I have only had heartburn twice in my whole entire life. That is until this month. I had it twice after eating lasagne, which I could understand, but now twice more heartburn has woken me in the middle of the night. I am trying to watch what I eat and keep a diary to see what might set it off, but it seems it’s always there, a sour feeling in my mouth and yucky feeling in my chest. so far no flaming heartburn in my two days of watching what I eat and when and how much. I did just come off a prednisilone dose pack and antibiotic Doxycycline as well as a shot (antibiotic and decongestant) towards the end of it. I am also on bystolic blood pressure medicine and think that might provide a clue, but have been on it for about a month and this is just starting to happen (aside from the lasagne right before I got sick). I am 34, female, overweight but not obese, and active. I feel like I’m falling apart! I will also note the blood pressure being up is from a virus, so the doctor thinks. I’m hoping it will stay down and then I can get off the meds. Other than that, I only take generic claritin for allergies. Anyone have any experience with this???
Oh hell yeah, I have a lot of experience with this.
I take a daily med that helps a lot, but that’s because I get GERD every day.
Since you only get it occasionally, try Tums or Rolaids. That will probably be enough. Ginger ale can help as well. In the future, learn what your trigger foods are and avoid overeating.
Zantac worked for me. My attacks were rare, but when Zantac stopped working, I went to the doctor. Turns out I had cholecystitis (inflamed gall bladder). The symptoms are similar, so it might be something to watch for.
I’m seeing ads on TV for Zegerid OTC (?), a combination of imaprozole (sp?) and bicarbonate of soda. That might help too.
Prilosec and its generic equivalents are now sold over the counter. I had a heartburn problem for 30 years and this stuff kicked its ass in two days.
Did you perhaps have bread along with your lasagne, like garlic bread? I used to alway get heartburn when having lasagne or spaghetti until I realized that it was the bread that causes my heartburn.
The red sauce also was a problem until I learned that a couple teaspoons of sugar added to the sauce while cooking would eliminate the burn caused by the sauce. But while I was focused on the dish itself, I ignored the accompanying bread, which was the real source of the problem.
I gave up sandwiches except for the occasional open-face one with half the bread, and I don’t get heartburn any more. Thin crust pizza instead of the bready thick crust, forget bread sticks and pretzels, and I even indulge sometimes but I know that the burn is going to be coming and take some antacid. Even heavily panko breaded seafood will do me in.
Bread is my trigger food for heartburn, and just knowing that saves me from most problems.
I had never, in my entire life, had heartburn no matter what I ate, and I’ve eaten some pretty nasty stuff. Within a month of starting Norvasc it felt like someone had shoved an icepick through my heart.
It turns out that any drug that dilates the blood vessels, also dilates my lower esophageal sphincter valve. I don’t take that stuff anymore, and I also don’t have any heartburn.
If you are only experiencing it while lying down and or sleeping, try raising the head of you bed a couple of inches.
I’ve had chronic reflux for 20 years, I avoid most trigger foods, and every couple of years will go though a period of taking Pantoloc daily for a few months to reset my stomach acid levels.
My experience exactly.
Not to be a worry wart but isn’t “heartburn” a commonly reported symptom of women with actual heart problems? If this persists you really might want to contact your doc.
Not sure how accurate this link is but it seems to indicate “heartburn” is something you should watch:
http://www.suite101.com/content/is-it-heartburn-or-a-heart-attack-a69794
I had the exact same experience. I was sucking down Tums by the cartonfull. Then my mother said she knew two people that ended up having Esophegeal Cancer due to chronic heartburn. Went to the doctor. He wrote me an Rx for Omeprazole (Prilosec). It’s been a ton better since. I usually just go into Costco and buy 3-4 packs of the Kirkland generic every few months.
As for basic tablets I used to use Tums (and still do occasionally). But my doctor recommended Gaviscon instead. Both work reasonably well.
Had a bad experience with Zantac. Was not a fun night. :smack:
Did you take any Advil or non-steroidal anti-inflammatories while taking the prednisilone? I was just on a course of steroids and the doctor warned that taking any sort of NSAID with the steroids would do a number on your stomach lining. So I’m assuming that the steroids themselves have that as a potential side-effect.
Lanzoprazole is the medicine of acid-reflux suffering kings!
Nothing over the counter or prescription does squat for me, except Aciphex (Rabeprazole). I haven’t had heartburn in almost 5 years and I can eat whatever I want.
But be warned. If you don’t have good insurance this stuff is expensive as hell!
I’m eight and a half months pregnant so heartburn is my life right now. Despite a lot of websites warning to avoid dairy, I took a chance on one that suggested the opposite and tried drinking a tall glass of ice cold milk. It helped - dramatically. I also found eating yogurt soothes it a bit. This obviously doesn’t work for everyone but if you’ve got nothing else to lose, it may be worth a shot.
Proton pump inhibitors (omezaprole, lansaprazole etc) work brilliantly. I have been taking them for years - but only because after an operation I have a permanent weakness in the muscle set that closes off the top of the stomach which means I get reflux whenever I lay down.
However, I was told that long term use of Omeprazole could mask other conditions which may arise with the stomach lining. Have you had a breath test for helicobacter-pylori? this is extremely common and can cause stomach ulcers. It can go undetected with long term use of PP inhibitors as it hides the symptoms.
Other things for me -Doxycyclone is instant heartburn. Any fats = instant heartburn ( without Omeprazole)
Get thee to a medic young lady, you know it makes sense 
Since this is a question about a personal, real-life medical issue, it’s better in IMHO rather than General Questions. Moved.
samclem Moderator.
I suspect I have GERD because I have almost-daily heartburn. Common triggers for me are overeating anything to over-fullness, tomatoes or tomato sauces (very acidic, even though they’re not “hot or spicy”), oranges and orange juice (also acidic), and alcohol (burns on the way down, it’ll burn coming back up too). You can try avoiding acidic food, but as your body doesn’t regularly do this I think it’d be better for you to talk to your doctor. It could be a side effect of medication, as stated by others.
Heartburn is a daily occurrence for me, and I don’t view it as that big a deal since I’m used to it. I keep a big tub of tums in my purse and try to minimize my tomato consumption and drink more water than pop. It’s hard because I really love tomatoes and tomato-based sauces! (like marinara, vodka sauce, and masala curry)
I wonder about the BP medication. This isn’t quite the same thing, but when I was on an ACE inhibitor last year, I developed pretty severe nighttime coughing.
Now, coughing is a well-known side effect of this class of medication, but the way mine manifested, it looked a LOT more like GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease). It was worse while lying down, I sometimes was aware of an irritated sensation at the back of the throat, eating an extra rich / spicy / fatty meal made it worse, etc.
I was already on Prilosec for the heartburn, which is something I’ve had for decades. I thought the symptoms were due to the BP med because of the timing (though stopping the meds did NOT result in a clearcut correlation with improving symptoms). The doc thought it was due to GERD.
I did a number of tests (including a gastic emptying test using radioactivce scrambled eggs), was on a quadruple dose of the Prilosec, and still no improvement.
Finally I put my foot down, insisted on stopping the ACE inhibitor… and within 2 weeks my symptoms were gone. If I eat a truly awful meal (like the time I had strawberry shortcake washed down with lemonade for dessert), I might cough a bit. But that’s very rare.
Anyway - long story short, I’m wondering if the blood pressure medication might sometimes worsen a pre-existing tendency toward reflux.
Oh - and steroids are notorious for causing heartburn, though this should resolve pretty shortly afterward the course is over. I learned the hard way once: don’t take an increased dose of heartburn-causing asthma meds, while on prednisone, then eat leftover pizza for breakfast, then let yourself get stuck in waiting room hell for HOURS… without the bottle of antacids :smack:. :p.
If the symptoms don’t improve after a week or two of antacids (or acid reducers such as Prilosec or Zantac - the antacids neutralize the acid, the others actually prevent it from developing), do see a doctor.
I always had the best luck with Maalox plus including the anti gas medicine. Since I had my gall bladder out, I’ve only had one small bit of heartburn in 7 years.
My favorite OTC antacid is Gaviscon. The tablets taste weird, but the alginic acid in it helps to form a protective barrier for your throat against the acid.
You should definitely see a doctor if this continues though. Chronic, long-term GERD is, as you may know, a risk factor for esophageal cancer (which is highly deadly if it does occur) and therefore it’s not something you want to just ignore. PPI drugs like omeprazole do work well for many people, but for some people, being on a PPI may not be a good idea over the long term. They are not completely risk free. Reducing stomach acidity appears to raise the risk of pneumonia and being on a PPI for many years may affect bone density.