Raising the head of the bed for GERD

[glenda]

How effective is raising the head of the bed?  Since I get heartburn even while completely upright, I have hesitated to make a big change in my sleeping arrangements.  A friend told me that when she raised the bed a full 5 - 6 inches, she and her husband both felt like they were sliding off the bed all night!  My GERD has become steadily worse over the past 5 years or so and now I am awaiting tests to decide the need for fundoplication.

[glenda]

Mare - the coughing is from the reflux and cough drops make it worse because they have menthol and stuff in them.  If I cough at night now I take some more gaviscon or sometimes have something like a cracker to eat.  I really prefer pantoloc to prilosec because prilosec gave me headaches (and I get migraines...)  I had that golf ball feeling before I switched to pantoloc, too.  That just seems to be another of the typical symptoms of GERD.  I do get accupressure (no needles) from my chiropractor and it helps with the IBD type symptoms of gassiness and cramping that I get from time to time. A bolus is just a full swallow of food, drink or whatever - at least that's how I understand it.  Heart flutters are a who other thing - are you on prepulsid?  That can cause heart symptoms...

Are your docs talking about fixing the hernia?  I know they do go away on their own sometimes although I am not at all sure about sliding ones - sounds tricky!

I have heartburn tonight after being pretty good for awhile.  I think my daughter slipped some garlic into the pasta sauce - naughty girl!

Glenda

[Mare]

I have a sliding hiatal hernia and GERD, and was recently changed from Zantac to Prilosec.  I am somewhat worried about long-term use of Priolsec.  My bed is elevated only about 3-4" (because of sliding off).  I find that if I don't eat anything after 7pm and chew 2 Gaviscon before bed, it usually keeps the reflux down. Sometimes I get these awful coughing jags at night.....feels like a dry throat or a tickls, presumably from the reflux.......Does anyone know of a good throat lozenge/ cough  product that isn't too sweet?  I have been keeping these Throat Discs on my nightstand.  When I lay down at night I also get occasional heart flutter, although EKG's have been normal.  How is this be related to the hiatal hernia/GERD?  Sometimes it feels like I have swallowed a golf ball?  What is bolus?  Did someone say thy have tried accupuncture?  Thanks!

[Cassandra to Glenda]

Hello!

I have tried the chiropractic route, but only before my diagnosis and out of desperation. I wonder if it would do anything now, you bring up an interesting point. If you're out of alignment it could compress the vagus nerve which controls almost everything. I never had accupressure on the iliocecal valve- pretty interesting concept.

I was in a car accident many years ago and had a head injury, I wonder if it contributed to my condition. Symptoms didn't begin until 7 years after the accident so I just assumed it wasn't related.

The down side to chiropractic care is that my insurance companies (I have a primary and secondary) don't cover it. I may just try it anyway, I haven't really tried any alternative or holistic approach. It's really upsetting to me that some herbs and drugs could help but I can't take them. I think they should make all gastrointestinal drugs in intravenous forms for those unique cases.

Thanks again for your suggestions! Hope you're feeling well and having a good day. I'll check back soon.

Cassandra

[Cassandra to Glenda]

Hello there,

Thanks so much for your advice, I really appreciate it!

Yes, my case is pretty extreme and I don't have too much of a life. I've been unable to work since my diagnosis which drives me crazy! The last few days have been terrible with pain, haven't been able to do much of anything. It's frustrating.

I have had all the tests, gastric emptying, colonic marker, scopes both ways, etc. It is a paralysis of the whole works, except that I have 10% function left in my stomach (not enough!). I have tried all the IV motility drugs which are scarce, wish Propulcid was available IV. I was wondering about Motilium and brought it up to my doctor, he didn't know if it was available in IV form but said it's not available in the U.S. I asked him if I could just get it online and he was very reluctant, and implied he could get in trouble if I did that. I'm hoping with Propulcid being pulled off the market maybe they will push to get Motilium approved here in the U.S. Zantac does nothing anymore, in fact I took my dose back down to 150mg, no use taking that extra 50 if it doesn't help. I guess Zantac just reduces acid, could've fooled me! I'll look into the Pantoloc, maybe it comes IV. If not, I'm bent on trying pills if that's what it takes. Hope my doctor will agree. I have a pretty expensive med too, my IV Zofran is $1,000 for one week- the only one that really works. I sure don't have much of a grocery bill- none! Go to Wal-mart for toiletries, and have a weeks worth of "dinner" delivered to my doorstep every Wednesday. No dishes to wash, just tubing to toss. LOL :)

I'm kinda sad to hear the fundo idea is squashed, I held some hope that I heard wrong and maybe it would work. I can't imagine not being able to vomit though, sounds awful.

I have tried the liquid antacids and unfortunately they don't work at all, and because they sit in my stomach I reflux the taste all day long. It's yucky! I'm glad you found something that helps, it's frustrating to have your reflux worsen when it's already so bad.

Thanks again for your help! I'll check back here again. Take care and God bless.

Cassandra

[Glenda to Cassandra]

This may be way off base, but have you tried alternative treatments like chiropractic?  My chiropractor really hasn't done much to cure my GERD but he is able to reduce the discomfort level quite a bit, especiailly when I get irritable bowel type symptoms from time to time.  He uses accupressure on the iliocecal valve (the valve between two parts of the bowel) and it has some remarkable results.

I don't know if you know anything about chiro, but the theory is that keeping the spine aligned frees up the nerves that control the different organs.  Seeing as your nervous system seems to have shut down your stomach, it would seem to be a reasonable and safe thing to try.  The trick is to find a good chiro.  At this point I'd say you have little to lose:-)

Best of luck on the medication front.  It is so strange how the legal drugs don't cross the border but the illegal ones seem to just pour through.  I live on the west coast near the border so we hear a lot about stuff like that!

I'll check in to see how you are doing:-)

Glenda

[glenda]

I don't think fundoplication is a good option for gastroparesis.  From what I am hearing, it is really only good for people with a loose LES (lower esophogeal sphincter).  Right now I am still awaiting the test (gastroscopy and sigmoidoscopy) that will tell me if that is my problem or not.  The only person I know who had fundoplication was really a matter of life and death.  She was very young (under 20, I think) and was not able to keep anything down at all.  She had the old style "open" (non-scope - had to open the whole chest - ouch!) surgery and is sure it saved her life.  Of course, I am not in that difficult a situation and if it is not the right choice for me I will surely be able to live with the lifestyle restrictions that GERD causes.  Certainly people with diabetes and other chronic things survive without eating exactly what they want all the time (not to mention people in 3rd world countries who barely eat at all...)  But I do trust my doctors and I think I mentioned before that we have a personal friend who is a good position to advise us on all the options, including who is best to do the surgery, if that is chosen.

I am so sorry that the surgery did not solve your problems!  I do appreciate the input and I am sure many, many people who come to this board will, too.  The internet is such a good place to hear all sides of a story - one thing I am sure of, no matter how much I trust my doctors, is that they will downplay any problems and stress the positive.  I think that is probably a good thing - I want to feel that they are confident they can help me:-)