Persistent Heartburn

Pretty random topic here, but figured some of you out there may have/still are experiencing the same thing...

Anyhow, I've suffered from killer heartburn for about as long as I can remember. Since the age of 14 or so, I started on a daily TUMS regiment. It started out slowly, but towards the end, I was taking at least 10 or more TUMS a day and still having out-of-control heartburn. Around age 25, I started taking Wal-Mart's generic Prilosec once a day because I was sick and tired of eating chalk. I've been doing so now for a little over 3 years now. I pretty much have to take it every day because on most of the days I don't take it or forget to take it, I get heartburn. The packaging says take once a day for 14 days and then you're supposed to stop taking it, but in my case I can't. I saw a doctor about it and he really didn't tell me anything, asked me what I was taking and I told him and he said just to continue taking them everyday. He gave me some paperwork to go have some blood tests done, but I never went in, probably not the best idea, I know. Anyway, just wondering if anyone else out there experiences the same thing and what you do to avoid getting heartburn. I've tried a lot of different things, but I can't do one thing and that is change my diet even though it'd probably save me from it.

Sounds like you have persistent acid reflux. Taking PPI (proton pump inhibitor) medicines like Prilosec every day for your whole life isn't a big deal, there aren't any side effects worse the misery of dealing with the stomach issues and if left untreated it can cause esophogeal cancer (basically, if your stomach overproduces digestive acids that stuff can get places it shouldn't go, like your throat. PPI medicines shut down a portion of your stomach's acid production).

There are lots of PPI's and some work better than others for some people. I've had to go through a lot of different ones in order to get the only one that works well for me to get covered by my insurance.

You also probably need an endoscopy. That will check your esophagus for anything precancerous and could also give an explanation for the persistent reflux. In my case, it explained what was going on and why only one drug seemed to help it.

Reflux can also cause bad breath, so once you get it under control, your luck with the ladies may improve.

I don't know why your doctor wouldn't have just immediately said this is what you have. It's pretty common and your experience, while a little more extreme, sounds a lot like mine. Now, 1 Aciphex a day and I'm good to go, but forget to take one in the morning I notice it in the evening.

This describes my issue exactly...it's almost scary! Starting on TUMS, then Gaviscon, and now I take generic Prilosec called Omeprezole. It works for the most part except when I forget to take it...but yeah I'm right there with you on this one.

When I went to my doctor, he told me pretty much the same thing...take a PPI, I told him what I was taking and he said that's about all I can do...I keep thinking that maybe I should insist on an endoscopy, but I never bring myself to do it. The pills seem to keep it at bay for the most part, so it doesn't get bad enough to make another doctor appointment. But the post above has me a little nervous...he said the "C" word...

One thing though that worried me is that my girlfriend ran across an article published by the FDA that found drugs like Priolsec (Omeprezole) is known to cause magnesium deficiencies which has me worried. I've been meaning to get a supplement since reading the article...

There are a LOT of things that can change your heartburn.

Being overweight is a large contributor to heartburn.
Consumption of a number of different foods: caffeine, mint, alcohol, smoking, etc. Spicy food are not known to CAUSE heartburn by themselves, but they will make the symptoms worse.

You could potentially have a case of H.Pilori (google it for details). It's not that common but it does happen. Or even a stomach ulcer.

An endoscope is not a bad idea at all. I had one a few years back, nothing was food.

If I drink a Diet Coke and chew a mint gum after, that's the deadly one-two punch for me. Sometimes even just a glass of cold water can trigger it for me.

Tums have never worked for me. I take omeprazole (sp?) as needed, which recently has not been very common.

You may want to inquire about Nexium, it seems to help for a lot of people.

M_C

Quitting smoking, eating only "real" food, and not eating too much cured me.

Real food = nothing out of a box or a can and nothing with more than 5 ingredients.

This sounds like me. I get heartburn every single day. Especially if I drink soda, coffee, or alcohol. I began taking the generic prilosec about 2 months ago and I haven't had heartburn in about 2 months. That is good enough for me...cheers!

A few years back I had a problem with heartburn and was put on one of those daily drugs - can't recall which it was, but it worked pretty well. After a while, I went on a diet and lost 10-15lbs and was able to stop taking the medication.

I take prevacid every day. Like someone said even a glass of water would trigger the burn. I have been taking it every day for 2 yrs and I can eat/drink anything I want now.
I did th omprazole thing but it didn't work as well. Prevacid has a different ingredient to stop the burn. I sure don't miss it.

I have an intermittent problem. My #2 DIL had a serious case and has an elastic band wrapped around the top sphincter of his stomach. He got it installed when they were removing some pre-cancerous growths in his esophagus. On the plus side, he finally lost the 45 lbs he had been wrestling with for decades.

Some good dietary and lifestyle modifications mentioned here: smoking, diet, avoidance of certain foods that increase reflux, peppermint etc...But since the op has had the symptoms since he was 14 and is what...25 now? We would usually recommend an antireflux surgery such as a Nissen fundoplication. However, you definitely need to get evaluated first...to determine the exact cause of your reflux, especially if you are refractory to PPIs (Prilosec, omeprazole, etc) or H2 blockers (Zantac)...PM me if you want more information.

I haven't had this problem for a few years, but used to take prilosec and tums.
I found one half teaspoon baking soda chased with a swig of water, when symptoms first show up, can knock that acid down before it irritates your esophagus. Instant results, way better than tums. Also break a sweat exercising daily. I find hot Yoga to be very therapeutic for digestion. Hope this helps.

Honestly, my rampant heartburn issues went away when I cut down on my homebrew consumption. Give it a try.

I'm going to give a big +1 to Prevacid. It's available over the counter now and it is amazing. I had an endoscopy several years ago for gallbladder issues, and when I came to my doctor asked about heartburn as I had damage in my esophagus. Evidently I had constant heartburn and never knew as I always felt it, but day 1 on prevacid I felt what "normal" people feel and I haven't looked back.

I had recurring heartburn the older I got. I started taking Prilosec on advice of my doctor. I have REALLY cut back on it since I started eating less, and cutting caffeine out. I can still get it if I'm not careful, or with just the right combination of circumstances.

I would highly recommend getting looked at inside if you have had heartburn for a long time. I've heard of people who have gotten not just damage, but cancer from constant irritation.

Carbonated drinks, tea, caffeine, weight. I'd include homebrew, but let's be real. Nobody wants to quit drinking homebrew until the shovels of dirt are landing on their casket.

mcaple1 said:

Honestly, my rampant heartburn issues went away when I cut down on my homebrew consumption. Give it a try.

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There has to be a better way! Try the prilosec....Haha!

Well, I'm not overweight at all, I don't drink a lot, but when I do drink I go all out and pay for it pretty badly the next day. I do exercise a bit, not as much as I should though. My downfall is my diet. I eat a lot of spicy/greasy food, which for the most part I do ok when I'm taking my pill, but sometimes even on the pill I get heartburn. I know that a change in my diet would go a long way in preventing it, but that sucks. If push comes to shove and I had to do it, I would.

I mean if your really suffering from it change your diet, if you can deal with it don't change it?

Eating LESS at a time was one of the biggest benefits to my heartburn problem. And that's hard to do when you've had a few drinks. I get the munchies then.

m_c_zero said:

I've tried a lot of different things, but I can't do one thing and that is change my diet even though it'd probably save me from it.

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Wow, now that's pathetic. I started off with sympathy for you but now I see you are tormenting yourself with whatever food you're eating. So yeah, you deserve it so stop complaining.

I had to change my ways last January due to a health crisis. I went to a strict (but very very spicy) vegan diet and lost 50 pounds in 9 months. I found that when you spice the hell out of tofu, beans, and veggies, they don't taste so horrible. I don't even miss the grease.

In my opinion, changing your diet is the only reasonable long term solution if you don't want to live with daily medication.

Genereic Omeprazole is the only way I can get through the day. Without it, I'm a refluxin' fool. I also have a hiatal hernia which only makes it worse. Zegerid is also the new designer one out there, it works well too. Good Luck with whichever you decide to use, just take something so we're not having to start a thread about esophageal cancer. Lost a teacher to that in High School and it's not pretty.

I would advise to stay FAR AWAY from "proton pump inhibitors" - like Prilosec and the like.

I started getting bad heartburn a couple of years ago and Tums wasn't cutting it. So, I started taking Prilosec. It worked like a charm, I found the miracle drug.

Then I was listening to the NPR one morning and there was a whole article on PPI's like Prilosec. Basically, they work by turning off the little pumps that shoot acid into your stomach for digestion. So what do you think your body is going to do in that situation?

GROW MORE ACID PUMPS.

So, by taking Prilosec, you are making the situation worse and if you stop taking it, you will have more stomach acid then when you started.

I immediately threw away my Prilosec and just changed my eating habits. At first, it was hell - dealing with the increased acid in my stomach. But, after consistently eating better, eating less, and not eating close to bedtime, mine is under control.

Don't take that mess. I can't believe it is even legal.

EDIT: Just found the link to the exact article that made me stop taking PPI's.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=112564382

mightynintendo said:

Wow, now that's pathetic. I started off with sympathy for you but now I see you are tormenting yourself with whatever food you're eating. So yeah, you deserve it so stop complaining.

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I know, it is pathetic. I'm not meaning to complain, I'm just curious if anyone here had any suggestions other than Prilosec, generic or otherwise. I feel that if I take it for too long, there may be side-effects as listed above or that I may become immune to it. I know I need to change my diet and I have for the most part. I don't eat near as much meat as I used to which has helped quite a bit. My biggest problem is that I live in New Mexico and we put green chile on everything here. It's delicious, but it burns me and I need to give it up.

frailn said:

EDIT: Just found the link to the exact article that made me stop taking PPI's.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=112564382

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Wow, that's crazy. Kinda makes sense though. I think it may be time for me to get off the pill as well. About a year ago for a while I was curing my heartburn by taking aloe vera juice, I may just go back to that...

Interesting article.. I remembered what it was that I took a few years ago. It was Zantac (an H2 inhibitor). It worked much better than tums, but as I said - losing some weight ultimately solved the problem for me. I had to change my diet to lose the weight, but since taking the weight off I can eat what I want and not suffer heartburn.

m_c_zero said:

I'm just curious if anyone here had any suggestions other than Prilosec, generic or otherwise.

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The best suggestion I know of is to bite the bullet and change your diet and start an exercise regimen. You should shop around for another doctor if this has been a problem since childhood. There may be something else going on in your system that hasn't been identified.

frailn said:

I would advise to stay FAR AWAY from "proton pump inhibitors" - like Prilosec and the like.

I started getting bad heartburn a couple of years ago and Tums wasn't cutting it. So, I started taking Prilosec. It worked like a charm, I found the miracle drug.

Then I was listening to the NPR one morning and there was a whole article on PPI's like Prilosec. Basically, they work by turning off the little pumps that shoot acid into your stomach for digestion. So what do you think your body is going to do in that situation?

GROW MORE ACID PUMPS.

So, by taking Prilosec, you are making the situation worse and if you stop taking it, you will have more stomach acid then when you started.

I immediately threw away my Prilosec and just changed my eating habits. At first, it was hell - dealing with the increased acid in my stomach. But, after consistently eating better, eating less, and not eating close to bedtime, mine is under control.

Don't take that mess. I can't believe it is even legal.

EDIT: Just found the link to the exact article that made me stop taking PPI's.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=112564382

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Your post is misleading. The article doesn't claim that the stomach creates more pumps.(EDIT: It does say that.) It says that the stomach can produce more acid for a time after you stop taking the PPI.

The article also doesn't say that people who actually need it (people who have GERD, for instance) stop taking it. It's point is that there are many people who are prescribed the PPI for other reasons, many of them temporary.

Also, the people in the small study were all normal people, not people who actually need the drug.

It's an over prescribed medicine, no doubt, but please don't make it sound like PPIs are mutating your stomach wall. The small fact that you don't mention is that it's suggested to wean yourself off of PPIs slowly, instead of suddenly. This would prevent the rebound from occurring.

I've switched to taking pepcid for the occasional heartburn I get, like when I eat too much and then work on the car, or drink too much and eat acidic foods (I have a mild hiatal hernia). Prilosec is not as effective if you don't take it regularly. It supposed to be for people who have more severe reflux, or who aren't expected to have it for a temporary time.

It's not reasonable to expect some people to lose enough weight to make a difference. Or they may have enough of a problem that losing a few pounds isn't going to help them. In this case, Prilosec is obviously more desirous than living in pain, or getting burn damage or cancer from the reflux.

Homercidal said:

Your post is misleading.

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j

Well, I would agree that I have a strong opinion about this and it shows in my post, but only because I got freaked out when I discovered how PPI's work and I was taking them daily. I knew I was having repeat heartburn from bad diet and no excercise, and was taking PPI's to make up for my lazy-ass ways.

My guess is that most takers of PPI's are over-eating, non-excercising American people just like me. But, you are correct there are those out there that have a legit reason for using this stuff. It just amazes me what we Americans will do to ourselves, myself included.

frailn said:

The best suggestion I know of is to bite the bullet and change your diet and start an exercise regimen. You should shop around for another doctor if this has been a problem since childhood.

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I am in agreeance to both of those statements. I too feel that the only way to avoid about 90% of the heartburn is to change my diet. Some of it though I cannot prevent and it just occurs, that I can deal with with other solutions rather than pills. I do definitely feel that I need to see a new doctor in the near future because I've let this go on for far too long and fear I have may have already caused damage to my body.

frailn said:

j

Well, I would agree that I have a strong opinion about this and it shows in my post, but only because I got freaked out when I discovered how PPI's work and I was taking them daily. I knew I was having repeat heartburn from bad diet and no excercise, and was taking PPI's to make up for my lazy-ass ways.

My guess is that most takers of PPI's are over-eating, non-excercising American people just like me. But, you are correct there are those out there that have a legit reason for using this stuff. It just amazes me what we Americans will do to ourselves, myself included.

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I know for me all I really needed was to change my diet and lose a few pounds. Eating less worked wonders.

But it's HARD to not overdo it, or to eat what you know you should, not want you really want.

Caffeine and stress can aggravate heartburn as well. So can lack of restful sleep.

Homercidal said:

Caffeine and stress can aggravate heartburn as well. So can lack of restful sleep.

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This is true. Add smoking to the mix.

I'm working on quitting - on the patch now. Reducing caffeine is next. And I really need to exercise, that would help with sleep patterns.

Making all of those changes at one time is going to mess up a person for a while.

If we all had to live like people back in the old days (doing everything by hand, hunting our food, etc.) we would get plenty of exercise, we'd eat less sugar, and wouldn't have to worry about the job or the boss. Maybe we just progressed faster than we were designed to.

Homercidal said:

Making all of those changes at one time is going to mess up a person for a while.

If we all had to live like people back in the old days (doing everything by hand, hunting our food, etc.) we would get plenty of exercise, we'd eat less sugar, and wouldn't have to worry about the job or the boss. Maybe we just progressed faster than we were designed to.

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And with any luck, we'd make it to the ripe-old-age of 32.

But your point is correct. Too much food, too little physical labor, and bad habits.

M_C

My new mantra.

Relax. Don't Worry. Have a homebrew. And then a three mile brisk walk or jog!

Misplaced_Canuck said:

And with any luck, we'd make it to the ripe-old-age of 32.

But your point is correct. Too much food, too little physical labor, and bad habits.

M_C

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Just imagine if we had access to all of this medical care back then. We couldn't afford to use it, but it would have been awesome!

My exercise bike has been calling my name all summer, but so far I've managed to ignore it successfully. I suppose I should break down and just get on that damn thing again.

I wish I had access to a badminton court.

Homercidal said:

Just imagine if we had access to all of this medical care back then. We couldn't afford to use it, but it would have been awesome!

My exercise bike has been calling my name all summer, but so far I've managed to ignore it successfully. I suppose I should break down and just get on that damn thing again.

I wish I had access to a badminton court.

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I'll give you a tip: If you have appreciable end results from physical labor, OR you enjoy doing it, you'll do it more. Sounds silly I know, but it's true. If you chop wood (which is very decent physical labor) and you end up with a pile of chopped wood for the winter, you'll feel great about it and you'll want to do it more.

That's the reason why I've stayed the heck away from the gym. I hate the gym, and I see no appreciable results after being there an hour.

I'd rather throw on the mountain boots and head to the woods and walk 2 hours and enjoy the outdoors.

M_C

Misplaced_Canuck said:

I'd rather throw on the mountain boots and head to the woods and walk 2 hours and enjoy the outdoors.

M_C

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This is good advice, which I shall be taking now that Fall is rolling in!

I also used to have daily heartburn....It was bad...chest pain...burping all the time..sweating...etc..I actually admitted myself to the emergency room. What a waste of money they ran a bunch of tests ($10,000 worth). I guess it did drop down my stress level because I found out there was nothing wrong with my heart.

Since then I have done a ton of research. There are literally millions of people that have this same condition. I tried Prilosec and my hearburn laughed.

Now I may only get it once a week and i really do think that it will totally be gone in a year or two. You cant treat your body like dirt for 10 years and expect it to heal in one.

Anyways the only way to change your problem is to change your eating habits/lifestyle habits. I quit smoking last October. I also quit eating fast food. (I used to eat alot of fast food, at least once a day fast food due to my job and traveling) I also have tried to cut out anything with High Fructose Corn Syrup. Read up on the effects of it and you will probably stop also....its horrible for you. Your body can't process it so it stores it in hair and fat. One study showed the increase with illness and cancer directly proportionatley with the year that HFC was intruduced into food products.

Here are some things that will help. Eat as much "fresh" foods as you can. I go to the local Butcher Shop once a week. Its actually cheaper than the evil Walmart. Fresh meats and veggies. I also eat yogurt a few times a week. Your stomach may need active cultures if your acid was bad enough. Chamomile Tea worked great for me (read on its properties and alot of people with bad heart burn drink it). I also quit smoking which may be a big factor also. Cut out as much as you can HFC.

Good luck and cheers!

I think the Documentary about HFC was called "King Corn"....