Tips for those of us with stomach ailments

[CppsDad]

I'm on of those people that has had to take a lot of anti-inflammatories during the last few years, and have recently been suffering from an extremely sensitive stomach, often times culminating in nausea, bloating, and pain. Taking anti-inflammatories has become a fight for me, as I weigh the ensuing pain to my stomach verse the short term relief of the pain killer to my CPPS. On top of that, I can now barely eat things I was able to eat 6 months ago.

After seeing my doctor, he thinks that I have both weakened my stomach lining by destroying certain mucous producing cells that line the stomach wall with protective juices, and possibly have some ulcers that have formed during the last two years (I didn't give all my symptoms, but I have many possible symptoms of an ulcer).

Well, here's the GOOD news. Fifty years ago, this condition would be irreversible. But now they have learned differently. Your stomach CAN heal. The ulcers can disappear. The mucous cells can regenerate. They key, however, is to give them TIME to regenerate.

My doctor put my on acid-reducing medication (something like a strong pepcid) for 6 weeks. Supposedly (assuming the prescription strength is strong enough) in 6 weeks my stomach should be mostly back to full strength, something that it hasn't been in over a year. I'm hopeful this will work for me. If it doesn't, the doctor will up the dose and put me on it for another 6-8 weeks.

The point is that I took Tums and Mylanta often during the last year to reduce pain, but apparently, to reduce this pain you have to take antacids long term. So make sure to see your doctor if you have a stomach like mine now. You may have a solution.

Lastly, if you must take ibuprofen, take it with mylanta, pepcid, or tums, as this can help protect the stomach while the medication is being digested (this is what the doctor explained). Just make sure to take it prior to the medication getting in there to give it time to coat the stomach.

Michael

[webslave]

If you are taking NSAIDS long term, you can use Prilosec (it's now over the counter, but expensive). This is the sort of medication Mike is talking about.

[CppsDad]

Yep. That's what I'm referring to. I'm on the prescription strength stuff right now, but basically that's what I'm taking (the generic name for the medicine is Famotidine). The trick is that you have to take it long term to get these troublesome conditions to heal. Most of the over the counter stuff says that you can only use it for 14 days max, but my doctor indicated that tough ulcers will take months to heal. Damaged mucous cells heal quicker, however. But taking the stuff just to prevent pain for one meal doesn't doing anything to heal you.

And I was glad to hear that taking the stuff 20 minutes before taking the NSAID's can prevent a lot of the stomach upset and gastro-intestinal problems. NSAID's are still hard on the kidneys, so they shouldn't be relied on forever.

I'm just glad to know that there's most likely a solution for me, as I thought I was about to give up my spicy food forever!

Mike

[Richie]

Trying this for the stomach (OTC version only). It would make sense that a condition prompted by anxiety might be helped by the reduction of stomach acid.

I have been on prilosec for two days now and it appears to be offering some relief.

Michael is this helping you so far too?

[GS]

famotidine is pepcid, not prilosec. They work in different ways to reduce stomach acid.

[CppsDad]

famotidine is pepcid, not prilosec. They work in different ways to reduce stomach acid.

Correct. One works to reduce acid (the famotidine) that already exists, and the other works as a preventative as far as I know.

Michael is this helping you so far too?

I'm not taking what you're taking (see my note above), but yes, my stomach is doing a little better after a week. I'm still having minor ups and downs, but overall things are better. I am very hopeful that in a month, my stomach will be better off. You don't really describe your stomach pain, so I don't know if you were in the same boat as me. But basically, the last 6-8 months, my stomach has been "weak". NSAID's that I used to take, now were giving me stomach aches that made them almost prohibitive, and certain foods (yes, hamburgers, fries, pizza being the worst), were causing me pain whereas in the past (only a year ago), I could indulge every once in a while. And most recently, even in between meals, my nausea and upset stomach was persisting. I thought I had the flu or food poisoning 4 times in the last two months. But I never threw up. It was just a low-level nausea, accompanied by some sharp pain every once in a while. Eating sometimes made it better, and other times made it worse.

So here we are. I hope you find some relief too. If you plan on taking it long term, it's best to do under your doctor's guidance, of course. There are a lot of medicines that have safer prescription versions for long term use. The OTC stuff isn't generally supposed to be long term, although that's just a general warning. Plus, there are other things the doctor might want to look for as well.

Mike