Re: Advice on Statins needed

"Julie Bove" wrote in message
1V_8i.6787$My4.4894@trndny05">news:1V_8i.6787$My4.4894@trndny05
Date: Mon, 04 Jun 2007 20:49:01 GMT
"BillW50" <BillW50@xxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:46647165$0$1344$834e42db@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Julie Bove" wrote in message
rXZ8i.7770$Gy4.544@trndny08">news:rXZ8i.7770$Gy4.544@trndny08

<snip>

Prilosec was the first med they put me on. Instant horrid stomach
pain. Constant diarrhea. I mean constant. Like in the bathroom all
day! I only took that med for maybe 5 days. I could not leave the
house at all and taking Imodium didn't help. Also suffered from
reflux. While not on meds I do not suffer from this. Or I should
say I do not feel it. It is obviously happening due to the fact that
I have Barrett's Esophagus. But I do not feel the acid. Do not have
heartburn, etc. On the meds, I do. Very much so.

Hi Julie! Oh my gosh! I never heard of such problems with Prilosec! That is awful! Without it, I suffer from heartburn even from fasting or drinking water. Which sounds totally different from what you got. I know dozens of people using Prilosec (Omeprazole) and it is nothing short of wonderful!

I waited about a week before calling the Dr. back. Next med was
Prevacid. I thought it was okay because I took it for a few weeks and
didn't feel sick. But all the while I was having these crazy, vivid
dreams. I was exhausted because as soon as my head would hit the
pillow, the dreams would begin. Then the stomach trouble started.

Prevacid is just worthless to me. Doesn't do a thing. Although for some people they claim it works just wonderful! Dreams? What kind of dreams? Oh no! More stomach problems?

Again, I didn't connect it to the med because my daughter was having
stomach trouble. I thought I had what she had. And we both have
food allergies so it is very common for us to get sick to our
stomachs, especially if we dined out prior. All it takes for us is a
bit of butter, cheese or milk in our food and we get sick. Only
thing is, she got better and I got worse. Again, diarrhea to the
point where I could not leave the house. I was also vomiting quite a
lot. I could only eat rice, chicken, sourdough bread, crackers,
broth, etc. Anything else came right back up. Then it worsened to
where I was very nauseous all the time. Felt like the food was
bubbling back up on me. Then headaches and dizziness. The worst was
a night when I was sitting here in my computer chair, gripping the
arm rests for support. I was exhausted and so ill. I wanted to go
to bed but too dizzy to get out of my chair and feeling like I would
vomit.

Oh my goodness! That is just terrible!

I stopped the Prevacid the next morning and felt better but by night
the feelings of sickness came back. Too three days to feel totally
better.

Oh great!

Again, was afraid to call the Dr. and be put on another med. But I
did it. This time it was Cipher. And it seemed to be working. Again, daughter got sick to her stomach. Dr. said it was a virus. I
thought I had it too. Then hers didn't go away. Saw another Dr. and
was told she had a bladder infection. I knew I couldn't have this. I threw up a few times and felt sick to my stomach all the time and
had a headache. So I stopped that med and about three days later
felt fine.

Oh Julie! ((((( hugs )))))

Again called the Dr. and was put on Protonix. I let a few weeks go by
before starting it. I was feeling so sick and weak from being sick
to my stomach all the time. I lost some weight rapidly and muscles
felt weak. I hadn't been working out like I normally do. Just
didn't feel up to it.
I think I only took the Protonix for a 5 days. I was sick to my
stomach, had a crushing headache and severe muscle aches. I just
hurt all over. Was also having the weird vivid dreams. Was
exhausted but could not sleep. Each day was worse than the one before.

I do need to call the Dr. back again. They told me I've tried all
the meds. I haven't tried Nexium but from what I've read about it,
the side effects are no different than the others. So I see no point
in trying it. My SIL has tried a bunch of meds and I think Prilosec
was the only one that worked for her. The rest made her sick to her
stomach.

Well Nexium is better than Prilosec, but not by much. I'd use it myself, but it costs so much more. But if you had trouble with Prilosec, I don't know if I would touch Nexium myself.

I looked up the meds here:

http://www.askapatient.com/rateyourmedicine.htm

None of them got overly high ratings and the problems I was having
seem to be fairly common ones.

Wow! For some people it is just wonderful!

My GERD seemed to be asymptomatic, however in researching it, I am now
seeing signs that could have been it that I didn't realize. Like
excess saliva production. I had that years ago on vacation and
assumed it was something I was eating or drinking that I didn't
normally have. Or clearing my throat. Did that all the time as a
kid and assumed it was allergies. Had what I thought was a heart
attack at about age 12. My mom insisted it was just heart burn. This is the only time I can recall having what might have been heart
burn. If I drink Diet Sprite (not sure why this one, but it's the
only drink that does it to me), I get weird sort of bubbling,
squeaking noises in my throat. It's loud enough for others to hear.

Oh that could be.

My GERD was diagnosed when I went to a gastroenterologist for what was
assumed to be gastroparesis. We will never know for sure on that
since the test for it involves eating eggs and I am allergic to eggs.
But I have all the symptoms so we are still going with that
assumption. The Dr. did an endoscopy on me and said that my stomach
was not moving at all for a while, then began moving. This is not
normal. He also noticed several lesions in my esophagus that he did
a biopsy on. They came back as GERD with Barrett's Esophagus.

They called mine GERD before acid-reflex became popular. Tests showed that stomach acid passes into my esophagus without any problems.

I could be wrong on this but I am starting to thing that GERD is more
common than we think it is. Considering I had it most likely for
many years and did not know. I did not suffer like some of my
friends and relatives did. I used to joke that I had a cast iron
stomach. I could eat anything I wanted and never had heartburn. I
could lie down without pain. But now after taking those meds it is
no longer the case. Now I burp all the time. Never used to burp at
all. Never! I can't eat chocolate. It burns my throat on the way
back up. Have to be careful with tomato sauce and spices. Gah!

Oh you too about claiming about your cast iron stomach? Me too! As I could eat and drink anything and it never bothered me. Prilosec has given that back to me. Although the older I get, the less I can eat. Although I can still eat anything I want too, just less of it. I really don't like eating, especially now. I just do it to keep alive.

I used to burp a lot when I was young. But I can't do that anymore to save my life! But my valve doesn't seal, so that makes perfect sense. I think my problem started when I tried to siphon gas out of my car for the lawnmover when I was in my mid-20's. It was a siphon-proof tank and I swallowed a lot of gas. I farted a gasoline smell up to a week later and just the smell of gas made me very ill up to a month later. Although other relatives have the same problem with acid-reflex. So who knows? I just might have it the worst though.

--
Bill
DX 1992 (ignored till 4/2007)
5R/5N 3x a day - Type II
A1c 11 (4/2007)
Acid-Reflex - 20mg Omeprazole

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