Pepcid is a H2 blocker. H2 blockers, also called H2-receptor antagonists, are medicines that reduce the amount of acid the stomach produces by blocking one important producer of acid: histamine2. Pepcid has been used to treat active duodenal ulcers, active benign gastric ulcers (collectively known as peptic ulcers), and GERD.

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According to Reuters, researchers studied 39 people with GERD, along with nine healthy adults. After monitoring the participants overnight, scientists found that 90 percent of GERD patients woke up at least once during the night, compared to 78 percent of the healthy comparison group.

In addition, they found that just 16 percent of sleep disruptions in GERD patients were caused by heartburn symptoms.

GERD is a chronic digestive disease that occurs when stomach acid flows back into the food pipe. Symptoms include heartburn that occurs more than two times per week.

Among some ways to combat heartburn include avoiding acidic and other foods known to trigger symptoms, cutting back on portion sizes, eating slowly, avoiding eating within a few hours of going to sleep, raising the head of the bed on an angle, adding living enzymes to the diet and wearing loose-fitting clothing.

Antacids and H2 blocker medications are often used to treat GERD. The Mayo Clinic reports that among the natural remedies believed to treat it are herbal remedies including licorice, slippery elm, chamomile and marshmallow, as well as acupuncture and practicing relaxation techniques.

Heartburn medication can help you to stop your symptoms temporarily. By using more natural holistic method, it can help to eliminate the problem .

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Recently, the several studies have warned the potential side effects of long term using these medication such as Prilosec, Prevacid and Nexium. The findings show an increased risk of an intestinal bacterial infection called clostridium difficile or c-diff. Postmenopausal women who took the medications may have a higher risk of fractures. Overall these medications are still safe and they work, but the point is that these side effects need to be considered.

The doctors suggest that for most patients, the PPI risks outweigh their benefits. He recommends that doctors offer other treatments for heartburn, including non-drug treatments such as stress reduction, weight loss, and smoking cessation.

When PPIs are used, Katz advises doctors to use shorter courses and lower doses when possible.

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Thus, only surgery can help to solve the problem. But, it does not stop the symptoms.

According to Dr. Mary Maish, UCLA Center for Esophageal Disorders, the new research shows a stomach wrap or a fundoplication is more effective than heartburn medications to treat severe acid reflux.

Through five tiny incisions, Dr. Maish is able to surgically enter the area where the esophagus meets the stomach.

“This allows us to take that part of the stomach and push it behind the esophagus and wrap it all the way around so that creates a 360 degree wrap,” said Dr. Maish.

Following the fundoplication procedure, patients are asked not to eat any solid foods for about six weeks. After that they can eat anything they want within reason.

This procedure was a lifesaver because chronic heartburn was causing precancerous changes in the esophagus. With the newly created valve the damage was reversed.

And now, after the procedure, heartburn acid reflux patients can now enjoy those foods which are forbidden for them previously.

[Source: ABC News]

My view: This only applies to patients who have chronic GERD, heartburn or acid reflux. If yours is not severe, it is better to try natural remedies to get rid of your heartburn symptoms for life. It is safer and cause no health to your life unlike the heartburn acid reflux pills.

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He was eventually diagnosed with iron-deficiency anemia. He had become dehydrated, and his hemoglobin level was so low that he was given two transfusions of blood. Thinking that he had a severe internal bleed, doctors began testing with endoscopies everywhere, and he ended up with a nine-day stay at the hospital. Once released, he was put on iron supplements.

After finally speaking to one of the doctors at the hospital who took a real interest, he sorted through all the records and found my companion had been taking prescription acid-reflux medicine for about five years, medication that can inhibit iron from being absorbed. Bingo!

Since this has happened, we have heard from several of our neighbors, friends and acquaintances who have been on prescription acid-reflux medicine for a period of time and who have also been diagnosed with iron-deficiency anemia. They, too, have had to endure long-term testing. Have you heard of this before? Or has the problem just popped up overnight?

Answer: Iron-deficiency anemia is a condition in which blood lacks adequate amounts of healthy red blood cells, the same cells that carry oxygen to the body’s tissues and provide energy. Without significant iron, the body cannot produce enough hemoglobin, a component in red blood cells that allows oxygenated blood to be carried throughout the body. The result is fatigue, weakness, shortness of breath, poor appetite, irritability, a pale or ashen color to the skin and more.

The most common reasons for this condition are blood loss, a lack of iron in the diet and an inability to absorb iron. Afflictions such as Crohn’s or celiac disease affect the intestine’s ability to absorb nutrients from digested food. And some medications, such as those taken for combating excess stomach acid, are known to interfere with iron absorption. Thus, I’m quite surprised your partner’s primary-care physician, who prescribed the medication, was in the dark.

Diagnostic testing to identify possible underlying causes includes endoscopy, colonoscopy and ultrasound (for women). The endoscopy you refer to was to discover a possible bleed from an ulcer or hiatal hernia. A colonoscopy zeros in on possible bleeding from the colon. Ultrasound is ordered to rule out uterine fibroids or to identify other causes of heavy menstrual bleeding.

Unfortunately for your partner, he was late being diagnosed and his quality of life suffered dramatically. Fortunately, he finally found someone who took the time to get a complete history to include his medications and the physician made the connection. At long last, he is on the right track.

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“Everyone knows that blood pressure and cholesterol levels are related to obesity, but the strength of the relationship with GERD is every bit as strong or perhaps even stronger,” the authors of the study, Dr. Shahin Ayazi and Dr. Peter Crookes, told The Times. The study is published in this month’s issue of the Journal of Gastrointestinal Surgery.

As obesity rates have risen in the United States, so has GERD. One study suggested that GERD incidence increased 5% annually between 1992 and 2005. Almost 1 in 5 people have the disease. The volume and fat content of diet is linked to esophageal acid exposure as is high-calorie diets. The same dietary habits promote both obesity and GERD, the authors say.

The study was conducted by examining almost 2,000 patients with GERD over 10 years. Researchers measured the amount of acid in the esophagus and used a probe to check the strength of the valve in the lower esophagus that normally protects against acid reflux. They were able to relate those measurements to the height and weight of their patients.

The bad news about the study is that losing weight won’t necessarily help with GERD unless someone is in the early stages of GERD and has mild reflux.

“Heavier people have more reflux, and they have more damage to the lower esophageal sphincter,” the authors said. “If you don’t have a good sphincter, then you are likely to get worse reflux … The sphincter is a muscle and in most parts of the body, when the muscle is damaged, it does not return.”

Of course, there are treatments for GERD. But the strongest message from this study is one for obesity prevention.

– Shari Roan [Los Angeles Times]
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(Natural News) Prilosec, Nexium, Prevacid, Aciphex. These and a dozen more drugs known as proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) have quickly become superstars of Big Pharma.

As recently reported by US News and World Report, last year people worldwide shelled out some $ 25.6 billion for these drugs that are supposed to alleviate heartburn and gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). Although hailed by most doctors as safe, reports have started cropping up that side effects may include everything from dizziness to osteoporosis, increased risk of heart attacks, pneumonia and more.

Now comes research that shows the drugs actually cause the symptoms they are supposed to treat. A new study just published in Gastroenterology, the official journal of the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) Institute, found that taking a PPI drug for eight weeks induced acid-related symptoms including heartburn, acid regurgitation and dyspepsia in healthy individuals soon after they stopped taking the pills.

This is a serious matter. If you are on a long term heartburn medication, it is time to reconsider other holistic alternatives. Read more about Heartburn Remedies.

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A small bracelet of magnetic beads placed around the lower esophageal sphincter, just above the stomach.

This is an excellent piece of good news to heartburn acid reflux patients.

Here are six times more cancers of the esophagus reported today than there were 20 years ago, and acid reflux is often to blame.

Minnesota doctors are working hard to put a lid on severe heartburn, which is responsible for one of the fastest-growing cancers in our country.

Food is supposed to be our friend, but for some, it becomes the enemy.

“Anything and everything I ate, it just came right back up my esophagus,” said Debbie Dearborn. “It would burn in my throat.”

Dearborn was among the 20 million Americans struggling with acid reflux bad enough to require daily medication. She endured a nightly struggle as well.

“I lost a lot of sleep over the years,” Dearborn said. “I mean, a lot of sleep, because I would have to sleep partially sitting up at night time.”

Dr. Bob Ganz, the chief of Minnesota Gastroenterology’s Esophageal Center, said Dearborn has GERD, or Gastroesphogeal Reflux Disease. The muscles at the top of her stomach were not tight enough to keep the contents in.

Severe heartburn becomes the least of one’s worries when you see the damage stomach acids do over time to the lining of the esophagus, which is a condition called Barret’s esophagus.

Esophageal cancer is deadly. Roughly six out of seven victims die within five years of diagnosis.

Recently, doctors have been able to reduce the cancer risk by removing the dangerous tissue with heat. While this restores a healthier esophagus, the faulty valve is still a threat.

Twin Cities surgeon Dr. Dan Dunn is one of the doctors evaluating a way to fix the problem permanently. The solution is called the Torax Linx, which is a small bracelet of magnetic beads placed around the lower esophageal sphincter, just above the stomach.

“This is meant to be a more physiologic way to mimic your own sphincter,” Dunn said.

Done laparoscopically, the procedure to implant the device is minimally-invasive and takes less than an hour. Patients go home the next day and are urged to eat nearly anything they want.

Ganz said unraveling why a patient has reflux can be a complicated process, because it could involve everything from diet to lifestyle to physiology. The new technology can measure the muscles responsible for every swallow a person takes and allows doctors to do a topographic pressure analysis.

Ganz said pressure on the stomach itself increases with excess abdominal fat, and adds that the incidence of GERD has soared right along with the rising epidemic of obesity.

“When you eat more on a daily basis, your stomach starts to stretch out a little bit,” Ganz said. “The area where the esophagus meets the stomach starts to stretch out.”

Dearborn was accepted into the Torax Linx clinical trial and less than a month after her surgery, she feels like a new person.

“I’m perfectly new again,” she said. “I’m just, I’m really impressed. I’m really happy I had this surgery done, very very happy.”

Ganz is the principal investigator of the Torax Linx clinical trial and is helping to determine whether it will earn FDA approval and become available to the public. People interested in volunteering for the study can contact his office at Minnesota Gastroenterology or by calling 612-870-5400.

Patient Embarrassed by Involuntary Movement After Using Reglan

Quitman, TX: Tardive dyskinesia is a condition many people may only learn about when they are diagnosed with it. Unfortunately, one of the Reglan side effects is tardive dyskinesia, a condition marked by involuntary, repetitive movement. The link between Reglan and tardive dyskinesia is strong enough that the medication now carries a boxed warning, alerting patients to the risk of developing the condition, especially when Reglan is used for longer than 3 months.

“I went to the hospital [in 2004] with vomiting and stomach pains and they gave me a prescription for Reglan,” Marsette S. says. “The stomach pain and nausea continued, so I saw my regular doctor who continued me on Reglan. After I was given it, my body would just move on its own—I would lie in bed, hurting, and my muscles would just jump.

This went on and on. I tried to carry on with normal daily activities, but it was hard to do the dishes or laundry or even carry my children, because of the [involuntary] movement.

A year later, I was still taking Reglan and I went to the hospital again because I was throwing up and I had stomach pains. They gave me a shot of Reglan and after that, I could not stay still. My whole body just kept moving—I was twitching and I felt very nervous.

The nurse came in and I told her what happened, but she said it was just a side effect and it should go away by itself. That whole night, I moved continuously. I tossed and turned and my body moved by itself.

Ever since I started taking Reglan, I had trouble breathing. I went to see a sleep disorder doctor and before he did a sleep disorder test, I told him about my stomach pains and the vomiting. He diagnosed me with acid reflux disease and said that doctors do prescribe Reglan for that. However, he said that Reglan makes people jittery and is dangerous so he does not prescribe it. He gave me a different prescription for the acid reflux. Then, he did the sleep test, during which I quit breathing, so now I have to sleep with a CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) machine.”

Suggestion: If possible, don’t take any acid reflux drugs for long term use. You should other natural alternatives to help yourself. Sometimes, it is just a change of lifestyle or diet that will do the trick.

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Ordeal: It took 13 years for Andrea MacArthur to be diagnosed

For 13 long years, Andrea MacArthur struggled to cope with increasing tiredness and apparently random muscle and nerve problems.

By last Christmas, she was crippled with exhaustion.

The muscles in her right leg had stopped working and withered; she’d lost control of her bowel and bladder, and lost her sense of balance, which meant she couldn’t walk far without a cane.

What is extraordinary is that her problems stemmed from the lack of an everyday vitamin, caused by medicine commonly prescribed for ulcers and heartburn – and that Andrea discovered the problem herself by searching on the internet.

Andrea was suffering from pernicious anaemia, because of a deficiency of vitamin B12. This vitamin is essential for producing red blood cells and for maintaining a healthy nervous system, specifically the fatty sheath that protects the nerve cells.

While B12 is available in our diet – from animal products, including milk, meat, fish and eggs, and fortified foods such as breakfast cereals – many people have problems absorbing it.

As a result, the fatty sheath around nerve cells begins to degrade, corrupting the messages being sent to the nerves and ultimately stopping them.

Read more:http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1197979/Heartburn-pills-wrecked-life-How-antacids-effects.html

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