slo’s TUESDAY 9/24 poll - Heartburn ❤️‍🔥

[slo]

This is not a fun topic for many people today, but something several of us have in common. The topic is on my mind, because I need to go to Sam’s Club soon for several items, and one item being my DH’s heartburn medicine. For him, and I’m sure many of you, over the counter medication works fine. But for many other people, that’s not enough - a prescription for something stronger is required. So, I’m burning to know today…..

Do you get heartburn?
If yes…..is it often or just once in awhile?
Do you take a medication for it?
If yes….is it over the counter or a prescription?
(multiple choice)



For Me……I’ve only had heartburn with both my pregnancies.i only took Tums to make me feel better, and yes, both my girls were born with a lot of hair. DH has heartburn every day and takes Prilosec. DD21 suffered from terrible heartburn for awhile, and had a prescription for both a pill to help heartburn and a liquid medication to coat her esophagus that was beginning to erode from the heartburn (she an endoscopy done to show this). She still gets heartburn sometimes, but not nearly as bad as when she was in high school. Heartburn is no joke….it can really make you feel terrible.

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

It happens to me every now and then. I chew some of those Tums and it seems to help.

It seems to be triggered by having pizza shortly before bed, in inappropriate quantities. Sometimes coffee the next morning after a night of overindulging in pizza at late hours will hurt quite a bit as well.

 

[Wood Nymph]

I rarely get heartburn. I used to have a big heartburn problem twenty years ago and took medication for it. But I was determined to avoid heartburn and medication. I made major changes to my diet and heartburn became mostly a thing of the past.

 

[Kitty 34]

Once in awhile I get it. I take Tums if I do.

 

[WDWEPCOT]

YES and I had it with both pregnancies really bad and yes my kids were both born with hair one of them almost needed a haircut

Fast-forward I got a little older and the indigestion and heartburn got so bad that I was put on medication and I couldn’t stop taking that now if I wanted to because the heartburn comes back 100 fold - I know this because I ran out of medication once and thought I was going to die the heartburn was so bad - yes I’ve had the test done with the tube down the throat
Upon occasions the heartburn still gets bad on the daily medication that I will take over the counter medication

I am hoping once I get my gallbladder out in a couple months that a lot of this will start to go away - I don’t eat a lot of foods that would cause me to have heartburn And if I need to cut others out of my diet I am more than willing to do it because like you stated it’s not fun it can be extremely painful and it makes you very sick
Quite frankly the less medication I have to take the better I would feel!

Side story - I had a coworker once whose husband ate Tums a lot for his heartburn well he must’ve been eating them way too much because he almost died from eating Tums - landed him in the hospital in very serious condition- all caused from eating Tums daily - granted he was eating a lot of them - moral here - if you’re having that much heartburn please go to the doctor and get it checked out just because it’s over-the-counter does not mean it’s safe to take all you want!!

 

[Rogue1677x]

I have GERD and if I don't take Nexium as prescribed (get it over the counter but have to take a large dose), boy will I suffer. Sometimes that's not enough and I have a prescription for a liquid antacid...it's gross but it works.

 

[CdnCarrie]

I got heartburn with my pregnancies (and they were both bald…) and it never went away

I just take tums. I get it several days in a row and then not again for a week or two.

 

[Moliphino]

I take OTC omeprazole every day for acid reflux, otherwise I'd have it all the time.
I had cyclic vomiting syndrome when I was a kid and I think it damaged my stomach valves. Even with the omeprazole I still get reflux, it just doesn't burn.

 

[TiggerTrigger]

I get it now and then. It depends on a number of factors. We used to use Tums, but a pharmacist family member suggested we switch to Pepcid. We were on a cruise together and all of us were getting it every night from the cruise food. The Pepcid ended up being so much more effective and longer lasting.

 

[jimmymc]

It's very rare. I need to eat something like a whole pizza to get it.

 

[PollyannaMom]

Very rarely for me - just Tums if I need it, but DS and DH are more prone to it. They both take Omeprazole - DH all the time and DS just a course when it flares up.

 

[amcnj]

I am not sure if I have ever had heartburn. If I did it was never severe pain. Is that a requirement? I have had occasional indigestion, acid reflux and stomach aches. Of them all, some stomach aches were the most painful.

 

[georgina]

Sometimes wine will give me heartburn a few hours later. I don't take anything for it though.

 

[fly girl]

I don't get heartburn regularly. But the last time I did in January, Tums didn't do the trick. Thankfully, we had some Prilosec and that worked like a charm.

 

[fla4fun]

I rarely get it. I eat a lot of spicy food, and don’t have any issues with them. Oddly, one food that can cause issues is flour based gravy, so on holidays we make corn starch based gravy and that digests fine. My mom had stomach issues for a while and the doctor gave her prescription strength heartburn medicine. Turned out she had stomach cancer, not heartburn, so the meds didn’t help at all.

 

[Mrs. Bradbury]

I wanted to add that I used to have pretty horrible heartburn 24/7. Took Prilosec every day until the news about it not being good for you in the long run. Switched to Zantac, that worked but then came the news that it could cause cancer, and it was taken off the market. In a completely unrelated health situation, I had to take an antibiotic every day for 6 months. I noticed towards the end of the 6 months that my heartburn was not nearly as bad as it used to be. Then I noticed it was gone. Turns out that my heartburn must have been caused by H. pylori, because antibiotics can be used to treat heartburn if it's caused by a Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection. Years later I am still heartburn free. At first my daughter, a nurse practitioner, didn't believe me, but she looked it up and yep, the antibiotic I was on is also used to treat H. pylori.

Untreated heartburn is no joke; it can increase the risk of esophageal cancer.

 

[Kooks and Bay Bay]

I only had heartburn a few times prior to 2021. Then I was having terrible heartburn/acid reflux and feeling sick every time I put something in my mouth. My doctor said it was anxiety. I finally got a surgeon to agree to take out my gallbladder in 2023 and he said no guarantee that that was the problem. Guess what? It was the problem. Sure it still took a little while for it to all settle down but after a couple months post op I stopped having issues and I don't think I've had heartburn/acid reflux since.
And I knew from the beginning "anxiety" was BS since it started at a time that I was quite happy and not stressed about a single thing. Of course I'm sure I became anxious about it so maybe that made symptoms worse but that's not what brought on the initial symptoms.

 

[MIGrandma]

Used to have it a lot, but since I started daily omeprazole I no longer do.

 

[disney212]

Have to take a prescription twice daily to control my crohn's induced Gerd. Never had the burn just chest pain so severe I would faint. Nothing controls it except the meds. Every year my GI has to submit paperwork to insurance to cover twice daily as that's considered a double dose. A few years back we changed insurance carriers at work and I had to start over, a couple ER visits and they decided to cover it. I have a $4k max out of pocket and it's $700 a month but I know that and plan for it. When combined with the biologic I take I meet my max every January. Fun times.

 

[Dan Murphy]

I need to go to Sam’s Club soon for several items, and one item being my DH’s heartburn medicine. For him, and I’m sure many of you, over the counter medication works fine......DH has heartburn every day and takes Prilosec

I have heartburn, take Rx Omeprozole (Prilosec), controls most of it. If I eat later at night or heavier spicy foods late, I can have problem sleeping A few Rolaids Advanced helps fine with that.

Sandy, when I tried OTC Prilosec and saw it was Omeprozole, I asked my GI if he could give me an Rx for Omeprozole. My OOP is $0 for 90 capsules. If I was taking OTC Prilosec (same med), I would be paying $28 for 42 tablets at Costco, similar to Sam's. Worth asking the doc maybe?

https://www.costco.com/prilosec,-42-tablets.product.4000237870.html