"Irtractable Heartburn" and MS

[PheonixAbove]

At first I thought the two were not related but after being on gabapentin for over six months I have come to believe otherwise. I have not gotten one single case of heartburn since I started the gabapentin. I used to be on 2 prilosec a day and am now down to one. That last one is more a psychological thing I think but I plan on eventually getting rid of that last prilosec at some point.

Note: I have a lesion on the basel ganglia area of my brain which I have been told can affect digestion so gabapentin might not work to relieve heartburn if you do not have a lesion in this area.

In any case, I just thought I'd get the news out there.

[PheonixAbove]

That really stinks that you've had to go back and forth between the neuro and the gastro with no answer in sight.

I'm beginning to believe that people with MS are more prone to having reflux symptoms as well.

[Ufrustrated2]

what the heck, i'll chime in:

regarding these "prilosec" type meds, i've been on/off them for years. diagnosed with acid reflux, dysphagia and the like for years. like many here, been awakened at nite "choking to death" feeling.

is it demyelinating disease/MS related? don't know. but i finally was diagnosed with that too.

i've had acid reflux, dysphagia issues many years prior to taking gabapentin or any such meds.

the strange thing about it is it kinda comes and goes for me. so i get refills of the "omeprazole" on and off. that is the med the VA has for this.

all the typical do's/don'ts i practice mostly to help with it. but like i said, it will still come and go. go figure?

tell your VA neuro about it and he says you gotta talk to a gastro about it. see the VA gastro and he looks at your records and says, you got MS, what does your neuro say?

funny huh? :-)

[jensequitur]

I rarely have heartburn, but for about three months after diagnosis I had the worst heartburn ever.  It caused my esophagus to spasm, too - very painful!

There are theories on what causes this.  The most likely one is weakness of the flap that closes your stomach.  If you're lying down and that flap opens up, you'll get gastric juices in your esophagus.  There's also problems with motility.  

I have good results with acid reducers, but I haven't needed one in a while.