Reflux – advice?
Question:
I believe I’ve been experiencing a lot of GI reflux over the past year and have a few questions. The main symptoms are: an odd acidic feeling in my oesophagus and ‘behind’ my throat (it’s something I’ve always known as it were but only recently has it been particularly frequent or severe); nausea at night; during worse periods a dull paid in the middle of my back. Also I’ve noticed that I’ve felt a lot of post-nasal drip recently; I used to be very prone to sinusitis and I’ve always been aware of mucus in my throat (often need to clear it even when I don’t have a cold, but I suppose that’s not particularly uncommon) – but I wonder whether there is a link between it and reflux (some web pages seem to back this up). Is it worth seeing a doctor about it? From what I can gather it is not essential but would be a good idea if it is severe. What would you suggest? I mentioned the frequent nausea to someone I know who works in medicine and he suggested reflux, but he didn’t seem to think it was a huge matter for concern (although I didn’t particularly push it as a big thing). Last year I saw the doctor a few times about feeling ‘generally ill’ but nothing came out of it apart from a full blood count revealing low blood sugar level, hence ‘eat!’. Therefore I feel a bit of a hypochondriac and feel a bit wary of seeing them if it’s nothing 
Thinking about it, a lot of this general malaise involved nocturnal nausea and sometimes the mild back pain, but I didn’t really think about it at the time so I concentrated more on the fact that I ‘generally felt ill’. If I were to see a doctor what sort of steps would be taken (eg drugs, follow-ups)? I am one of those people who are reassured by knowing the exact details of what could happen to them! I suspect that my eating has a bit part to play in all this… what would you say is a good eating pattern to aggravate and alleviate reflux? For various reasons I am not eating too well but I won’t go into details right now. Maybe the amount of Coke I drink is relevant! The reason I write right now is that I woke up an hour or two ago feeling sick – more so than usually (actually the frequency of this night nausea occurring has dropped a *lot* since around April, but it wasn’t normally as severe as today) – but after a while I started retching and then the nausea subsided completely and hasn’t returned. I’ve experienced retching on the odd night since symptoms first threatened to appear but never actually brought anything up – why would this be? It has been at night, hence less in the stomach; could it be because the acid is just coming up even further than usual and triggering a reflex of some sort? (I like to keep thinking – takes the mind off the immediate feeling!). The back pain has also returned (and stayed on after the nausea subsided), and there is also some stomach pain and some diarrhoea – that is, it’s all worse than normal, but I do wonder whether it’s partly just a stomach bug. Something else I’ve noticed is that I feel a very slight, almost burning sensation in my oesophagus when I drink the local water (at my term-time residence). I do not notice this at home (I think a lot of people who have come from other areas don’t particularly like the water but I haven’t heard much mention of any issues other than its taste). Someone has suggested that it may be related to high chlorine content in the water; could I be more sensitive to this because reflux has inflamed my oesophagus?
Response:
Hi There My experience says it is very important to see a quack – I put up with my reflux for ages, just taking over the counter stuff to releive it. Then, my throat started to close up – over a year it got more and more difficult to swallow, and I constantly threw up while eating – very embarrassing – had to always it close to the mens room at resturants. Eventually, my throat closed up so much I couldn’t even get liquidised food down (ever tried KFC after it has been in the blender) so went to the Doc. Had to have a series (6x) of ops to enlarge my throat back to normal, and THEN they told me that the reflux acid could lead to cancer of the throat. They did lots of biopsies, but luckily all were clear. These days I take 2x Zotons a day, sleep with 5 pillows, and avoid spicy stuff at night (daytime is OK) So, my advice is don’t be a twit like I was and and put off seeing the quack – make an appointment and treat the problem now. Cheers David – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – > Is it worth seeing a doctor about it? From what I can gather it is not > essential but would be a good idea if it is severe. What would you > suggest? I mentioned the frequent nausea to someone I know who works > in medicine and he suggested reflux, but he didn’t seem to think it > was a huge matter for concern (although I didn’t particularly push it > as a big thing).
Response:
>I believe I’ve been experiencing a lot of GI reflux over the past year >and have a few questions.
First, I’m no expert. I just stumbled across this newsgroup, and since my wife has acid reflux, I thought I’d throw in my two cents. She, like ten million others, are taking the "purple pill" Prilosec, or the new version Nexus, which is all over the radio and TV. She always hates the idea of living with pills every day. However, since she decided she wanted to lose some weight, she started on the Atkins Diet. Since starting Atkins, she only needs to take the purple pill a few times a week, and she’s improving. According to his book, it’s all about digestion and after reading it myself, it seems to make sense. It’s in libraries and paperback. give it a try.
Response:
I just logged onto the newsgroup hoping to see some information about an enzyme supplement called Nu-Zymes…I didn’t. However, I’d like to respond to this thread. I’ve had an ever increasing acid problem for about 3 years. Should have taken one of the prescription pills for it but having no ins. I stuck with Pepcid ACs (4 per day at least). August of 2001 I discovered I had type II diabetes. Had a fasting blood sugar reading of 311. First thing I had to do was stop the carbs, which was roughly 90% of my diet. Within days, the reflux was MUCHO better. I reduced my Pepcid to two a day and then one a day and within a couple months, I no longer required them at all. Every great once in a while I’ll need one. A friend told me a long time ago that sugar is a big contributor of heartburn/indigestion. I thought she was looney 
She was SO right! This goes hand in hand with what the poster below is saying concerning the Atkins diet, a VERY low carb diet. If you’re ingesting a lot of sugar, pasta, bread, rice cut way way back and see if that helps. Eliminating most of the carbs in my life has also given me more energy, joint pain is much improved and my intolerance to heat is vastly improved. Discovering I had diabetes and dealing with it has been the best thing that has ever happened to me. BTW, has anyone tried Nu-Zymes? It’s an enzyme supplement for people with digestive problems. My daughter has had digestive problems since she was a small child. Eating a tiny amount of food can cause her stomach to swell to the point she looks pregnant. She’s never had daily bowl movements. Once a week is *normal* for her. Her stomach hurts ALL the time. I ordered these and she’s been taking 2 per day since the day before Thanksgiving. She emailed me today to tell me she had 3 bowl movements today and 2 yesterday. She was thrilled <lol> I asked if it was helping with the pain and bloating after eating. Quote, "yeah… it surely is =)". I’m praying this is the answer to her problem.
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text ->I believe I’ve been experiencing a lot of GI reflux over the past year >and have a few questions. > First, I’m no expert. I just stumbled across this newsgroup, and since > my wife has acid reflux, I thought I’d throw in my two cents. > She, like ten million others, are taking the "purple pill" Prilosec, or > the new version Nexus, which is all over the radio and TV. > She always hates the idea of living with pills every day. > However, since she decided she wanted to lose some weight, she started > on the Atkins Diet. Since starting Atkins, she only needs to take the > purple pill a few times a week, and she’s improving. > According to his book, it’s all about digestion and after reading it > myself, it seems to make sense. It’s in libraries and paperback. give > it a try.
