Re: Beware Taking Too Many Meds!!!
From: anonymous (anonymous@obgyn.net)
Sun Aug 11 01:16:30 2002
LS:
Thank you for the detail -- it is quite helpful :o).
As I understand it, you don't have an acid stomach but do have the valve
problem. You mentioned burping -- I take it the burping is related to
the faulty valve. This is interesting, as I have flares of burping but
also have flares of the acidic stomach. Now that you mention it, I
think I also see, in myself, a connection between aspirin/coffee
consumption and the acid problems. I had been taking a baby aspirin per
day but guess that regimen isn't for me. Coffee is one of my major weak
spots :-( -- I just love coffee in the morning -- besides, it helps to
keep my bowels in working order :-( -- somehow prune juice doesn't have
the same appeal for my morning pick me up.
Thank you so much for alerting us to the meds/LES valve relationship.
P.S. I also didn't care for Prilosec -- have never heard of aciphex,
maybe I should try that one next time I'm in need. I will try the
Mylanta! *Why no aluminum (is it related to Alzheimers?)? Oh, what about
cimetadine (tagamet, zantac, pepcid, etc.) -- do those help you?
At Sat, 10 Aug 2002, ls wrote:
>
>My problem is not directly my stomach it is a weak LES valve - my gastro
>doc thought this was b/c I was taking to many meds and meds such as
>aspirin, percocet, oxycodone, etc will do this. Occasionally this will
>cause a person to get GERD (the meds). There are procedures to tighten
>this valve, but it is another surgery for me which I am certainly not
>ready for. I was on ppi's last year for a time (those are the nexium,
>prevacid, prilosec commercials). The first time I didn't tolerate the
>medicine (prilosec), the second round when I switched kinds to aciphex I
>stayed on for 10 weeks. This did seem to help a lot but it was not an
>everlasting cure. I am not a meds person at all so I did not want to be
>on any when I had any type of surgery this year (which I have had many
>procedures with anesthesia)or when I try to get pregnant. I do, very
>often, take 2t. of mylata (no aluminum!!) b/f bed. I do think I am due
>for another 8 week round of ppi's though - my last surgery sent me into
>another bad flare up. I have always tried to eat well and workout daily
>- the only things that I know will cause me problems are pain pills,
>coffee (even decaff), chocolate, and too much spag sauce - however I
>still do eat 'bad' things even if I know I will pay! I never ever eat
>less than three hours b/f bed and I always sleep a little propped up,
>which never really works b/c I am always slid down by morning. It just
>really sucks to have 3 probs (endo, back and reflux) however I am so
>exicted that my horrible endo problems have so far (2 wks post 2nd lap)
>have disappeared for the first time. I hope this answers your
>questions. LS
>
>At Fri, 9 Aug 2002, anonymous wrote:
>>
>>LS:
>>Do you, by any chance, also have a hyperacidic stomach?
>>What are you doing to keep your symptoms at bay? Do you take meds? If
>>yes, which? What about diet?
>>
>>At Fri, 9 Aug 2002, ls wrote:
>>>
>>>Please everyone, be very, very, very careful how many pain
>>>killers/meds/aspirin etc you take b/c they can sometimes lead to
>>>problems as bad and complicated as endo (or very possibley worse). Early
>>>last year when my endo pain became knife like and when I was also having
>>>problems from a herniated disc/sciatica I began taking 'a lot' of
>>>aspirin, naproxyn, advil etc every day and all day sometimes. Well, I
>>>ended up going over the edge and getting reflux/gerd which is an
>>>erosion/irritation in your esophagus. It is created by a weak valve
>>>(b/w your esoph. and stomach) which allows the backflow of acid up into
>>>your esophagus and throat. As endo is atypical so is (very much so)
>>>reflux. I did not know what was going on - in hindsight I know it
>>>started much earlier b/c I was belching (subtly) more often and tended
>>>to be nauseus all the time (especially after I ate - upper stomach), I
>>>lost 20lbs and didn't know why - this was all on top of my endo. I
>>>alway felt horrible - from all ends!! I had to have an endoscopy to
>>>diagnose and have never been the same since. Once you get this you will
>>>ALWAYS have problems with it. Now I can't take any kinds of aspirin
>>>(even baby), eat chocolate or other irritating foods (and food was never
>>>a cause of this), or else I get heartburn now. I also am constantly
>>>hoarse when I talk too much and whenever I do have a lap or other
>>>sedation type or procedure, my reflux kicks in. Just remember, when
>>>people say things warning you about the stomach ulcers (which is also
>>>true) they are not the bigger problem, reflux is - and you don't want to
>>>deal with 2 very, very complicated problems - As hard as it is to find
>>>good endo docs it is just as complicated to find gastro docs to deal
>>>with the reflux issue. Just in case anyone does have these probs check
>>>out the hearburn-help.com site.
>>>Sorry for the lengthy post, but I have to warn everyone. As we all know
>>>the only way to take care of our endo pain for good is to have an
>>>excellent surgeon take care of it all(hopefully during the 1st or 2nd
>>>lap)so we wouldn't have to take so many meds to begin with. LS
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