Digoxin

Hello

I am 31 year old female with a MVR,PAC's with a 1st degree AV Block. I take Coumadin and Digoxin daliy. I have recently been diagnoised with GERD. I am not overweight and have always watched my diet. Question#1 do you think my heart surgery could have caused trauma to that area in my chest thus causing the GERD? Question#2 I heard that antacids are not good to take while on digoxon. I have been told to use Riopan, but it is not easy to carry along. Can tums or something else be used without interference with the Digoxin? They have tried Prilosec which worked great for my symptoms. They now have me on Aciphex which is not working.

Thank you for your time
Sincerly
Gina

[Cleveland Clinic, MD]

Q#1 - I doubt the GERD is related to the surgery.
Q#2 - Why are you taking the digoxin?  There may be a small risk of taking digoxin with calcium containing antiacids such as Tums but you can take any non-calcium antiacid such as Maalox tablets. Prilosec is an expensive but good alternative.  Another option would be a H2 blocker such as Tagamet or Pepcid.