Hi All,
I've been reading this newsgroup for a while and finally decided to post.
I'm 52 and in good physical shape but have been having GERD issues on and
off for about 3 years. This current bout is pretty bad.
Some history. I first developed GERD about 3 years ago. It took a few
months
on Nexium 40mg twice a day to get it under control. Once under control, I
was able to drop to once a day. After dropping to once per day, resulted
in
an increase in symptoms at first and it took a couple of months for me to
get back to feeling good again. Then for 2 years, I did quite well. I
eventaully was able to eat anything I wanted (within reason) including
spicy
foods. If I missed a day of Nexium every few days, I was still fine.
Then United Healthcare decided to not cover Nexium any longer. In
preparation, I dropped to 1 pill every other day. I was still doing OK.
After being on 1 pill every other day for 2 months, I stopped. My symptoms
got bad again, pretty quickly I went back on Nexium 1 per day, and in 4 or
5
days was quickly improving. But since it was not covered any longer, I saw
my GastroEnterologist and we tried switching to Prilosec. From the first
day, it didn't work. He gave me some Nexium samples and again, I pretty
quickly recovered. Next we tried Aciphex. It actually sort of worked for
about 3 months, though not as good as the Nexium. Then it stopped working.
That was about 3 weeks ago.
I kept taking the Aciphex, and also some Zantac, but I still felt real
bad.
I feel and can taste the burning (like fumes). My food doesn't seem to
digest very quickly, and just sits in my stomach. I can often feel the
fluid
in my esophogus. And I belch a lot (real deep belches). So I talked with
my
GE and we decided to get back on the Nexium. He'll appeal to UHC again,
and
if that fails, I'll pay it myself if I need to. However, after 4 days on
Nexium, I've noticed no relief. It's as if the acid generation is out of
control. Even drinking water seems to turn it on.
I've lost 5 pounds already from not being able to eat as much as I need
to.
Losing weight for me is not a good thing as I now weigh only 133 and am
5'9.
I'm very active, a triathlete, so I burn a lot of calories and so need a
lot
of calories. I'm now miserable and even de-motivated for working out,
something I normally love to do and is my main source of stress relief.
I'm
also filled with fear that I've lost the balance I had with Nexium and
that
it won't work this time. I'm also fearful of what the acid is doing to me
internally. (Three years ago, I had an endoscopy and they found only some
minor irritations.)
I plan to continue the Nexium but if I don't get any relief in a few days
I'll call my GE again.
Bob P.
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