Re: Another med bites the dust!

On May 4, 2:43 pm, "Julie Bove" <julieb...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
"Michelle C." <bookbug2...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message

news:1178304399.034772.5660@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

On May 4, 8:36 am, "Julie Bove" <julieb...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

(Read in full, but snipped for brevity.)

Julie,

So sorry you've really been through the ringer for these meds. I know
you've probably said, but I've missed it, what symptoms are you having
that caused the doctor to prescribe these meds for you? Are they
supposed to help with the gastroparesis? If so, it sounds like the
cure is worse than the disease!

This all started (sorry for being so graphic) with bouts of illness
occurring around 2-3:00 a.m. I'd wake up feeling unwell. Like hot and cold
at the same time. I'd feel saliva building up in my mouth, then suddenly
I'd expell undigested food from both ends of me at once. None of the usual
clues that one might be going to throw up. But it happened often enough for
me to figure out what the symptoms meant.

At first it was happening weekly. Usually after I'd made a trip to the
store with the salad bar and olive bar. I thought I was getting food
poisioning from there.

Then I was diagnosed with food allergies to dairy, eggs and almonds. Turn
out the salad I was getting always had some egg and cheese on it. Okay.
Thought the problem was solved. But no. It continued. Still thought it
might be food poisoning though since I always got sick after eating those
olive bar olives.

Got down to where the bouts were happening only about every three months.
My naturopath thought perhaps it was gallbladder given the time of day the
bouts were occurring. Gallbladder trouble does run in the family. But the
Ultrasound I'd had done previous to find a fatty liver didn't turn up
anything on the gallbladder either.

So... I went to a gastroenterologist. Right away he noticed that I had a
raspy sounding voice. I always have. He said that was a sign of GERD. He
wanted to do a gastric emptying study on me because he said my symptoms were
indiciative of gastroparesis. That's damage to the vagus nerve and often
caused by diabetes. I've been to many Drs. since my husband is in the
military and we move around a lot. Several of them had suggested I might
have this given some other problems. Such as inability to control my BG.
I've had bouts of hypos or high BG despite maximum meds and very careful
diet. When the food sits too long in the stomach as it will with
gastroparesis, BG continues to rise.

I could not get the gastric emptying study done because it is done with eggs
and I have a severe egg allergy. It has since been pointed out to me that
it can be done with oatmeal but apparently he wasn not familiar with this.
At any rate, he opted to do an endoscopy. I had 5 lesions in there that he
biopsied. They indicated GERD. I also have Barrett's Esophogus, an
advanced problem that occurs when GERD has gone untreated and the stomach
tissue begins to grow up into the esophogus. And he said my stomach was not
acting normally. Said it sat there doing nothing for a while and then
suddenly began moving. So apparently it was enough to make him think it is
indeed gastroparesis. I am taking Metoclopramide for that and actually am
considering stopping that or at least discussing it with him. That drug has
not gotten a very high rating from the people who have taken it. And he was
not thrilled to begin with that I was on it because the side effects of it
can cause permanent nerve damage.



As for Nexium, I'm not sure it is significantly different from
Prilosec. The state of Massachusetts sued AstraZeneca based on the
idea that AstraZeneca mislead consumers into believing that Nexium was
big improvement over their drug Prilosec whose patent was about to
expire. http://heartburn.about.com/b/a/142321.htmAccording the
article, the two drugs are nearly identical.

Interesting. I know a couple of people who have GERD and apparently it is
sort of standard procedure for the Dr. to switch you from one thing to
another to see how you'll react to it. Hmmm... Thanks!


Oh Julie, I'm so sorry you are going through this! I hope you get
rest and relief somehow.

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Another med bites the dust!
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