BIle Reflux - looking for some answers..

[jj9500]

I had an endoscopy a couple days ago and my GI specialist diagnosed me with Bile Reflux.  He showed me photos of my esophagus and stomach that had green bile in them (gross).  He perscribed carfate for me which is supose to coat and protect the esophagus and stomach (4x per day on empty stomach) and told me to continue with my Kapidex for acid reflux (1 x/day before breakfast).  He did take biopsies of both stomach and esophagus.  They looked pretty irritated in the photos from what I can remember (I was still pretty loopy from the meds for the procedure).  My questions are:  has anybody ever taken carfate?  If so, how long does it take to work?  And, did it work for you?  My symptoms are a burning / gnawing sensation in my upper stomach and sometimes in the esophagus.  I also have a cratchy voice and what feels like tons of mucus in my throat.  Also, I understand the bile reflux is different to treat than than acid reflux.  Is there anything that can be done to totally cure bile reflux?  Does it come and go or will I have this forever? Looking for any comments/ helpful suggestion from anyone else with this problem.  I;ve had acid reflux on and off for about 6 years.  Always on different PPIs here and there when it would flare up.  It was hard to control at times.  Other times it would go away within a month.  This is the first time I've even heard of bile reflux.  Thank you!