Suggest Treatment For Flair Up Of GERD

Posted on Mon, 17 Mar 2014

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Mon, 17 Mar 2014 Answered on

Wed, 2 Apr 2014 Last reviewed on

Question : Hello. I have GERD and reflux. Better tonight than yesterday and last night. I had a flair up last Tuesday and the burning kept me up all night. That's what happened yesterday too. I took Mallox twice yesterday. Then PeptoB three times. Then Tylenol nighttime 3 times. All Saturday. I think what brought this on is I had cheesecake at midnight in Friday night and I has a few baileys drinks. Today I am much better. I took XXXXXXX seltzer two times today. It helped. Let me sleep. I am thinking of taking BC powder to help reduce pain and let me sleep. I see it has caffeine in it will that make a difference for my sensitive stomach? Stress in my life has made this all worse. I am 66 years old. I take an OTC for GERD. Used to take asiphex.

Answered by Dr. Ashish Verma (17 minutes later)

Brief Answer: its a bad idea. Detailed Answer: Hi, Thanks for writing to HCM. GERD has two components, first is increased acid production in the stomach. Second is the lax lower esophageal sphincter. Stress, smoking, tea, coffee, soda drinks and spicy food increase the acid production. Whereas, caffine, fatty foods, gas released by the soda relaxes the sphincter to cause reflux. So you need to avoid all these. Also taking a full diet, distends the stomach enough to make the sphincter non functional in an already lax one. So eat small but frequent meals. And dont lie down for an hour after a meal. Put two pillows under your head when you lie down, it will prevent reflux. Finally, you need to start on a combination of a ppi like pantaprazole and levosulpride... its easily available over the counter. Levosulpride increases the motility of thd bowel, so preventing the reflux. Pantaprazole reduces the acid production. This has done wonders in my patients with gerd. Hope that i have answered to all your queries. If you have further queries, i will be glad to answer them. Get well soon. Dr. Ashish Verma

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Raju A.T

Follow up: Dr. Ashish Verma (1 hour later)

Thank you so much. I will try what you recommend. Tonight I took alka- seltzer for the third time today. It helped earlier. So I took it again about 45 minutes ago I know stress has a big role in my GERD. I will try what you recommend tomorrow. Should I stop taking the Omaxaprole ? That I have been taking. I usually put it in pudding and eat it. You have have me hope for the GERD. An idea I never knew of.

Answered by Dr. Ashish Verma (17 minutes later)

Brief Answer: its one and the same. Detailed Answer: Hi, Omeprazole and pantaprazole are brothers, both belong to ppi group of drugs and are equally effective. But the most important thing is that, they work best when taken empty stomach, one hour before food, followed by food after an hour ( this is equally important), you can take a few biscuits after an hour of taking them, if you dont want to take a full meal, but do take something as the block the actively secteating glands and food makes the glands active. Hope i have answered to all your queries. If you dont have further queries, you may close this discussion and rate the response. Regards Dr. Ashish Verma

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Raju A.T