspect to GERD.

6. Always remember PPI meds only change the nature
of reflux they do not stop it. Nor are all the changes
to the refluxate for the better. Alkaline or mildly acid
refluxate can contain dissolved bile salt which are
irritating to the esophagus lining. It maybe this effect
that has caused much of the esophageal cancer
rise since the advent of H-2 acid reducers and the
PPI meds, IMO.

7. Are you sleeping on an incline? I recommend 12 inches
of incline minimum not the commonly used 6 inches. Don't use
pillow wedges to do it. Figure out something else for
yourself. I likely have written about what I do and it should
be in the archive.

8. Yahoo has a heartburn/GERD/reflux group that is still active.
It also has an archive.

9. If you have a pH monitor placed down your esophagus
make sure it is a newer unit that also checks for alkaline
reflux.

10. Occassionally when I am getting a cold the lower end of
the esophagus has been sore. I am including back when
I used the meds in this comment.

[j***@gmail.com]

Thanks for the reply. I will stop drinking cider vinegar because I
agree with you that cide v and nexium seem to contradict each other.

[Vanny]

I suggest that you do more reading around the subject:
http://www.google.de/search?hl=de&q=GERD+Lifestyle+changes&meta=

You appear to be doing/ingesting/inbibing many things that are going to
exacerbate your condition. Milk increases the acid content of the stomach
and promotes reflux. Substitute soya and rice milk (a mixture - tastes
better than soya milk on its own).

It also sounds as though your hernia has got worse and/or your LES has
weakened considerably and it probably is time to get a referral to a
gastroenterologist instead of relying on your primary care doctor to dot the
Is and cross all the Ts. An operation to address the hernia and/or
fundoplication might be the suggested route.
http://www.google.de/search?hl=de&q=Fundoplication&meta=

Of course if your BMI (body mass index)
http://www.google.de/search?as_q=body+mass+index&hl=de&num=10&btnG=Google-Suche&as_epq=&as_oq=&as_eq=&lr=lang_en&cr=&as_ft=i&as_filetype=&as_qdr=all&as_occt=any&as_dt=i&as_sitesearch=&as_rights=&safe=images
is not between the recommended 21 to 25 you should do something about that
immediately. The lifestyle changes will naturally steer you onto the path of
healthy living. If you smoke - give up and stop drinking alcohol and
increase you sport's programme to half an hour per day or 3 rigorous and
separate hours per week.

My personal observation (and by no means to be taken as statistically or
clinically significant), as a long-term GERD patient, is that it appears
more difficult for men to implement the GERD lifestyle changes than women
and thus men suffer more. Most likely, because the women tend to be able to
cook and look after themselves better and implement the lifestyle changes as
part of their normal routine. So, I suggest that you start cooking for
yourself and your wife and then you know what is in your food. Garlic,
onions, tomatoes, red meat, spices including pepper, etc., are amongst the
most common cooked foods to be avoided for GERD sufferers.
Unmarried/unpartnered men tend to rely more on fast foods/TV dinners, which
are absolute no-nos for GERD sufferers in particular because of their high
sugar, spice, fat and red meat content.

Vanny

Post by j***@gmail.com
I was diagnosed with Hatial Hernia in 2005 and since then I have been
taking Nexium once a day. I was perfectly fine. I could eat anything ,
drink anything including beer with no heartburns at all. I avoided
tomato. Other than that I was perfectly fine - until two weeks back. I
got a new refill of Nexium and it stopped helping me. I have been
suffering since then. My doc asked me to take Nexium twice a day.It
got a little better for a week but keeeps coming back. I have it
almost all the time. My wife thinks its all in my head.
I don't know what the hell happened. My wife bought the organic milk
around the same time. I used it for cereal.
Don't know what happened? But somehow Nexium stopped working or
something.
Basically I am confused. I am hoping that it will be better in a few
weeks.
I started to take digestive enzimes. I also take apple cide venegar
and a spoon of honey in water after dinner.
Any thoughts? What should I do?

[christophe]

Post by j***@gmail.com
I was diagnosed with Hatial Hernia in 2005 and since then I have been
taking Nexium once a day. I was perfectly fine. I could eat anything ,
drink anything including beer with no heartburns at all. I avoided
tomato. Other than that I was perfectly fine - until two weeks back. I
got a new refill of Nexium and it stopped helping me. I have been
suffering since then. My doc asked me to take Nexium twice a day.It
got a little better for a week but keeeps coming back. I have it
almost all the time. My wife thinks its all in my head.
I don't know what the hell happened. My wife bought the organic milk
around the same time. I used it for cereal.
Don't know what happened? But somehow Nexium stopped working or
something.
Basically I am confused. I am hoping that it will be better in a few
weeks.
I started to take digestive enzimes. I also take apple cide venegar
and a spoon of honey in water after dinner.
Any thoughts? What should I do?

I belong to the pro surgery group so please bear that in mind when you
read my comments.

Vanny is definitely right on one point, namely, that you need to have
a good BMI score before surgery. However, I don't think that there is
any need to be as low as 20-25. A BMI of 27 is fine.

The biggest risk for failure of surgery seems to be herniation.

Obviously, you need to do more tests no matter what course of action
you decide to follow: (1) an endoscopy to determine tissue damage; (2)
manometry to see if there are any motility problems; and (3) impedance
testing which will give a fairly accurate indication of acid and
liquid reflux. The hard part of doing all these tests is that you need
to be off the PPIs for at least 3 days to get meaningful feedback.

IMO, take money out of the equation and I think every gerd patient
should have the tests before starting medication. The PPIs can be very
dangerous drugs and they also very costly.

[[e-mail] |]

Post by christophe

Post by j***@gmail.com
I was diagnosed with Hatial Hernia in 2005 and since then I have been
taking Nexium once a day. I was perfectly fine. I could eat anything ,
drink anything including beer with no heartburns at all. I avoided
tomato. Other than that I was perfectly fine - until two weeks back. I
got a new refill of Nexium and it stopped helping me. I have been
suffering since then. My doc asked me to take Nexium twice a day.It
got a little better for a week but keeeps coming back. I have it
almost all the time. My wife thinks its all in my head.
I don't know what the hell happened. My wife bought the organic milk
around the same time. I used it for cereal.
Don't know what happened? But somehow Nexium stopped working or
something.
Basically I am confused. I am hoping that it will be better in a few
weeks.
I started to take digestive enzimes. I also take apple cide venegar
and a spoon of honey in water after dinner.
Any thoughts? What should I do?

I belong to the pro surgery group so please bear that in mind when you
read my comments.
Vanny is definitely right on one point, namely, that you need to have
a good BMI score before surgery. However, I don't think that there is
any need to be as low as 20-25. A BMI of 27 is fine.

Research on women says otherwise. BMIs beyond 20 increase
the odds of reflux and GERD.

Post by christophe
The biggest risk for failure of surgery seems to be herniation.
Obviously, you need to do more tests no matter what course of action
you decide to follow: (1) an endoscopy to determine tissue damage; (2)
manometry to see if there are any motility problems; and (3) impedance
testing which will give a fairly accurate indication of acid and
liquid reflux. The hard part of doing all these tests is that you need
to be off the PPIs for at least 3 days to get meaningful feedback.
IMO, take money out of the equation and I think every gerd patient
should have the tests before starting medication. The PPIs can be very
dangerous drugs and they also very costly.