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GERD and acid reflux drugs

  For years I was diagnosed with IBS and was treated for 35 years with 1000 mg of azulfidine twice a day - also took 150 mg of zantac twice a day for hyperacidity - had an old duodenal ulcer 20 years ago and when it healed I stayed on zantac.  Also took elavil which helped regulate my bowels and fibercom pills.

  Three years ago I developed at thick sticky saliva and horrid taste in my mouth. Went to many good doctors over last three years and had many tests and they could not find anything. In August 2010 had a 4 week course of antibiotics and developed horrid acid taste, stabbing pain in middle of chest and back. Had endoscopy and esophageal mamonetry and was diagnosed with esophageal spasms. Had a botox shot and was put on 60 mg of dexilant for what I was told was a tight esophageal sphincter and the opposite of reflux. Dexlilant increased the thickness of my saliva and felt generally not well but could tolerate.

   Went to a new doctor in 2011 at a major teaching hospital. Wanted to rule out things. Had a normal colonoscopy - he said you don't have inflammatory bowel disease - stop taking azulfididine - I weened off with some bowel distress. He did another esophageal mamonetry test with high resolution - said I don't have esophageal spasms or a tight LES - took me off dexilant. Did a glucose breath test - showed I had small bowel bacterial overgrowth - did 2 weeks on xifaxam. Acid came back - could taste in mouth 24/7. Did an endoscopy and bravo probe which showed I had reflux. Put me back on dexilant - this time got very sick - horrible headaches and nausea which I did not have in October 2010. Have tried aciphex, protonix, nexium and they all make me very sick. Tried to take zantac again - got horrible headaches even at a dose of 75 mg.

    Here is my question- why could I tolerate dexilant and zantac for 20 years before and not 6 months later - could it be that I was on azulfidine and now I am not. I am trying DGL licorice and antacids - not tremendously nauseated with a headache but tasting horrid acid and sour stomach and spasming. Any suggestiosn - I can't seem to tolerate the drugs now?

  
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Avatar universal
Look up all your prescriptions on the internet for their “package inserts” where all side-effects are listed. Study those and  see if you are having similar or related reactions.  With your first one alone you can see them.  Are you not dumfounded with all the side-effects that are allowed and still the drug gets approved ???   If I caused those side-effects on my children, I’ll get arrested for abuse!  Your stomach and illnesses are obviously because of these secondary causes.  Your first cause for the ulsers you were trying to get rid of is because of the refined foods causing digestive dysfunction.  Refined foods wreck havoc on the stomach and digestive process.  Eventually you will also have diabetes.  Hippocrates  said “Let food be your medicine and medicine be your food” – so what the hell happened?!!

You may need to do proper cleansings on a long term basis with the years of drugs you’ve been pumping into your system – but the body does HEAL itself, otherwise it would not be in constant repair or reproduce its organs as it does.  Have perseverance and patience.  Find a Naturopathic Physician – look that org up.  They are best prepared to guide you with the proper combinations of supplements.  I would also go to a holistic chiropractor who uses Standard Process glandular extracts (look one up at standardprocess  website for your state – put different zipcodes to find nearest).  ALSo you must read Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride, MD, neurologist and brain surgeon’s book “Gut and Psychology Syndrome” and also her website.  She gives an excellent Diet to HEAL YOUR DIGESTIVE SYSTEM – she is curing many mental illnesses with it – remember….abdominal brain.  You want to live to enjoy your grandchildren!  There’s also much info at Jon Barron as well as Natural News.  Lot’s of helpful info to make you understand natural foods and body. DO THAT – GOOD LUCK!   I came back from the Living Dead with it!!
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Avatar universal
All pharmaceuticals have side-effects, short and long-term, and even can cause secondary illnesses from long-term use. What they don't tell you is that many symptoms are not listed and you have to tell your doctor to request them from the pharmaceutical company.  Even those that are are usually the more severe side-effects reported in trials or in practice - but again many side effects are not reported from practice after the drug has earned its approval from the FDA.  And also even many symptoms are not considered when reported by the patients in trials and practice, because they are just not considered to be symptoms, especially if you describe them as "bubbles" - those will definitely be considered out of context - the medical context defined by a consensus of doctors at the round table of medicine (just like the contents of the Bible was decided upon).

I've had those "bubble" effects and they too were discounted by my medical doctor, when I began to have the supposed acid-reflux.  Thank goodness I was just trying to rule out any serious disease, because I usually use natural medicine through natural practitioners to help any health condition, after a long illness I had that no MD could help - but was helped with natural medicine which can include chiropractic, or osteopathic manipulative therapy by an Osteopathic Doctor (DO) who specializes in OMT (the other DOs are just medical doctors as DOs).  Those are great with any nervous system problems not defined yet by medicine, as well as with balancing/stimulating the endocrine system.

Anyway they wanted to give me drugs (Proton Pump Inhibitors - they inhibit the production of stomach acid), but I already knew that they produce more problems like creating Osteoporosis (which I already have the beginning of ) as they inhibit your bones from absorbing calcium to create new bone and eventually degenerating the ability of your pancreas to produce enzymes to break down your food in the intestines, leading to eventual pancreatic cancer as well as liver problems and cancer there too.

With the bubble feelings inside me I also had loads of saliva-mucous which I didn’t have before, and I learned is your body’s attempt to protect mucous membranes – the acid reflux burning your esophagus and throat, even if you do not feel it doing so, as well as seeping into your lungs, which in my case cause me severe coughing bouts that induced hours of vomiting as well, and bladder incontinence (full release all day).  I eventually could not eat anything at all, even WATER, without inducing all those symptoms in a catastrophic way.  I could not afford even a natural doctor.  So I realized that it was my diet that for some reason was not working for me anymore (I believe it is the decades of constant and unrelieved stress of 7 years of sleep deprivation due to an autistic child plus marital problems, that shot my nervous system – responsible for all processes in body – and in turn shot my endocrine system (namely adrenals) which then disturbs all other organs and most obvious is the digestive system.  For there is a multitude of nerves running through your intestines, a group in particular referred to as the “abdominal brain” that has pathways directly to the brain carrying nutrients there thru the blood-brain barrier – more on that later – very important.  But also our foods are too processed namely Flour – big culprit of acid reflux and digestive problems as is ALL refined foods).

I especially noticed problems when I ate sugar, flour, white rice, and potatoes.  I tried at this point to eat veges and even those I could not eat, but I found that cooked fresh spinach soothed me and was able to hold down, and eventually to hold down water.  So I ate these for a month and one half, then tried steamed veges and water, then added raw salads, then more varied veges, then chicken but NO FRIED FOODS, NO POTATOES, NO FLOUR/BREADS, or WHITE RICE in anything.  I recovered completely, no more mucous, no more coughing or bladder incontinence – within 3 months.

What I feel is that your years of all those medications (Efanil is an antidepressant! messing around with your brain and nervous system – may be the culprit for your burning sensations – again not yet defined and approved by medicine) directed at your digestive system, have just screwed up your intestines and pancreas and in turn are messing now with your brain-nervous system.  Lets face it, our digestive system rules our life – we eat to keep our organs and cells functioning!  Research and you’ll find that if you prohibit acid (which is types of enzymes that break food down) from your stomach, then that unbroken down food is passed to your small intestine through the duodenum connection(reason for your ulsers), which then has to carry the weight of working harder along with the gullbladder which adds bile as well.  At which point it sends signals to the pancreas/gallbladder to overproduce and release extra enzymes (acid - the one it was prohibited from releasing to the stomach) and bile.  Eventually your pancreas and or gallbladder becomes dysfunctional and cannot produce more enzymes to send to the intestines and these then overwork but cannot break down the food that comes in whole from the stomach, which ends up in all sorts of problems including that food in delivered undigested to your blood, going undigested to your liver, as well as putrifying and fermenting in your intestines producing and absorbing by-products from this (gases toxins) that should not be absorbed but instead expulsed through the colon, and eventually they get passed to the liver which also overworks until it cannot anymore.  The small intestine also passes this putrefied food to your large intestine, where the toxins are carried to the colon which re-absorbs it all into your blood – where it is distributed to your whole system and organs.  If you have problems with your duodenum you will have nutrient absorption problems which leads to many other illnesses and break downs in the body.

What they should have told you to do was to get on a strict diet of LIVE FOODS and Probiotics - NO REFINED FOODS, NO WHITE RICE, NO BREADS/FLOUR, NO JUNK FOODS WHATSOEVER – ANYTHING that comes in a package is refined, even ALL FAST FOODS.  Also NO HYDROGENATED OILS – these are artificial, NO VEGETABLE OILS ON THE SHELVES – artificial!-  NO CORN OIL, NO CANOLA OIL, NO SAFFLOWER Oil, NO MARGARINE – only unsalted organic BUTTER and ORGANIC COLD-PRESSED OLIVE OIL on salads (salad dressings have the fake oils) with lemon. You’ll get used to it.
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620923 tn?1452915648


I wish I could tell u, but I had the same problem....I was on PPI's for yrs...and then was at a loss as to why it was not working  and in fact making me feel worse...my Drs put me on H2 blockers which r working great....ask about a histamine blocker instead of a proton pump inhibitor....

  U also have to modify ur diet and lifestyle in order for the meds to work.
http://www.medhelp.org/health_pages/list?cid=236
   Good luck
    "selma"
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