Acid reflux?

[Cat-a-Tonic]

I've been getting this lately and I'm not sure what it is. I'm guessing acid reflux but thought I'd ask.

It seems to happen randomly. The first time it happened, I had just eaten something iffy so I assumed it was related to my meal. I kept burping "vomit burps" if you will - every time I belched I vomited a little into my mouth. No solids, just stomach acid or whatever. It tasted really gross. It felt like the acid in my stomach was trying to move up my throat and out my mouth. No nausea, but oddly I felt like I might vomit. (I didn't vomit, but I got close.) The feeling passed in a couple of hours. It's happened several times since then, and the past two times it was not after eating something iffy, so that's not the culprit. It happened once during shoveling show - every time I bent down to scoop up snow in my shovel, I felt the acid move up my throat and towards my mouth. It was gross.

The weird thing about this is, I don't experience any heartburn when this happens. I thought acid reflux and heartburn are similar or the same thing, so I don't know what is going on. Anybody else experience something similar? I'm going to my GI next month so I plan to ask about this then, but would appreciate any insight from others who have experienced this. Thanks!

(I should mention, I don't think my meds are causing this - currently am only on Entocort 6 mg and Amitriptyline 25 mg. I haven't taken any antacids because I read somewhere on here that antacids can strip the special coating off of Entocort and make it not work right.)

 

[lorraine]

This sounds EXACTLY like my reflux. The fact that bending over also causes it for you makes me suspicious that you also have a hiatal hernia, wherein the sphincter between your stomach and esophagus doesn't close all the way, generally thanks to the stomach pushing up through the diaphragm. Mine is treated with omeprazole (40 mg "Prilosec"), which reduces my stomach acid production. It doesn't 100% solve the problem by any means and I have to avoid all acidy or greasy food still (tomatoes, orange juice, alcohol, fast food, etc) but it makes it mostly tolerable. I've had plenty of times where I HAVE thrown up from mine. Not fun at all. The only upside is that I, a petite litle wisp of a girl, can belch with the best of the frat boys. My husband is jealous.

 

[Cat-a-Tonic]

Thanks for the reply, Lorraine! Do you know if Prilosec (or the generic equivalent) would interfere with Entocort? I just did a bit of googling on Hiatal Hernias and it said one of the causes could be "straining to get out a bowel movement." Yep, guilty of that, ha ha! I will definitely ask my GI about all of this next month and see if I could get on Prilosec or something similar to help with it.

I already avoid most of the foods you mentioned, except tomatoes. I eat tomatoes fairly regularly. I had spaghetti with tomato sauce for dinner yesterday, and a couple of hours later was when I experienced my latest bout of reflux, so I will try cutting tomatoes out of my diet and see if that helps.

 

[lorraine]

It probably will help. At my worst, all I could get down without getting that lovely vomity aftertaste and pain was unseasoned fish and steamed unseasoned veggies. Tomatoes were the hardest diet change to accept. Pasta with tomatoes = my favorite food everrr. I still cheat sometimes but alwaysalways regret it. Google "reflux diet" or something to that effect. It'll point out what foods are the easiest and which are the biggest aggravators.

I have no idea whether omeprazole is contraindicated for your current meds. My dosage was actually increased when I went on all these arthritis meds to try to help protect my stomach from them. You have to be on at least 40 mg to get it via prescription with most insurance, because a 20mg OTC equivalent is available now. There are other stronger meds that serve the same acid reduction function too, so I'm sure your doc will pick whatever's best for you.

 

[Cat-a-Tonic]

Pasta with tomato sauce is one of my favorite foods too! It's going to be hard, but if I can at least avoid more reflux until I see my GI, I think it'll be worth it. When I'm in a flare I usually just eat plain or buttered noodles (I cannot do tomatoes while I'm in a flare), so I'm fairly used to eating plain/buttered noodles and I'll switch to that as my main pasta dish for now.

Good to know that a lower dose exists OTC and that there's a generic version of Prevacid. Generics are cheap on my insurance ($10 for a month's supply) so that's good. Now I just have to make it until Feb 17th so I can talk to my doc. In the meantime I might ask my pharmacist if it's okay to take prevacid OTC with Entocort. They would know for sure if it's okay to take them together or not.

 

[effdee]

I second giving Prilosec or whatever OTC med you can find a shot. I take Aciphex for reflux as it is, but sometimes it gets worse during a flare and Prilosec has always helped within a day or two. I was never on it while on Entocort specifically, so I can't say for sure if that would be an issue. I don't recall hearing anything about it, though.

 

[lorraine]

I have a similar situation for generics and started having to pay $30 monthly for the same generic med OTC! Irritating. Luckily my rheumy wanted me on a higher dose anyway and knew how to work the system.

 

[Cat-a-Tonic]

I just checked with my pharmacist and he said it shouldn't be a problem to take omeprazole 20 mg (the OTC one) and Entocort, so I bought a bottle of omeprazole. Just to be safe, I also checked the drug checker website to make sure there aren't any contraindications, and that looks fine too (for anyone who's interested, the site is http://www.drugs.com/drug_interactions.php). It says to take first thing in the morning, so I'll start the omeprazole tomorrow. I'll let you guys know how it goes! Thanks again for the advice & info, I really appreciate it.

 

[Rebecca85]

This sounds very similar to what I've been having. It started with excessive burping a while back (from a girl who NEVER burped before). I mentioned it to my GI who didn't seem overly concerned. But it has now progressed to (occasionally) bringing stuff up when I burp (or hearing liquid bubbling in my throat when I do), feeling liquid in my throat if I bend down or lie flat in bed, and sometimes feeling like I might randomly vomit- not nausea as such, but a feeling like something's going to come up- and indeed it has before!

It doesn't seem to be linked to any food, but rather drinks. Any drink other than plain water will set me off burping, and I even feel plain water come up sometimes!

My next GI visit is in March, so I reckon I can hang on till then, but I would appreciate it Cat if you let me know what your GI says.

 

[Cat-a-Tonic]

Sure Rebecca, I'll let you know what I find out! I'm seeing my GI on Feb 17th. I've added reflux and hiatal hernia to my list of things to ask him about. In the meantime, I'm going to try the omeprazole over the counter antacid stuff and see if that helps. The pharmacist I asked said it usually takes a few days to kick in, so I bought a 14 day supply to try it out. I'll let you know how that goes too!

On a side note, I just wanted to say again that I love this forum. I love that I can post something like, "anybody else get vomit-juice in their mouth when they bend over?" and get several "yes!" replies within a few hours. My husband thinks I'm crazy when I say I can't shovel snow anymore because it makes me barf in my mouth. Thanks guys for letting me know I'm not crazy!

 

[lorraine]

Rebecca, yup, that all sounds about right for a hiatal hernia. I can't do anything carbonated or acidic, I.e. soda, orange juice, lemonade, coffee, lemon juice, pineapple, etc, etc. Water is always the safest bet.

 

[biteyshark]

Yep I'm in the same boat as you and Lorraine. Prilosec wasn't as good as Zegerid for me. You can get it OTC as well. Just a thought in case you want to try something else if Prilosec doesn't do the job

 

[Rebecca85]

Well I went to the pharmacy, and they recommended I give Gaviscon Advance a try. It floats on top of your stomach contents, stopping them from coming up. It seemed to work OK at lunch, and I will let you know how I get on with it after dinner. It is expensive (£7 a bottle which would last a week taking the maximum dose) but the pharmacist says if it works, speak to my GP and they should be able to put it on prescription for me at least till I see the GI.

 

[Josephine]

Well I had 15yr of acid reflux and just had Gaviscon Advance to list and gp does on repeat now. I had all what have describe but also trouble swallow, blood from by throat, more savlia then I know what to do with.

Got apt wednesday come at gp. Good luck Cat.

 

[Dexky]

Cat, Wendy(Keona) was back on here yesterday. You could ask her about GERD. That's what this sounds like to me. I guess we all do that sometimes, but if it gets to be a regular thing, you may need more than otc antacids.