Is Axid Enough?
Question:
Hello, About two weeks ago, I went to a local general practitioner in regard to my chronic heartburn and what I suspect is GERD. He prescribed Axid, 150 mg., to be taken twice a day. This drug has helped some. But I still think I can feel some acid reflux symptoms. Is Axid supposed to help the acid reflux symptoms? Or does it just help the heartburn? Do people take two kinds of drugs for heartburn and GERD? I am going back to the doctor in a few days, and I want to know what to say to him. Should I say that I want a different drug instead of Axid? Or should I ask for a drug in addition to the Axid? I am fairly new to this disease. Any advice would be deeply appreciated. Thanks. Dennis
Response:
Axid is a histamine H2-receptor antagonist. It reduces the amount of acid that your stomach produces. The idea being when you do reflux, stomach acid will not be there to irritate the esophagus. If you are still having a burning sensation Axid may not be enough. Your doctor may want to go to a stronger medication. There is a lot of information on my web page that may help you before you see your doctor. Heartburn and Gastro Esophageal Reflux web page: http://members.aol.com/HawkTear/index.html
Response:
<< Is Axid supposed to help the acid reflux symptoms? Or does it just help the << heartburn? My understanding is that Axid, Prevacid, and the like just supress acid production. To stop reflux symptoms, you need surgery, but doctors are reluctant to suggest this except as a last resort. Axid didn’t seem to do much for me one way or the other. Prevacid, however, seemed to require higher and higher dosages to be effective and after I became dependent on the acid supression, the acid would "rebound" strongly as the medication wore off. I never knew what heartburn was until then, so I stopped taking it. << Do people take two kinds of drugs for heartburn and GERD? >> Some doctors may prescribe Propulcid which is supposed to help empty the stomach quickly so there is less reflux. My experience with Propulcid was that it was an extremely effective laxative. I took one tablet and refuse to ever take another one. << I am going back to the doctor in a few days, and I want to know what to say << to him. Should I say that I want a different drug instead of Axid? Or << should I ask for a drug in addition to the Axid? That’s a tough question since I hate to bad mouth the medical profession. However, my personal experience with doctors, gastoenterologists, and surgeons has not been good when it comes to GERD. Just as an example, the first gastroenterologist I talked to had apparently never heard of laparoscoptic fundoplication (and that was in 1996). When I asked him about surgery to control the reflux, all he said was "you don’t want stomach surgery" and indicated by drawing his thumb over his abdomen that it would require a 15 inch incision. It took almost a year for me to get the basic facts and I’m still not satisfied that I have them all. That’s why I monitor this newsgroup. Laparoscoptic fundoplication is done with a long tube called a laparoscope. The surgery requires only a few small incisions, so you normally can leave the hospital a day or two. What the surgeon does is take the top part of your stomach and wrap it around the bottom two inches of your esophagous to reinforce the sphincter that controls reflux. As I understand it, this is only effective if the sphincter has a certain amount of "motility" left. If it doesn’t, then surgery is not recommended. Apparently there are some drawbacks. According to some posts on this newsgroup, vomitting is no longer possible once the sphincter has been reinforced. It is also not clear that having a pouch at the top of the stomach to trap food, acid, and bacteria is a good thing. However, this has to be weighed against the risk of Barrett’s esophagous, which is a precancerous condition caused by reflux. Rather than take acid supressors, I have had better luck by reducing the amount of red meat in my diet. I eat only vegetables for the evening meal. As a precaution, I have been taking Maalox at bedtime, but even this product carries some warnings about long term use and I’m not sure what a person should do. –Jeff Hill
Response:
> To stop reflux symptoms, you need surgery.
I was told that, propulsid is prescribed partly in the hope that it will cause the lower esophageal sphincter to tighten and consequently stop reflux. Alex.
Response:
> To stop reflux symptoms, you need surgery, but doctors are >reluctant to suggest this except as a last resort. Axid didn’t seem to do >much for me one way or the other. Prevacid, however, seemed to require >higher >and higher dosages to be effective and after I became dependent on the acid >supression, the acid would "rebound" strongly as the medication wore off. I >never knew what heartburn was until then, so I stopped taking it.
This was my experience exactly. This was why I had the Nissen Fundoplication on July 1, 1997 .
Response:
Propulsid does have a component that stregthens or increases the pressure of the lower esophageal sphincter. It also increases the motility of your system, i.e. moving food out of the stomach quickly so it is not available to reflux. Heartburn and Gastro Esophageal Reflux web page: http://members.aol.com/HawkTear/index.html
