Popular heartburn medications linked to higher risk of stroke

I quit taking Nexium a few months ago because of that report. My indigestion didn't get any worse so I guess it was OK to do that. (I did check with my doctor first.)

Fox, perhaps lifestyle change won't make a difference for your digestion problems but could help you to avoid a stroke. That would be the standard good health habits.

I know it's a struggle. It's frustrating when managing our health becomes like a full-time job. Just don't give up with doing whatever you can. :hug:
 
I quit taking Nexium a few months ago because of that report. My indigestion didn't get any worse so I guess it was OK to do that. (I did check with my doctor first.)

Fox, perhaps lifestyle change won't make a difference for your digestion problems but could help you to avoid a stroke. That would be the standard good health habits.

I know it's a struggle. It's frustrating when managing our health becomes like a full-time job. Just don't give up with doing whatever you can. :hug:

My doctor declared that my GERD is severe so I have to take Dexilant, Domperidone and Gaviscon - avoid dark chocolate, garlic, teas, all juices, brownies (or any kind of dark foods), all mints and little to no pepper because those foods can easily prevent Dexilant from working effectively. It use to defer the risk of esophagus cancer and ensure that my esophagus color doesn't change.

Domperidone could cause silent death from heart issue - it means I won't know if I die in days, months or years. I take this risk to make my GI comfortable and I'm not worried if I'm going die in sleep (silent death), so I just prepared if happen like that.

For PPI, it probably take many years to cause stroke and other issues. My father took PPI medicine since 1990. (26 years now).

Nexium works great, even better than Dexilant, but it is HARD on my intestine, so I stopped taking.
 
My insurance is wasting my time for denied and delaying the Stretta so it has been for 9 months now.

I'm not candidate for fundo due to weak esophagus.
 
Curious. Do you eat breads? Have you consider seeing Naturopathic doctor?
 
Curious. Do you eat breads? Have you consider seeing Naturopathic doctor?

Yes, I do eat breads - they are easy on my stomach and easy to eat when I have nausea episodes.

No idea about naturopathic doctor.

I saw 5 different GI specialists (including two at university) in my life.

If private specialists don't have treatment option so they will send patients to university to be seen.
 
Yes, I do eat breads - they are easy on my stomach and easy to eat when I have nausea episodes.

No idea about naturopathic doctor.

I saw 5 different GI specialists (including two at university) in my life.

If private specialists don't have treatment option so they will send patients to university to be seen.

So, you do eat bread. Do you still have bacterial overgrowth? Do you have bad breath on and off for years? Did GI specialists make any suggestion like you taking probiotics? Are you tolerant of dairy?

I had a horrible heartburn. It was hell. It was so bad so I had to force myself to sit up and sleep in bed. Antacids, Sucralfate and Omerprazole didn't help me. I thought I was going to have a major heart attack. That's how I found out I was pregnant. I only threw up twice through my pregnancy. I had low acid stomach. I have to make sure my stomach gets plenty of acid and my stomach will be happy. Bread and crackers didn't work for my nausea. In order to fix the problem, I took probiotics or kefir to take care of it. I used to take it daily thru pregnancy. It works. I ditched antacids, Sucralfate and Omerprazole except prenatal pill. I had to change the way I used to eat. I know a few people with severe GERD had to change the lifestyle completely and took probiotics. It made a huge difference. It took months for symptoms of GERDS to disappear as long as they had to stay consistent with right diet.

During the pregnancy, I was craving for milk, so I consumed seaweed soup with broth. My craving was gone. When I have an urge to drink milk, I watch my symptoms and I know it's time to eat seaweed soup or drink any green smoothie.

You should see naturopathic doctor. Many patients with GERD seek naturopathic doctor's advice when they tried everything else.

If you want to learn more new info, Check Chris Kresser's blog. It's a lengthy information. You should read these comments. You're not alone.

https://chriskresser.com/what-everybody-ought-to-know-but-doesnt-about-heartburn-gerd/
 
So, you do eat bread. Do you still have bacterial overgrowth? Do you have bad breath on and off for years? Did GI specialists make any suggestion like you taking probiotics? Are you tolerant of dairy?

I had a horrible heartburn. It was hell. It was so bad so I had to force myself to sit up and sleep in bed. Antacids, Sucralfate and Omerprazole didn't help me. I thought I was going to have a major heart attack. That's how I found out I was pregnant. I only threw up twice through my pregnancy. I had low acid stomach. I have to make sure my stomach gets plenty of acid and my stomach will be happy. Bread and crackers didn't work for my nausea. In order to fix the problem, I took probiotics or kefir to take care of it. I used to take it daily thru pregnancy. It works. I ditched antacids, Sucralfate and Omerprazole except prenatal pill. I had to change the way I used to eat. I know a few people with severe GERD had to change the lifestyle completely and took probiotics. It made a huge difference. It took months for symptoms of GERDS to disappear as long as they had to stay consistent with right diet.

During the pregnancy, I was craving for milk, so I consumed seaweed soup with broth. My craving was gone. When I have an urge to drink milk, I watch my symptoms and I know it's time to eat seaweed soup or drink any green smoothie.

You should see naturopathic doctor. Many patients with GERD seek naturopathic doctor's advice when they tried everything else.

If you want to learn more new info, Check Chris Kresser's blog. It's a lengthy information. You should read these comments. You're not alone.

https://chriskresser.com/what-everybody-ought-to-know-but-doesnt-about-heartburn-gerd/

My GI specialist told me that I don't have bacterial overgrowth and I don't have bad breath (exception of garlic). Yes, my GI specialist ordered me to take Align (probiotic) everyday after got diagnosed with IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome) to stabilize my colon. I'm on Align for 6 years now. I do have some tolerant with dairy products, but I need to take Lactaid. There is big problem with my esophagus and stomach - LES is weakened so will not close at all, so reduce the stomach acid is option for me. No one invest to develop the new medicine to strengthen the LES yet. My esophagus muscle isn't strong so I must drink much liquid to push the food down.

The IBS developed after I got ill with food poisoning after Thanksgivings in 2009. My IBS looks like bipolar and frowned with some food brands. Most foods that made with flours from Kellogg's (Pop Tart, Froot Loops, Rice Krispies) caused constipation with cramping, but flours from Nabisco like Oreo, Pinwheel and Teddy Grahams caused diarrhea with cramping. General Mills, Hershey's and Nestle are fine (no oats, no peanut butter). All lunch meats need to be cooked or heated (cold lunch meats caused diarrhea). The peanut butter cause constipation if consume in excess, also Hershey's chocolate cause bloating if consume in excess on daily basis and all Mars candies (M&M's) cause diarrhea if consume in excess, so need to be in moderation, but I can eat Nestle chocolate in any amount without GI side effect (no peanut butter).

Some foods cause increase the frequent of bowel movement, that's very annoying, it can be normal solid to watery, or combined. If I have important tasks so I'm going be on strict Nestle only and I don't have any issues with most fast food (no cold food), but it isn't recommended to be on daily basis so sometime, vacation or long trip has caused me to eat fast food frequently due to no to limited access to kitchen. I'm not concern about weight gain because weight will be same if you eat same daily calorie.

The food at Gallaudet cafeteria is kinda complicated, but most important, I avoid spicy, garlic and onion, and sometime, they serve same foods everyday. I used to eat at Chipotle 3-4 times per week at Gallaudet when I had meal plan waiver and be full time student made me stressed and exhausted, so I went to fast food for my convenience. I avoid all beans because of spicy added, that all. The pizza is OMG, I can't stand the pizza - cause extremely bloated.

Now, I have chronic nausea since last year and no one find about what is wrong, so my doctor put me on Reglan and I had to discontinue because of unable to sleep, tremors and RLS. All of them are gone after I stopped. They put me on Domperidone but it isn't FDA approved so I have to buy it from legit online pharmacy, that's work fine. My doctor told me that he doesn't believe that Domperidone cause muscle spasm (based on medical literature and patients). No one know about how nausea caused and exhausted with all tests, except there is slight delay in GI emptying study.

I had strict diet for months before (lost 60 lbs) and didn't improve the heartburn, so I regained a lot of weight after went to Gallaudet. Dexilant + Domperidone with some diet modification works best, until insurance company willing to approve on Stretta procedure. They still deny and delay as I'm fighting with them. It will take months to years. Fundo and LINX are out of option due to weak muscle in esophagus, after GI specialists told me that many patients with weak esophagus, have a hard time to swallow or cannot swallow at all, so necessary to be reversed, so after that, they strictly require HRM (High Resolution Manometry) before consider Fundo, LINX and Stretta. My HRM result is abnormal (weak esophagus).

The new diet is most hard for me, so I didn't want to thorough about whichever foods are sensitive or not. I put on diet before and got sick. If heartburn or GI are messed up so it will take few days to recover after switch to old diet. Speaking about high risk, I just like... life goes on and life is too short... I'm going to enjoy my life as I can.

Do insurance will cover naturopathic doctor?

BTW, sometime, Metamucil and medicines could interfere with some foods, that happen.
 

I finished to read Part 1.

I'm surprised about what article said. My GI pediatrician put me on 10 mg Prilosec in 1998 and I didn't think about any consequence, eventually upped to 20 mg when I was 13 years old.

Now, my digestive system is totally screw up - start with GERD then IBS, then chronic nausea.

Also, I think that mental illness, mainly OCD has caused me to focus on GI too much and find whichever to blame for digestive problem.

I'm going read Part 2 right now.

Update: Part 2 is finished. Part 3 is finished. Part 4 is finished.
 
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After reading, I definitely believe that H Pylori and overgrowth bacteria are difficult to diagnose because tests aren't reliable.

I found something isn't right for me.

I'm going ask my GI specialist to take more tests.
 
After reading, I definitely believe that H Pylori and overgrowth bacteria are difficult to diagnose because tests aren't reliable.

I found something isn't right for me.

I'm going ask my GI specialist to take more tests.

What did you find?

It's a good thing you've been taking Align. Have you ever tried Lifeaway Kefir?

I missed your last question. Depends on your insurance. Not all insurance cover natropathic doctors. Insurances do cover acupuncture. Call your insurance company.
 
What did you find?

It's a good thing you've been taking Align. Have you ever tried Lifeaway Kefir?

I missed your last question. Depends on your insurance. Not all insurance cover natropathic doctors. Insurances do cover acupuncture. Call your insurance company.

I found that my diagnosis with GI issues aren't enough, so I'm going ask him to make more diagnosis. I felt that biopsies alone aren't enough.

I haven't tried Lifeway Kefir? Is it probiotic supplement?

Not surprised, health insurances are too picky. :(
 
I found that my diagnosis with GI issues aren't enough, so I'm going ask him to make more diagnosis. I felt that biopsies alone aren't enough.

I haven't tried Lifeway Kefir? Is it probiotic supplement?

Not surprised, health insurances are too picky. :(

You've been seeing specialists for years. It can't hurt to get an opinion from naturopathic doctor.

Lifeway Kefir is not exactly a probiotic supplement. It's a food. Kefir is similar to yogurt, but it contains more probiotics than yogurt itself. Kefir contains billions CFU than yogurt with million CFU. Our body contains trillion CFU. You must keep it refrigerated or live and active culture will die. If I were you, I would go for Plain milk low fat. It tastes very sour. Very sour. That's the way it is suppose to taste. If it is too much for you, you can try Kefir with fruit to mask a sour taste. Be very careful with kefir. Start with 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup of kefir a day first to give your stomach to get used to it. Do it for the first few days. Watch your symptoms. If I don't take probiotic supplement, I drink a cup of kefir a day. Kefir does wonder for my pregnancy. Looove it.

http://lifewaykefir.com/

You mentioned you had a strict diet, and lost weight but your heartburn didn't improve. What kind of strict diet were you on? You weren't specific about it. What food were you allowed to eat?
 
You've been seeing specialists for years. It can't hurt to get an opinion from naturopathic doctor.

Lifeway Kefir is not exactly a probiotic supplement. It's a food. Kefir is similar to yogurt, but it contains more probiotics than yogurt itself. Kefir contains billions CFU than yogurt with million CFU. Our body contains trillion CFU. You must keep it refrigerated or live and active culture will die. If I were you, I would go for Plain milk low fat. It tastes very sour. Very sour. That's the way it is suppose to taste. If it is too much for you, you can try Kefir with fruit to mask a sour taste. Be very careful with kefir. Start with 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup of kefir a day first to give your stomach to get used to it. Do it for the first few days. Watch your symptoms. If I don't take probiotic supplement, I drink a cup of kefir a day. Kefir does wonder for my pregnancy. Looove it.

http://lifewaykefir.com/

You mentioned you had a strict diet, and lost weight but your heartburn didn't improve. What kind of strict diet were you on? You weren't specific about it. What food were you allowed to eat?

For strict diet - no surgary foods, no chocolate, low carb diet, more bland meats (no spices), no dairy, no soda and all water beverage. It is similar to Whole30 diet. That lasted 6 months.

I don't see any change with heartburn so it seems like underlying condition is probably not treated properly.
My GI specialist suggested it was bile, but he didn't offer to have CT scan to check entire of my digestive system so he said that could only treated with PPI drugs and Domperidone (or Reglan) combined.
 
For strict diet - no surgary foods, no chocolate, low carb diet, more bland meats (no spices), no dairy, no soda and all water beverage. It is similar to Whole30 diet. That lasted 6 months.

I don't see any change with heartburn so it seems like underlying condition is probably not treated properly.
My GI specialist suggested it was bile, but he didn't offer to have CT scan to check entire of my digestive system so he said that could only treated with PPI drugs and Domperidone (or Reglan) combined.


That would be great if you only dealt with one symptom- heartburn. You were so close. Why did you end your diet? I doubt CT scan would show that, but I could be wrong. Your specialist sounds a bit strange.

I am very familiar with Whole30 diet. Let's break it down a bit. During your strict diet, what kind of oils did you use for cooking? Did you consume any bread, rice and white potatoes? Did you eat salad along with dressing? While you were on strict diet, you still were on Align, right? I am curious- do you like to cook?
 
That would be great if you only dealt with one symptom- heartburn. You were so close. Why did you end your diet? I doubt CT scan would show that, but I could be wrong. Your specialist sounds a bit strange.

I am very familiar with Whole30 diet. Let's break it down a bit. During your strict diet, what kind of oils did you use for cooking? Did you consume any bread, rice and white potatoes? Did you eat salad along with dressing? While you were on strict diet, you still were on Align, right? I am curious- do you like to cook?

I have more symptoms than just heartburn alone - diarrhea, constipation, abdominal cramping and pain, bloating, chronic nausea, delayed emptying and difficult to swallow. The diarrhea, constipation, bloating and abdominal pain/cramp is part of my IBS, not know about how nausea caused but became chronic because it won't go away after 1 year. The difficult to swallow is due to weak esophagus. I used to had regurgitation before but not anymore after I stopped overeating, that was problem before.

I ended the strict diet on December 2013 after I'm satisfied with my weight (normal BMI), then went back to normal diet (up to 2,200 calorie) and it didn't help with my heartburn, however, it did help with my lower back. My weight was mostly same until I went to Gallaudet, so their cafeteria ruined my habit due to lousy food, I ended up eat more from fast food often. Strict diet is usually temporary until go back to normal BMI.

I didn't eat fried food and skip the breakfast when I was on strict diet, so can't mention about kind of oil that I used before. I prefer canola oil to cook the eggs right now. There is reason that I had to skip the breakfast when I was on strict diet because Nexium screwed my GI up so I had to avoid eating so I didn't want to be sick at college. I went back to eat breakfast after I stopped taking Nexium and switch to Dexilant.

No, I don't like to eat salad (can't eat lettuce nor cabbage), nor is sweet potatoes and all wheat breads (honey wheat is fine). I only eat sub for most lunches at university (not cafeteria, just premium deli) but carb is still very low (less than 50% of daily value). I still take Align when I was on strict diet.

My GI specialist told me to sticking with normal diet and he said not much to do to get heartburn under control without medicine. I had elimination diet before - that's help a lot with IBS and told me to avoid foods that trigger heartburn. CT scan could check the gallbladder and liver if it is normal or not.

My families usually cook dinner but I do cook breakfast and lunch. My families usually cook balanced meals. I don't enjoy to cook due to depression and vision issues, nor when I'm full time student. I used to love cook before my vision issue got worsen and GI issues (feel like not want to eat). For strict diet, I only eat 1-2 white rices per week, also my families were on diet as well, but not strict as mine.

For Whole30, you can have any kind of potatoes, even white too but you can't eat any kind of grains, also any kinds of rice aren't allowed. Oil selection is limited, usually coconut oil.

Chronic nausea was most recent that I have - started in October 2015.
 
Also I used to work on bodybuilding in 2014-2015 so I have more muscle mass so weight is hard to tell. I had botched bulking before and went into depression. My mental health isn't in good shape right now.
 
Do you eat Yogurts? They can be very soothing to the internals.

Yogurt upset my tummy and didn't see any change with gut flora. Lactaid does help to prevent but without Lactaid, it is hurt so bad.

Does kefir require Lactaid? I already traumatized of horrible abdominal cramping before so I just like to avoid those foods.
 
I have more symptoms than just heartburn alone - diarrhea, constipation, abdominal cramping and pain, bloating, chronic nausea, delayed emptying and difficult to swallow. The diarrhea, constipation, bloating and abdominal pain/cramp is part of my IBS, not know about how nausea caused but became chronic because it won't go away after 1 year. The difficult to swallow is due to weak esophagus. I used to had regurgitation before but not anymore after I stopped overeating, that was problem before.

I ended the strict diet on December 2013 after I'm satisfied with my weight (normal BMI), then went back to normal diet (up to 2,200 calorie) and it didn't help with my heartburn, however, it did help with my lower back. My weight was mostly same until I went to Gallaudet, so their cafeteria ruined my habit due to lousy food, I ended up eat more from fast food often. Strict diet is usually temporary until go back to normal BMI.

I didn't eat fried food and skip the breakfast when I was on strict diet, so can't mention about kind of oil that I used before. I prefer canola oil to cook the eggs right now. There is reason that I had to skip the breakfast when I was on strict diet because Nexium screwed my GI up so I had to avoid eating so I didn't want to be sick at college. I went back to eat breakfast after I stopped taking Nexium and switch to Dexilant.

No, I don't like to eat salad (can't eat lettuce nor cabbage), nor is sweet potatoes and all wheat breads (honey wheat is fine). I only eat sub for most lunches at university (not cafeteria, just premium deli) but carb is still very low (less than 50% of daily value). I still take Align when I was on strict diet.

My GI specialist told me to sticking with normal diet and he said not much to do to get heartburn under control without medicine. I had elimination diet before - that's help a lot with IBS and told me to avoid foods that trigger heartburn. CT scan could check the gallbladder and liver if it is normal or not.

My families usually cook dinner but I do cook breakfast and lunch. My families usually cook balanced meals. I don't enjoy to cook due to depression and vision issues, nor when I'm full time student. I used to love cook before my vision issue got worsen and GI issues (feel like not want to eat). For strict diet, I only eat 1-2 white rices per week, also my families were on diet as well, but not strict as mine.

For Whole30, you can have any kind of potatoes, even white too but you can't eat any kind of grains, also any kinds of rice aren't allowed. Oil selection is limited, usually coconut oil.

Chronic nausea was most recent that I have - started in October 2015.

Ah, there it is. That's the problem. You ate sub for lunches with bread, right? If it is, that's a lot of carbs. I think you should try fermented bread. Were you tested for candida, and celiac?

In the past, they used to ferment bread for at least month and even 6 months and more, before they made dough and baked fermented bread. Today, they bake bread in 24 hours and do not have enough time to ferment it.

Whole30 Diet used to not allow white potatoes. They changed the program and added it back to the list a few years ago. During your strict diet, did the white potatoes without skins ever give you problem at all?

You have to increase vegetables like kale and lettuce. I know you don't like salad, but you gotta learn to like it. I don't recommend cabbage, because cabbage is harder to digest than lettuce. It also causes bloating, too. Want to go easy on your poor stomach. You should go look up green smoothie recipes, so you don't have to eat salad. No cabbage, ok?

You're very sensitive to lactose (milk sugar). Bad bacteria loves sugar. You said yogurt upsets your stomach. I would like to know the name of the yogurt brand that gives you the problem. Popular yogurt brands like Yoplait is very bad for your stomach because they added additional sugar. You have to eat plain Greek yogurt without additional sugar. You can add fresh banana or any fruit to plain Greek yogurt to make it tasty. Plain Greek yogurts are much lower lactose. I think you can eat plain yogurt again in future, but your stomach is not ready for yogurt now. Lifeway Kefir has casein free and lactose free. You should read the label on Lifeway Kefir. Try to drink 1/4 cup of kefir and give your stomach time to get used to new probiotics. I would stick to 1/4 cup of kefir for a while because you've already been on Align.

You have to ditch canola oil. Try to use olive oil, coconut oil or ghee. Ghee is a clarified butter, but most milk protein and milk solid are removed in process, so your stomach can digest better. Many people with lactose and casein tolerance are able to consume ghee. Sorry, no more butter for you now. Ghee is sold cheaply at Indian stores. I doubt casein (milk protein) bothers you?

I seriously am thinking you should have gone on sugar free detox diet. Ask your GI specialist to refer to dietitian or nutritionist.
 
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