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Tagged: chronic illness, comfort, IPF, lung disease, PF, pillows, sleeping
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Indigestion & Acid Reflux
Charlene Marshall replied 5 years, 9 months ago 22 Members · 93 Replies
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Hi Ray,
Thank you so much for the info you have shared – I really appreciate it! I had my upper endoscopy this morning and all the inflammation in my stomach and esophagus was almost cleared. Probably due to the Dexilant and Zantac he prescribed a couple months back. He recommended smaller meals and taking the Zantac right after supper so it could have a chance to work before bedtime. He suspects that my hiatal hernia is the real problem. I told him that I hadn’t been hearing very encouraging things about the surgery but he said a lot of progress has been made in recent years. So I may talk to the surgeon about it at a later date. Pat
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Thanks so much for the update Pat, I was wondering how you were doing and if you’d had your appointment yet. I’m glad there has been some clearing of the inflammation, do you notice any difference since knowing that information? Goodluck with talking to the surgeon about a surgical repair, let us know how that goes and what you decide if you can 🙂
Take care,
Charlene.
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Hi All. My am writing on befalf of my dad. diagnosed with IPF feb. 2016. put on ovef. just reduced dosage too 100 mg due to diahreah daily. over the past 2 years been on the journey to treat gerd ( due to link w ipf). thinking acid reflux aspirating into lungs causing lung damage. he never tbought he had symptoms of gerd. because of ipf diagnosis, he was automatically put on gerd meds by pulmonary doctor and consult w GI doctor to treat. did a ph probe showed no major GERD. did a swallow study/ tests showed mild swallow delay. did a manometry test. diagnosed with achalasia- no peristalsis in his esophagus. thus probably aspirating on food. because food /drink doesn’t empty into stomach. only gravity moves it food into stomach. the options of treatment ( no cure) ballon dilation, botox injections into esophagus. surgery ( heller myotomy) open muscle from esophagus to help empty food into stomach. or POEM laparoscopic surgery similar to Heller.. but not as complete. opted to do POEM less evasive. the non evasive options not work or last very long. and have to redo. thus introducing scar tissue. the discussions on this blog have mentioned doing surgery to do the opposite results of what my dad needs. ( fundoplication. close the muscles from esophagus to stomach reduce Acid reflux. ). so after this POEM proceedure, my dad may end up with acid reflux by opening these stomach muscles. DOES anyone with IPF have swallow issues or problems with esophagus ? if so how did you treat?
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Hi Terri,
Welcome again, and I am glad to hear you’ve joined in support of your Dad – he’s very lucky to have you! 🙂
Really interesting that your Dad was automatically put on GERD medications when diagnosed with IPF. Does he feel as though they are helping at all? Sorry to hear about the unpleasant side effects he is experiencing from the OFEV. Has the reduced mg amount helped eliminate some of those for your Dad?
I don’t have any experience with the surgery you mentioned, although there are lots of people on this site dealing with GERD/reflux issues, and a plethora of attempts to address it. Hopefully someone can respond and help you with this particular possibility for your Dad…
Feel free to connect anytime, and thanks for writing us!
Charlene.
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Hi Ray,
just a slight correction in your mail above. René is not a she but a he. If it were a she the name would have been spelled Renée. Hahaha.
rené
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Hi Pat,
So glad to hear that the stomach and esophagus inflammation has cleared up. I hope the Zantac right after supper will help with the reflux. I try to not eat anything very late in the afternoon and make sure I don’t recline for at least 4 hours after I have eaten anything. I think they recommend 2 hours but my stomach doesn’t pass food very fast so I add some extra time.
His diagnosis of the reflux problem being from the Hiatal Hernia was probably right. It seems from what I have heard and read, the Hiatal Hernia problem is what causes most of the people with reflux problems that have stomach acid getting into the esophagus. That can cause all kinds of problems when it does. They say it can cause esophagus cancer, esophageal ulcers, and if it gets into the lungs, cause lung irreversible damage and PF. I’m sure that is what caused my IPF. A few months ago, I had an esophageal bleeding ulcer at the entrance to my stomach. I am not completely sure if it was just the defective hiatal hernia or a combination of both it and the Esbriet I was taking.
The fears of having a hiatal hernia operation verses hearing my and some other people’s problem reports of it may not happen if you were to have one. The doctor is correct, they have come a long way in perfecting that surgery and I am sure a lot of people are getting good results from having one. The decision will boil down to how many problems you are having verses if you and the doctor feel it would be worth the chance. I guess that is the same as with any surgery though. As Charles Whittington posted above, he had a LINX magnetic bead bracelet type surgery to correct it and he said that it was very successful. That procedure has some good and bad things that can go wrong with it too so I guess it would be up to you what you might like to try. The LINX procedure can be done laparoscopically so they don’t have to cut you up so bad. It costs more though. It is good you are going to discuss it with your surgeon. He is your best source of information on what he thinks will help.
Good luck in whatever you decide. Make sure you post to the forum how things are going. We are all interested.
Ray King
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Rene Hakkenberg
Sorry, Rene about my gender mistake in my post. I am not the best speller, especially with names so I didn’t realize the difference. I generally check the posted picture of the person I am replying to. If there is no picture of the person writing the post, they just post a blank silhouette picture of a person with no difference in male or female. I guess I got in a hurry trying to catch up on the posts I needed to reply to. My BAD! I truly apologize.
Thank you for your caution. I’ll try to be more careful in the future.
Ray King -
No worries Ray, I just thought the gender mixup was funny, from there the hahaha. Apologies absolutely not required, but a good laugh yes! And you are right, I never posted a picture and wouldn’t know how to do that.
We all have this lousy disease but we have good days and I hope you have a great weekend. I told you about fishing here, well, my wife’s family is coming to visit soon for a month so I needed a lot of fish. Left this morning at 5 am and came home about 2 pm with 1 wahoo, 4 tunas and 3 barracudas, together some 35 lbs, so our freezer is overflowing. Wouldn’t it be nice if you, master chef, could cook them for us and then you and your wife join us for dinner….wow…rene
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Hi Rene,
Just chiming in here, although I know your reply was to Ray … Wow, the fish you caught sound amazing! I love fresh seafood/fish, what a treat to have this “in your back yard”. Do you ever smoke any of the fish you catch? Smoked salmon is my absolute favorite and I had tons of it on the Canadian west coast last year. I agree with you too Rene, wouldn’t it be so nice if we all lived within close proximity of one another and could join together over dinner or in person? Too bad this world is so large, but I am so glad we have this forum to use for the time being!
I hope you had a nice weekend 🙂
Charlene. -
Hi Rene,
I took what you said about the gender names with tongue-in-cheek so no worry. It was kind of funny.
I had never written to a Ren’e, Rene, Renee, Renae, Renny, Renne, or Rennie before. I guess the name spelling comes from what part of the world people are born and named in. Some are Dutch, French or Irish, or another origin and the name is pronounced the same in English. Some are unisex and others can be used for both sexes. Anyway, as I said, I’ll try not to make the mistake again and when I refer to someone, I’ll use their printed name and not a pronoun to refer to them. I didn’t realize that there was so much behind the spelling of a person name. I’m not trying to make anything out of my explanations but it educated me a bit when I looked the name spelling topic up. Enough about that.
WOW! That was really a lot of fish. I have eaten tuna but I have never tasted a barracuda or wahoo (Ono) before. Maybe you could put a bite of them in an envelope and send it to me? Ha Ha. I had never even heard of a wahoo (Ono). When I looked up a picture of the Ono fish, they are beautifully streamlined looking. About the only fish we have in Idaho that could maybe surpass them in size are sturgeons. I have seen pictures of some of the sturgeons caught in Idaho being landed with a team of horses and one I saw was pulled in with a tractor.
We do have some large ocean salmon that have come up the Columbia and Snake Rivers from the ocean to spawn in Idaho. I have never fished for them but my father fished for them a lot. I am not a trophy fisherman and I just go after the fish I can handle, like rainbow trout, bass, perch, bluegills, and Coho salmon. I like to catch them and fry them on the spot while we are camping. Although I did go marlin fishing one time in 1978 while I was in Mazatlán Mexico. I didn’t catch anything but it was fun. Terry Bradshaw and Joe Ferguson, football quarterbacks, stayed at the same hotel I did. I asked them at the swimming pool if they caught any marlins or sailfish and they said they hadn’t caught anything either.
I sure wish there was some indication that the beautiful warm area you are in helped people with IPF and bad acid reflux so my insurance would cover it and I’d be on my way south. Maybe you could take me fishing? I think you could talk Charlene Marshall to come there too. I know she really would like the warm weather and fresh seafood.
Better close now. Remember me when you are savoring a nice fish steak.
Ray King
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Love this correspondence Ray and Rene! You could easily talk me into going somewhere that the ocean is right now, and warm weather – Canadian temperatures dropped to -23 degrees celsius last night. I’d much prefer to be where Rene is 🙂
I saw a meme the other day on the internet that made me laugh, it was about Canadian winters and a cartoon picture of someone half frozen that said: “the air hurts my face. Why do I live somewhere where the air hurts my face?” … it totally resonated with me!
I would even catch and cook my own fish if we went fishing Rene – I love anything to do with the sea! Hope you’re enjoying the warm sunshine, please send it our way.
Charlene.
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Hi Teri,
I see your dad has some of the problems that I have. My esophagus is very sluggish in pushing my food to my stomach too. In my case, it wouldn’t make any difference if it got to my stomach or not because I have Gastroparesis resulting from a botched fundoplication surgery. My stomach only works at a 20% efficiency now.
There might be an alternative to your father having the esophagus not working like it should and whether to have a fundoplication. If he had a J-Tube or G-Tube installed, the food he would be getting would bypass the esophagus problem. The J-Tube feeding goes directly into the little intestines and the G-Tube would go directly to the stomach. He would get all the nourishment he needs through the tube and wouldn’t have to eat. Not eating would also help cut down on the extra stomach acid being produced and from the different foods that cause extra acid. Anything he does eat would still go through the esophagus and stomach but he wouldn’t have to eat as much via that direction.
It wouldn’t cut out all the GERD and that would still have to be taken care of by the usual anti-acids, elevated upper body raised sleeping methods, and still if eating a little, staying away from the acid producing foods, etc.. Nothing I have run into seems to completely stop some GERD reactions but it would cut down on the problems he is having with sluggish esophagus problems and maybe help a little with the GERD caused from food to the stomach.
Either putting in a J or G-Tube requires a little surgery but when it must be replaced, they can usually do it without another surgery. I have had a J-Tube for almost 8-years and have had it replaced 5 or 6 times. They also keep coming out with new inventions for a better tube and replacement methods. It might be worth a try? Something to talk to your doctor or surgeon about.
You mentioned a few procedures I had never heard about. Very interesting.
Keep us posted on what your father and you decide to do.
Ray King
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Thanks for sharing Ray, as always, your post is very thorough and informative…. I know others will benefit from your knowledge and sharing your experiences 🙂
I know I owe you an email, stay tuned, I’ll send it as soon as I can.
Hope you’ve had a nice week!
Charlene.
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I had bad GERD earlier, prior to the pneumonia that we think has lead to IPF. Since the diagnosis, I have used Prilosec (omeprazole) daily. I also use Zofran (ondansetron) for the side effects to Esbriet.
My pulmonologist and I have found a couple of studies that tie GERD to IPF, and therefore the potential problems from omeprazole are out-weighed by the benefits.
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Hi Donald,
Thanks so much for sharing your experience with us, including the drugs that seem to be helping with GERD, and the management of Esbriet side effects. I’ve actually heard of others finding Prilosec quite helpful in the past, do you think it reduces the effects of GERD for you? Glad the Zofran helps with the nausea from Esbriet too!
Thanks for sharing your experience with us, and glad you’re finding the benefits outweigh the risk. I can’t believe the number of people who are equally impacted by both GERD and IPF. I didn’t know about this until it became a really popular topic on our site. I appreciate your contribution and sharing a bit of your experience!
Charlene.
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The Esophacool does contain deglycyrrhizinated licorice extract
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My acid reflux had a lot to do with my lung condition. Causing lots of inflamation.
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Hi Bill,
Thanks for sharing a bit about your experience with us. Unfortunately through all the members on the forum, I am learning just how prevalent / problematic acid reflux can be in those of us who also have PF/IPF. Sorry it is causing such difficulty for you and inflammation. Have you found a way to tackle this?
Charlene.
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Hi Dorothy Hixson,
Yes, Esophacool does contain deglycyrrhizinated licorice extract “DGL”. In an I earlier poet I had stated that Esophacool had a licorice taste and I hadn’t seen anything in the ingredients that said it contained any licorice. I was very wrong. When I told my daughter about what I was using, she informed me what DGL was. I guess I am not very smart and shouldn’t publish a comment without doing a little research first.
I looked up a few references for DGL uses on the internet and found one article stating:
“Some doctors and alternative health advocates recommend DGL for acid reflux. People believe DGL promotes mucus activity. This extra mucus may act as a barrier to acid in the stomach and esophagus. This barrier can allow the damaged tissue to heal and prevent future occurrences of acid reflux.”
I don’t know if Esophacool will help everyone but so far, for me, it has helped tremendously since I have been taking it starting late last summer. I only take it at bedtime as I hadn’t been having acid reflux problems in the day time very often.
I have had acid reflux problems for over 50 years which I always took some antacids for. I have only had the serious night time reflux problems since 2011. It caused me to get an esophagus bleeding ulcer. I have been taking strong Rx antacid 2 times per day but still got nighttime reflux. Since I have added the Esophacool, I have only had a couple of light acid reflux problems at night. It really seems to work for me.
I hope if you are having the acid reflux problems you can find something that will work for you also. Keep all of us posted with any progress you find.
Ray King
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Hi Ray,
Thanks, as always, for such a great and thorough response to our members! I’d never heard of DGL and the potential benefit of it towards acid reflux, but it makes sense in terms of the mucous production and protecting the tissues by acting as a barrier. Is Esophacool a topical rub/ointment or something you take internally or drink? You may have told me this before and I’ve just forgotten, my apologies. Lots on my mind so I am a bit behind on information being shared on the forums but am working on catching up. This is a really great post to remember when new members talk about difficulty with acid reflux. I so appreciate your thorough response 🙂
I’m so glad it is working so well for you, I am sure that will bring comfort to others who are considering trying it.
Take care,
Charlene.
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