J
janewhite1
Guest
Just thinking about this situation makes me tired. I've had gastritis and reflux for several years now. The gastritis started first, possibly related to NSAID use. The reflux started about a year after, while I was already on Prilosec for the gastritis. I finally managed to taper off the Prilosec, and from January to May of this year I felt almost totally fine on no stomach meRAB at all.
Then my body suddenly decided that I have asthma, and it all fell to bits again. Asthma symptoms (cough, fighting for air) hurt my stomach. Asthma medicines like albuterol relax the esophageal sphincters. Inhaled steroiRAB aggravate the sore throat that the reflux produces. Antihistamines trigger gastritis, reflux or both. And of course, if the stomach acid gets in the lungs, it can trigger more asthma symptoms. It's all a tangled mess I can't sort out.
I am taking Zantac, 2 to 4 times a day. It helps with the burning in my abdomen, but not with the sore throat or acid taste. Sucking on sugarfree DGL helps the sore throat a little. Still, I can't seem to feel good for more than a couple days at a time.
I do not want to go back on the PPIs. I don't think it will help and it might make things worse. Even when I was on them, I was never symptom-free, I was never able to eat things like tomatoes, and after a few months, I think they weren't treating anything but my dependence.
The first time I tried to quit Prilosec, which was 2 weeks after I started taking it, I had a bout of gastritis pain that dwarfed anything that's happened before or since. For eight hours I couldn't stand up straight. I know dependence doesn't normally happen that fast, but for me it did, and I had no choice but to go back to taking them. And then the reflux started while I was taking them. I think maybe it's bile reflux, which PPIs sometimes make worse, not better.
I tried Reglan. It helps my stomach like a dream, but it tightens up my lungs and apparently prevents my inhaler from working, which is just scary, thank you very much.
I do take one other medicine, nortriptyline, 20 mg/day. I've tried quitting it on the chance that it might be related to the stomach problems, but after about 2 weeks without it, the pain in my back becomes unbearable. If I don't take the nortriptyline, I've got to take something, or I can't function--and everything else I've tried also upsets my stomach.
Last night I tried melatonin, just 2 mg. I slept for a solid nine hours and I still feel drowsy.
I've tried the apple cider vinegar. Didn't seem to help much.
I could go back to the GI. But I'm not sure there's anything more he can do, he kinda told me to find a way to live with it if I possibly could. Is there anything I'm missing here?
Then my body suddenly decided that I have asthma, and it all fell to bits again. Asthma symptoms (cough, fighting for air) hurt my stomach. Asthma medicines like albuterol relax the esophageal sphincters. Inhaled steroiRAB aggravate the sore throat that the reflux produces. Antihistamines trigger gastritis, reflux or both. And of course, if the stomach acid gets in the lungs, it can trigger more asthma symptoms. It's all a tangled mess I can't sort out.
I am taking Zantac, 2 to 4 times a day. It helps with the burning in my abdomen, but not with the sore throat or acid taste. Sucking on sugarfree DGL helps the sore throat a little. Still, I can't seem to feel good for more than a couple days at a time.
I do not want to go back on the PPIs. I don't think it will help and it might make things worse. Even when I was on them, I was never symptom-free, I was never able to eat things like tomatoes, and after a few months, I think they weren't treating anything but my dependence.
The first time I tried to quit Prilosec, which was 2 weeks after I started taking it, I had a bout of gastritis pain that dwarfed anything that's happened before or since. For eight hours I couldn't stand up straight. I know dependence doesn't normally happen that fast, but for me it did, and I had no choice but to go back to taking them. And then the reflux started while I was taking them. I think maybe it's bile reflux, which PPIs sometimes make worse, not better.
I tried Reglan. It helps my stomach like a dream, but it tightens up my lungs and apparently prevents my inhaler from working, which is just scary, thank you very much.
I do take one other medicine, nortriptyline, 20 mg/day. I've tried quitting it on the chance that it might be related to the stomach problems, but after about 2 weeks without it, the pain in my back becomes unbearable. If I don't take the nortriptyline, I've got to take something, or I can't function--and everything else I've tried also upsets my stomach.
Last night I tried melatonin, just 2 mg. I slept for a solid nine hours and I still feel drowsy.
I've tried the apple cider vinegar. Didn't seem to help much.
I could go back to the GI. But I'm not sure there's anything more he can do, he kinda told me to find a way to live with it if I possibly could. Is there anything I'm missing here?