Trying to Help My Mom W/ Acid Reflux

I work with a lot of people using nutrition - it gets at the cause rather than just treating the symptoms with meds. I'd need to know more about the muscle pain (is it all over or just in certain areas) to help with that, but there is hope. Some people have gotten help with reflux in just a few days, with others it takes longer particularly if there is another condition on top of it. Happy to help her and give her some info and then let her decide.

What are the indicators of acid reflux? I just went through this - I had developed a chronic cough from the reflux, even though I had very little discomfort from the reflux. I just had an endoscopy and they detected gastritis. They don't know the cause yet, but biopsies the inflamed area and sampled for hprilori infection, as well as celiac disease. This all came out of the blue for me at age 39. I have changed my diet and drink lots of water. I sleep with my head elevated Itake protonix every morning which helps. I also take sucraflate before meals for the short term until the test results come back. I don't know if your mom has had similar experience, but maybe if she hasn't, she could inquire?? It took weeks for the photonics to start working noticeably for me.

I don't want to be an alarmist, but have they definitely rolled out heart trouble? It presents in women with some of these symptoms.

Good luck! It's terrible, but I bet they can find the source. Keep being persistent with the docs.

PS. Sorry for all the typos. Damn autocorrect

Also, don't let the Barrett's esophagus comment below freak you out. It is a concern if the reflux has been aroun for a while - it's the main reason I had an endoscopy - but she would likely have had years of trouble proceeding this. But you can have her symptoms without having Barrett's.

My son was diagnosed with acid reflux this past April (he was 15 then).

I looked up diet and put him on a very restrictive diet for about a month of only foods that had low incidence of reflux. Basically, boneless, skinless chicken breast, broccoli, brown rice, pineapple, oatmeal. No red food at all. No dairy. Low to no fats. No brown beverages (soda, tea, etc.)

I used this site
http://heartburn.about.com/cs/dietfood/a/heartburnfoods1.htm

With a month of restricted diet and nightly Rx Prevacid, his symptoms went away. I slowly introduced foods back into his diet, trail and error, eliminating the ones that made him flair up. What we have found is with a diet that avoids the high incidence foods, and regular medication taken at bedtime, he can keep the reflux under control.

He also added a pillow to his bed to keep himself a little more upright at night time. Another option is to elevate the head of the bed to help the acid not roll back up in the night.

But, honestly, I think changing my son's diet was key for him.

Hi K.,

I have GERD, which was diagnosed by my allergist/immunologist (after he ordered tests, which confirmed the diagnosis). I also have many environmental and food allergies. Now that my allergy and GERD symptoms are both well-controlled, I have very few problems in this area as long as I take my medications.

In many cases, there is a strong relationship between GERD, allergies, and asthma, so you may want to ask your mom's doctors about this and see if allergic conditions were considered in the diagnostic process.

In addition, there is also a condition called eosinophilic esophagitis (EE) ---which often doesn't respond to standard GERD treatments. I'm not trying to diagnose or say that your mom has this but am just wondering if this was ruled out during all of her tests? It may be worth it to ask her doctors this.

In any case, keep pressing for answers as these symptoms do make a person miserable and seriously interfere with quality of life.

I hope she gets some answers and effective treatment very soon!

Best wishes,

J. F.

What medications did she try? When I had a terrible bout of it a few years ago, my doctor put me on Prilosec for about 3 months. It pretty much did the trick, and it has only come back (very mildly) once or twice since then. Usually when I have been abusing the sugar/carbonated sodas/mint cookies.
;)

I will say, that up until the horrible "attack" I had with it, I had basically never had any issues whatsoever, and I was petrified that it was something else. Because I had headaches, chest pain, shortness of breath, lightheadedness, ALL of the things you mentioned. All of them.
I was afraid to drive to pick up my kids from school for a couple of days.

The most accurate "tip" I got at the doctor's office, was to avoid anything with MINT in it. Even a single mint oreo cookie would start my more minor symptoms back off again.

But, all that said, if she isn't getting relief, then further tests or 2nd opinions is the route I would be willing to take. Julie F. made some good suggestions in that vein.

Hope your mom feels better soon.

Did she do a barium swallow to see if she has a hiatal hernia (sp)? My Dr. told me it's when the muscle that keeps the acid inside the stomach gets all stretched out (could be from childbirth), and as a result the stomach acid gets into the esophagus. It can be fixed with a minor surgery, just a few stitches to tighten the muscle back up (can be done via several minor incisions in the abdomen here in the DC area).

Hi K.-

I would suggest that she see a GI doc and have an endoscopy...SOON.

It sounds like what you are describing is 'barretts'...

Google it...get her scoped...and I hope all goes well.

PM me - when you get results...

Best Luck
Michele/cat

Sounds to me like she has a hiatal hernia. Prilosec usally works well for acid reflux, I know a lot of people that use it. I'd make sure the doc's have ruled out hiatal heria.

My husband has reflux and I never understood how really BAD the pain was until he was up all night with what he thought was a reflux attack and it turned out he was having a heart attack! I will never ever dismiss his reflux pain as "heartburn".

His suggestion is to switch to a bland diet -- stay away from anything spicy, fried, acidic, citrus, tomato sauce, pepperoni or chocolate. Don't eat or drink anything three hours before you go to sleep, and make sure you sleep with your head elevated (three or four pillows) - he's even slept in an easy chair when he's had an attack.

He's on a daily dose of Prevacid (Rx and not the Generic) but when he's had an attack his doc has told him to double up on the daily dose.

He was on the strict bland diet for about three months until he got it under control and now he eats pretty much everything (except spicy things or onions) in moderation. He will get maybe one or two flare-ups a year but it lasts a day or two.

She may want to see a gastroentologist and have endoscopy.
Chewable calcium magnesium may also help.