I have had Gerd since I was in my 20s only didn't do much about it. I was taking a handful of TUMS at night. Never had much trouble during the day but nightime was killer. I modified my food intake to nothing after 8. it got so bad I finally went to the doctor about it and they put me on previcid. as long as I take it regularly I am fine 99% of the time. that other 1% is when I **** up and have the wrong thing right before I go to bed or forget to take my meds. I have been on previcid for a very long time with no ill effects. Not everyone has a bad reaction. I eat what I want when I want and I'm fine as long as I take the meds
Living with chronic illness
- Thread starter jdcobra
- Start date
Thanks man. I have gone to the VA but they are hopeless as to be expected. In the Marines I saw a sports medicine doctor who saw the injury pretty clearly and helped treat it but said there was not much that could be done to correct it. But when you get assigned a primary care physician from the VA they say everything looks fine, say it is just a muscle spasm, and prescribe some BS muscle relaxers that do nothing for it. The last ones they gave me messed with my head bad and made me feel slow like I had just had a concussion. I have an appointment in a few weeks to get it checked out but it isn't bothering me right now I doubt they will do anything but try to explain it away. It's a messed up system honestly.
I have friends with really messed up backs who have good specialists and they are usually very reluctant to do any major procedures until something is really destroyed. When it gets really bad I will find an outside doctor and see if they can treat it or at least document it more accurately so I can present it to the VA.
Sent from my SM-G935P using the svtperformance.com mobile app
I’m glad the medication is working for you! But remember that GERD is a progressive disease and the cause is that of the faulty lower esophageal sphincter meaning that it’s mechanical. It can hit you one day like a ton of bricks, so be careful. Look into getting Stretta before it gets worse, none invasive procedure done endoscopically. Apparently my reflux got so bad overnight it that it interferes with my esophageal motility which it can those who reflux long enough, causing me to have more severe symptoms (heartburn, acid clearance, etc) . Pills only mask the issue. I’m not trying to tell anyone what to do but only try to help prevent what happened to me.
Damn, that sucks man, I’m sorry. They want to wait to do anything? That sucks. Normally I thought they’d want to do something before it got worse.
As long as the pills are working, no operation for me. If they stop working I will revisit the issue. I have a great gastro guy and so far his recommendation is to wait
there are issues with Stretta as well. From my research so far it is recommended for those that don’t have success with PPIs (which have their own issues). As late as 2015 it was not recommended by one gastro group but was by another. Outside of hype pieces the jury still seems to be mostly out on whether it works on severe cases. So I will stick to my plan.
Good luck to you on yours
there are issues with Stretta as well. From my research so far it is recommended for those that don’t have success with PPIs (which have their own issues). As late as 2015 it was not recommended by one gastro group but was by another. Outside of hype pieces the jury still seems to be mostly out on whether it works on severe cases. So I will stick to my plan.
Good luck to you on yours
Yea, it was considered that the device worked on creating "scar tissue" but that isn't the case. It actually makes the muscle thicker and stronger to help prevent the gastric juices from coming up.
The three different gastro specialists I've seen, say they don't keep patients on PPI's longer than 12 weeks because of the issues they can cause. So even if they did work for me, I still wouldn't take em as I've already started to have joint pain and lack of vitamin deficiencies from them.
Unfortunate that the doctors don't tell you that the pills don't do anything to treat the underlying cause, but only the symptoms. Hell, had I known it was a progressive disease I wouldn't be in this situation.
Well I hope they continue to work for ya without issue man!
The three different gastro specialists I've seen, say they don't keep patients on PPI's longer than 12 weeks because of the issues they can cause. So even if they did work for me, I still wouldn't take em as I've already started to have joint pain and lack of vitamin deficiencies from them.
Unfortunate that the doctors don't tell you that the pills don't do anything to treat the underlying cause, but only the symptoms. Hell, had I known it was a progressive disease I wouldn't be in this situation.
Well I hope they continue to work for ya without issue man!
Last edited:
Too little stomach acid can be due to hypothyroidism. And you have to get your own testing done to test for that because docs are clueless and insurance doesn't want to pay.
It's only like $150 for the test combo in Life Extension. Free T3, Reverse T3, and antibodies being the most important.
A good doctor will go over ALL the options before recommending a course of action. if they don't, need to find a new doctor.
GERD is not always progressive. From my research and in talking to my doctors about it, it and the treatments vary quite widely.
GERD is not always progressive. From my research and in talking to my doctors about it, it and the treatments vary quite widely.
Whdn it comes to spine injuries they are cautious to do anything, especially if you are under a certain age. I believe it has more to do with uncertainty of the procedures for the most part. My buddy had one and he came out worse. Now he facing multiple other procedures to fix it. Another friend has had over 40 procedures done this year alone. They all aren't as invasive as you think but still surgeries.
Sent from my SM-G935P using the svtperformance.com mobile app
I had extremely bad heartburn/acid reflux at night due to a medication I was on last year. I couldn't go a single night without waking up 3-5 times.
I changed up my diet, habits, and tried a PPI:
-Stopped eating after 9pm, unless it was non-citrus fruit or yogurt
-Avoided chocolate and tomato sauce (raw tomatoes were ok for some reason)
-Smaller meals, especially lunch
-Cut out spicy foods
-Drank less coffee, none in the afternoon
-Ate ginger snacks
-Probiotics, including kombucha
-Ginger tea before bed
-PPI regimen
For the last 4 weeks, I have been able to sleep without waking up in pain. I still wake up when the damn dogs jump around on the bed, but no heartburn. My ulcers seem to have healed, and I was able to eat hot wings for the first time in 8 months yesterday.
I don't know if this will help anyone, but it made a huge difference for me.
I changed up my diet, habits, and tried a PPI:
-Stopped eating after 9pm, unless it was non-citrus fruit or yogurt
-Avoided chocolate and tomato sauce (raw tomatoes were ok for some reason)
-Smaller meals, especially lunch
-Cut out spicy foods
-Drank less coffee, none in the afternoon
-Ate ginger snacks
-Probiotics, including kombucha
-Ginger tea before bed
-PPI regimen
For the last 4 weeks, I have been able to sleep without waking up in pain. I still wake up when the damn dogs jump around on the bed, but no heartburn. My ulcers seem to have healed, and I was able to eat hot wings for the first time in 8 months yesterday.
I don't know if this will help anyone, but it made a huge difference for me.
Nice! Unfortunately because my reflux has been apparently going on for some time, it affects the motility of my esophagus. Meaning I have slower acid clearance and worse heartburn. PPIs work for me, but only about 70% I’m having the Stretta procedure done this Friday, I’ll let ya know how it goes!
Good luck!! I know how debilitating it can be, especially at night. I really hope it works out for you!
If Stretta does not work, there is another option. Endogastric Solutions has a TIF device that is used to treat the same condition. Might be worth looking into. This was one of the engineering projects I worked on about 10 years ago- looks like it has even been improved since then.
EsophyX Device for transoral reconstructive surgery
Nice! I’ll have to check that out. Hopefully this procedure works and restores normal motility. If so, I may wind up going with something like the LINX device at some point.
I am a type 1 diabetic, totally different then type 2, only 10% of the people get type 1 and out of that only like 1% are brittle diabetics which I am, which means you get no reactions for low blood sugar. So other than the insulin pump I have to wear each day I have to wear a CGM system to tell me what my sugars are all the time for the rest of my life. It does not help with 10 ruptured discs, 5 in my neck, 3 in the middle of my back and 2 in the lower back, this pain will affect my blood sugars very badly and sometimes if my sugars go real low that is because of the pain from my back. The more pain I am in the lower my blood sugar will go. Remember everything affects your blood sugar, stress, pain and all, it is not the same for everyone since everyone is different.
My daughters have found me many times on the floor in a diabetic coma. It does not help matters when your blood sugar is low and you need medical attention and all your wife does is yell at you, you think after 20 years of this she would help, but nope you just get yelled at. Low blood sugar is a serious thing, you do not have enough sugar to your brain to think correctly and you cant function correctly. Some say oh you should be able to take care of it but if you sugar drops from 80 to 30 in 10 min or less it is tough at times. So yes I live with this every day and hold down a full time job, some days are better then others, and yes you get tired of this illness. My Dexcom CGM system connects to my iphone X and from that my sugars are up in the cloud so my wife and my 2 daughters can see what my sugars real time and if my sugars go low there phones beep, At 47 and having this for 20 years is tough and it is getting worse and worse, I was put in a symlin pen since I was taking over 100 units of insulin a day, my body was getting use to the insulin. So now I am down to 1/3 of that and I was at 245lbs and now I am at 204lbs in 3 months. So I do what I can to live as long as I can, some days are not easy.
My daughters have found me many times on the floor in a diabetic coma. It does not help matters when your blood sugar is low and you need medical attention and all your wife does is yell at you, you think after 20 years of this she would help, but nope you just get yelled at. Low blood sugar is a serious thing, you do not have enough sugar to your brain to think correctly and you cant function correctly. Some say oh you should be able to take care of it but if you sugar drops from 80 to 30 in 10 min or less it is tough at times. So yes I live with this every day and hold down a full time job, some days are better then others, and yes you get tired of this illness. My Dexcom CGM system connects to my iphone X and from that my sugars are up in the cloud so my wife and my 2 daughters can see what my sugars real time and if my sugars go low there phones beep, At 47 and having this for 20 years is tough and it is getting worse and worse, I was put in a symlin pen since I was taking over 100 units of insulin a day, my body was getting use to the insulin. So now I am down to 1/3 of that and I was at 245lbs and now I am at 204lbs in 3 months. So I do what I can to live as long as I can, some days are not easy.
I suffer from Chronic Lyme disease. Absolutely sucks. Been dealing with it for almost 30 years. Chronic migraines, joint pains/swelling and nervous system issues and chronic fatigue. Among other things. Don't wish it on anyone.
Hey man, hang in there! We all have more fight in ourselves than we think. The only thing you can do is keep thriving until you can’t anymore. I know people say it can always be worse but they don’t experience the things we do, but it does hold truth. Hopefully medical advancements will catch up and you’ll be treated better soon.
Damn man, I can’t imagine...was it from a tic bite? You’d think they’d have more advance treatment for it as long as it’s been around. Hopefully they will come out with a better treatment. Hang in there!
Yep from a tick bite back in 1989 or 1990. It's hard to get proper treatment when half the doctors don't think it exists and fight it's existence. Unfortunately I got it before the huge increases in medical science to treat and fight it.
Most people get by with the prescribed round of antibiotics and everything seems to be fine.
Bipolar 1 and general anxiety disorder. Really ****ed up how life was going for me.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Damn man, sorry to hear that. You can beat general anxiety disorder, it just takes time. I did and my friend did as well.
Are you taking Vraylar? I know someone who has bipolar 1 and they claims it helps.
Last edited:
Users who are viewing this thread
