Tuesday, June 27, 2006

Favorite cures for Reflux?

Does anyone have any "home remedies" that help stop acid? I can understand that some people may not want to use drugs regularly to help with the problem. So if you've got any natural cures we'd love to hear about it on the blog! Personally I just use Tums antacids sort of like a preventative measure to a full on acid attack. Seems to work ok, I also try to eat less and watch what I actually eat!!

Saturday, June 24, 2006

Acid Reflux and Cancer?

Did anyone see 20/20 on ABC last night (6/23/06). The topic was on busting health myths and rumors that we've all come to believe of the years. I only caught the end of the segment but I swear John Stossel was saying that there is a direct relation between Acid Reflux (GERD) and ESOPHAGEAL CANCER. Now I know that acid in the esophagus is no good and can lead to EE which stands for EROSIVE ESOPHAGITIS, but is that Cancer? It was pretty interesting they showed a healthy esophagus and one with EE and you could clearly see the damage the acid caused over time.

One thing they pointed out that could be a problem is the use of all these medicines that mask the pain of acid reflux. John's guest was a some doctor who said that people should not mask the pain of acid for too long without having it checked out by a doctor. The medicines take the pain away but the acid is still there doing damage. So please have a checkup if the acid is continuing for a longer period of times, I think he said more than 2 weeks.

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Hi, my name is Ron (RefluxRon for the purposes of this Blog). I've created this blog and a website called www.acidrefluxhelper.com to discuss and share ideas on acid reflux. Last year I had my first run in with acid and acid reflux. The pain started on the right side of my upper stomach and got worse over time. I was also experiences a burning sensation in my esophagus area. At first I thought it was my gall bladder or my appendix was going to burst or something! Since I had NO HEALTH INSURANCE at the time I did not want to go see a doctor. The pain kept getting worse at night and especially when I was laying down.

Finally, I signed up for some health care (made sure the policy was in effect) and schedule an appointment to see my doctor for the bad news. I was sure it was something very serious, I tend to worry more than needed...or so my wife says... After some poking and prodding around my stomach my doctor told me that since I wasn't jumping up in screaming agony and pain, its likely I have an acid problem.

We talked some more about what had been going on in my life, how my stress level was and if I was exercising and what I was eating. Come to find out, I was a walking acid bomb waiting to explode!!!

So long story short, he gave me some PREVACID to try out for a 10 days. This seemed to work, but I was one of the unlucky 1 in 100,000 (how do they figure these numbers out anyways) that got those unpleasant side effects that I'd rather not discuss in this blog (lets keep it clean folks). So then I switch to PRILOSEC OTC which worked without the side effects and it was cheaper for me since my health plan had no prescription coverage!

So about a year has gone by and I've been watching what I eat and when I eat it..havent done much on the exercise front but things are going ok.

What I'd like to know is, does anyone have any good recipes for people with Acid Reflux or know of any good products that are cheaper and affordable than traditional drugs like Prevacid or that Purple Pill one?