[Raymond C. King]

Hi Rene,

WOW! Your post just killed what I thought might be a cure-all and might stop people from getting IPF. Most of the people I have been reading about on the forum seem to live in Canada and the cold northern US hemisphere. I was all ready to move south to a warmer climate. Then I see you live in Bonaire, Dutch Caribbean and have lived there most of your life and still ended up with IPF. There goes that remedy but saved me a lot of money. I don’t know how you ended up there but I Googled it and it looks like a really nice place to relax and we must pay to just visit there.

Thank you for your post about the possible IPF help by the IPF researcher that you mentioned. I’ll be watching and monitoring what he/she comes up with. So far, I am out of luck with using some of the drugs that can prolong your life.

We just had 4-inches of snow shoveled off our walks and driveway.

I hope things turn out well for you.

Have a Happy New Year.

Ray King

[Raymond C. King]

Hi Josie,

There are a lot of articles on the Internet that will give you information on GERD and IPF. You can go to this link and it will give you a lot of information on it.

https://www.google.com/search?q=does+acid+reflux+cause+ipf&oq=does+acid+reflux+cause+ipf&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l3.15966j1j9&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

Here are a couple of the items listed from the above link:

1. IPF is strongly associated with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), a condition where stomach acid flows back into your esophagus. It’s estimated that 90 percent of people with IPF have GERD.

2. Ulcers — Ulcers can form in the esophagus as a result of burning from stomach acid. … The acid can be inhaled into the lungs and cause a type of pneumonia (aspiration pneumonia) or asthma symptoms. Chronic acid reflux into the lungs may eventually cause permanent lung damage, called pulmonary fibrosis or bronchiectasis. Sep 4, 2018

Also, this forum seems to really help for getting other people’s experiences with IPF and its suspected causes.

You might be interested in a few of my earlier posts on this forum if you haven’t already read them.
Raymond C King: Participant
1. OCTOBER 31, 2018 AT 10:39 AM
2. DECEMBER 11, 2018 AT 11:21 AM
3. DECEMBER 12, 2018 AT 11:04 AM

I have had serious Acid Reflux Disease for over 50 years and several surgeries to try to stop it. So far, a few of them helped a little but I listed one pill I am taking now that helps well along with using other things at the same time, I think. I am still trying the non-prescription pills and will post it’s progressing as I use it for some time. Stay tuned!

Raymond C. King

[Raymond C. King]

Hi Charlene.

I have sent you a message by another source on any personal information.

I think I am comfortable about my not being able to take any Esbriet or OPEV. I’m not sure how much they would have actually increased my lifespan. The side effects I was experiencing were not worth trying it later.

I have been feeling well since I stopped taking the Esbriet. I will see how good or bad the IPF is progressing when I have my six-month reevaluation in January and will post how the test went later.

Thanks for your continued interest.

Take care,

Ray

[Raymond C. King]

Hi Brian Sowter,

It sounds like you have been experiencing the same problems and use some of the remedies that I have been trying.

I too had a partial Vagotomy performed on my first hiatal hernia/fundal plication surgery back I 1973. The Vagotomy used to automatically be done on the earlier hiatal hernia surgeries to prevent the buildup of stomach acid. They have later learned that many bad things can happen when they cut those nerves. I think my main stomach vagus nerve hadn’t been cut until my second hiatal hernia surgery in 2011. That surgery also caused my Gastroparesis and 80% paralyzed my stomach and the surgeon also punched my ectolophs too. I ended up after that surgery going to Mayo Clinic in Phoenix Arizona where they again tried to redo the previous hiatal hernia surgery and tried to readjust the Fundal Plication part to tighten it up to recreate the destroyed upper stomach sphincter. It didn’t work, and they told me that I now have a straight shot from my mouth to my stomach. That is when my Gastrologist prescribed the two Nexiums (now prescription Omeprazole because it is cheaper) two times per day. I guess the Omeprazole helps but I still had some acid reflux problems and I have been doing things to help eliminate them. See my earlier posts.

I imagine my pyloric sphincter was damaged during the several Hiatal hernias that I also had. I have never been told that it was damaged but sometimes at night, I get nauseated and throw up. What I am throwing up it does not contain regular food particles. I throw up what looks like the contents of the Neutron feeding that I am taking into my intestines all night thru a J-Tube. There is no way the Neutron should be getting back from my little intestine into my stomach if the pyloric sphincter is working.

I also developed the chest pains, runny nose and had a dry cough. That is when my regular doctor took x-rays which later was determined I had IPF. I had previously been taking prescription Norco (Acetaminophen & Hydrocodone) for the pain my J-tube was causing and hadn’t had the chest pains or a dry cough. After 5 years of taking the NORCO, I tried to wean off from it and that is when the chest pains and dry cough started. I later went to my Pulmonologist and he said a hard-dry cough was causing the chest pains and to try taking the Norco again. The pains and IPF a dry cough almost immediately disappeared so I am back on Norco 4 times per day.

I hope some of our posts help people with their reflux problems. It surely isn’t fun.

Ray King

[Raymond C. King]

Hi Forrest,

Very happy that it worked out well for you. My pulmonologist had tried to do that same procedure the NP suggested for you. But after I had been off from it for 30+ days, and restarted, it didn’t work. After restarting with only 1 pill per day, nausea started again the 3rd day as I said in my above post. Then my Pulmonologist took me completely off from it for good.

Maybe it is just because my pill had to be crushed and injected through a feeding tube into my intestines that caused the problem. I can’t take anything directly into the stomach and Esbriet states it is to be taken uncrushed and with food. It must just be too strong when it is injected directly to the intestines for me. It probably shocked my system too much. Some people that have been taking the full dose for a period with no side effects and all the sudden develop some bad ones and can’t go on it again.

I hope your episodes continue to work for you and you can live a long life. Keep the forum posted on any changes if you get any.

Lots of luck,

Ray King

[Raymond C. King]

Hi Jea,

I read your post on the wedge pillow. I have had one that appears exactly like the basic one that you referred to for several years. I only now use one when I travel.

The things that I didn’t like about it is: I find it uncomfortable for my head. The foam makes it kind of hard and I have to use another softer pillow for my head. If you use an extra head pillow, it forces you to slide down a little on the wedge, so you lose some of the wanted elevations of the upper part of your body. You can’t slide the pillow up higher as it will fall behind the top of the wedge unless you pile other pillows or items behind it for the extra soft pillow to lie on. Another problem I have is while asleep on it, you tend to eventually slide down on the pillow.

The only remedy I found was to rent or purchase a bed that will let you elevate your head and feet. After you set the upper body where you want it, you still need to elevate the feet too. This makes a pocket for your hips and stops you from sliding down. I rented one from a medical supply store for almost a year before I purchased 2 of the adjustable beds from COSTCO, one for me and one for my wife. You can either use them like a single bed slid together or place them like twin beds in different locations.
They have a variety of them there. It was delivered to the house and set up for us before they left. They come with remote controls. My son and daughter later purchased a couple for their house also.

I note that they are also available at Amazon too. I think they don’t come with setup though. I imagine you can get them at other places. We just searched online for them when we bought them.

I don’t know if you read my October 31, 2018 post above, but I referred to my trying EsophaCool Since the middle of August 2018. It is non-prescription. I have still been chewing 2 of the tablets with a little water each night at bedtime and I haven’t had any acid reflux since. I don’t know what makes them work but for me, they seem to work. I don’t have any reflux problems in the daytime, so I haven’t used them, but a person can the label says. On my visits to my family doctor and Pulmonologist, I told them about what they had done for me. They both told me to bring the bottle on my next visit, so they could see what it was, so they could maybe suggest it to some of their patients. They kind of have a little liquorish taste. My pulmonologist said he thinks the problems I have had with the acid reflux is what caused my IPF.

I purchased my esophageal at Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Life-Extension-EsophaCool-Chewable-Tablets/product-reviews/B07C9H3M4N/ref=pd_lpo_vtph_121_tr_cr_0?ie=UTF8&refRID=8PJVT4PWGJEFK4B68QYD

You can also get them at the company that makes them at LifeExttensions.com:
https://www.google.com/search?ei=jOMPXNb-KbTs9AOmq4DIAQ&q=lifeextension.com+EsophaCool&oq=lifeextension.com+EsophaCool&gs_l=psy-ab.12..33i22i29i30.115066.115066..116934…0.0..0.94.94.1……0….1j2..gws-wiz…….0i71.8-h-BSBpIWw
https://www.google.com/search?ei=jOMPXNb-

Good luck with whatever you try. The reflux problem is sure a pain to put up with, as you know. I have tried about everything on the market to try to stop it. I have been taking 2 prescription Nexium pills per day and other things to help relieve it for years to help combat the Acid Reflux. I hope the EsophaCool and other things to help relieve it continues to work.

Keep us posted on what works for you.

Ray King

[Raymond C. King]

Hi Charlene,

I’ll reply now to your post you made on this forum since it will make it easier for you to see what I am responding to. Later, I’ll use the email setup we 3 have started. If I have any new Esbriet info, I will still post it here.

My weekend went well, thank you and I’m happy yours went well also

Thank you for the worry over my wife’s pain problems. That’s really kind of you to inquire.

Her stretches and ice packs have been helping her somewhat, I think. Early this morning, I woke up and found her bed empty. She said her back hurt her so bad that she had been sleeping in her recliner chair. I guess that worked because she was moving around well later this morning.

I just helped her put some strap around ice packs on both of her shoulders and upper arms. She uses the ice packs on her shoulders and then uses them on her back and neck 3 or 4 times per day. They are quite large, and she needs help strapping them on. I really think she is getting along a lot better as she doesn’t wince with pain when she moves and sits down as much as she had been. The walking and stretches etc. seem to have helped her.

Sunday afternoon my daughter and 2 of her children came over and got our Christmas tree and other decorations from the cupboards and other storage places in the basement and upstairs closets and set them up for us. They decorated the tree and hung up all the wall and lighted window hangings around the house. That really perked my wife up a lot especially since they had to make several trips up and down the basement stairs. Now, she has about everything ready for Christmas. A lot of worry and stress now over with. I hate to say it, but I didn’t even move much out of my recliner while they were working. They were fast, and it only took them about an hour. The boys are tall enough to reach all the wall hangings without using a ladder. Then when they were done, my daughter had to go work her 12-hr shift. She seems to never need or get rest or much sleep.

I hate to say it, but I don’t feel bad about having to stop taking the Esbriet. It made me so sick that I don’t miss it at all. I don’t know what it will mean in my expected life cycle, but I am so old now and I have lived a good life and feel that I have lived longer than I ever thought I would anyway. A few more months added to life over what taking the drugs would do might not have been worth it. I might be in a condition then that I would wish I was dead anyway.

I guess you are back to work again today even though it is getting harder and harder to put up with the working conditions. With the horrible health conditions, you are experiencing, I don’t know how you take it anyway. It is too bad that you couldn’t use the attempted reorganization you said you had prepared but unfortunately finances play the whole role in our lives. I am I a lot healthier than you are and I just don’t know how I could ever put the time in at a job. I find it hard to get up from my recliner just to do a few simple things around the house. I do hope your workers start to realize you have a real problem and not just get caught up in their own simple problems. I’ll keep my fingers crossed that something good will happens to you soon. Are there any disability organizations in Canada that could help you with finances if you had to leave work?

We are expecting a snow dump starting tonight but ending on Wednesday with a larger dump then. I’m happy we don’t have any doctors’ appointments this week to go to.

It is very kind of you to want to do something nice this Christmas for the person that took care of your snow removal. I am happy you live in a neighborhood where neighbors look out for you. Most of our old neighbors have moved to other locations and a lot of younger couples have moved in. The old neighbors’ get-togethers we use to have no longer exist. People seem to just stay in their houses and don’t get out. I think, since I can’t go to a lot of the get togethers that still exist because they are mostly early evenings, we just don’t get invited anymore. We always have had to decline. My wife doesn’t want to go alone. I feel guilty about that.

I think it is nice that you and your mother are going to NYC this week. I hope you have a really nice time. Your mother’s excitement about going there for the first time will make it even more of a great event. Yes, Tiffany’s, the Park and Rockefeller Center should be great to see. Rockefeller Center and that area should really be lit up. I know they have Hop-On Hop-Off Bus Tours that will take you around the city. Maybe you can pick up a boarding location and have an idea of the locations you want to visit so you could use them to get around. The people seem to be friendly there and I’m sure they will help you get around. I’ll email you a lot of the suggestion links to view if you haven’t already got everything else planned while you are there.

I’m closing now. I’ve filled this forum up with a lot of stuff now and got to get things done.

Talk to you later and I’ll also get an email sent to you.

Someone who cares a lot,

Ray

[Raymond C. King]

Hi Paula,

I guess it is Ok to use this forum for a little personal information too but I have been worried that people who were looking for just the Starting Esbriet subject might object. My posts have been so long and mostly on a personal way to talk to my two friends. I did send you my two email addresses via email a short while ago. The use is for your preference.

It is cloudy and cold here now too and the weatherman just said that snow was possible tonight.

Better close now. I have a couple of projects I have been doing and I’ve got the house kind of messed up.

Just Ray

[Raymond C. King]

Good Morning Paula,

It appears you were up and at it early this morning. I hope it was because you had a good night’s sleep and not because you couldn’t sleep and just had to get up?

Thanks for your concern about my wife. This morning she said other than having problems moving her legs, she thinks she is getting slowly better. Again, early this morning she needed to get up to go to the bathroom and had me take the covers off her legs, so she could slide off the bed. She thinks its still problems with her hips. I think that the small amount of arthritis the x-rays showed that is what is causing her problems. The only cure for that is to keep moving until the information gets better and take pain medication her Chiropractor told her. She takes the pain meds when she goes to bed, but they wear off after a few hours. It’s still just us suffering from getting old and there is no way to change that other than the alternative. Sometimes I think the alternative might be better but when things are running smoothly, I feel its best to just push on. There’s still too much that has to be done and prepared for that event and since I procrastinate a lot, maybe it will never get done.

I didn’t know when Charlene’s birthday was either until she mentioned that she had a good time celebrating it. I guess she never did mention it anywhere in any of her posts before, so I was late with the BD wishes too. I was happy to hear she felt well enough to celebrate it.

I am happy you are feeling better now after getting off OPEV and able to get your digestive tract back to normal again. I hope your daughter will understand that being miserable all the time is just not worth maybe extending your life a little. There is no real proof that the 2 drugs they have will do what they say. Maybe the few days it might extend our lives would be a curse other than a reward.

I never had the diarrhea problems from Esbriet, but it was one that they list as a possible side effect for both drugs. Maybe I didn’t have those problems because I take Hydrocodone 4 times per day for J-Tube pain and it stopped the IPF dry cough and it causes some constipation. I too am feeling great again since stepping the Esbriet. I felt better with no more nausea the day after stopping taking Esbriet. I even felt enough better that I have fixed a dinner style lunch on 2 different days and still feel well enough after standing for a long time to eat some of it when I was finished cooking it. I try not to eat anything after 3 or 4 PM and that helps with the night acid reflux problems I seem to have sometimes. My wife was pleased as well because she is getting tired of eating frozen TV dinners and a home cooked meal tasted much better she said. She doesn’t like to cook especially when it is usually just for her because I am not hungry enough to eat anything.

It would be nice if the 3 of us did have a separate place to keep track of each other than posting it on just this Starting Esbriet Forum. I would be happy to provide either of my e-mail addresses if that would be the preferred way to keep up with how we are doing without having to take up space and posting personal stuff which is of no concern to other people. I always feel guilty about my long posts which don’t pertain to the Esbriet subject. Maybe there is a better method?

I hope your days look a lot brighter and you can keep feeling better. Keep up your good spirits. I hope things keep going well for you.

I really look forward to keeping track of you and Charlene and you are on my thoughts and prayers.

My best wishes to you and your family,

Ray

[Raymond C. King]

Hi Charlene,

Thank you for taking the time to reply to my post.

I have been feeling very sorry for Paula with all the problems she has been having. I guess she is really having bad results with the OPEV reactions. I wonder how many people have been able to use either the OPEV or the Esbriet long enough without problems to have said it slowed down the IPF. Maybe someone has had some promising results from taking them but it’s hard to know for sure. I suppose in this forum, all we see is people posting problems with those drugs.

Thank you for your nice inquire about my wife’s health problems. Thurs, she went back to the Chiropractor and he looked at the results of the 7 x-rays and said for her age, the shoulder and hip joint sockets look very good. The neck and back both have arthritis in them but her back repairs she had earlier look intact. He said without and RMI on the shoulder cuff he couldn’t tell too much by the X-rays but since she is starting to gain motion in both shoulders from the stretches and icing, she has been doing, he thought maybe she should give it a couple of more weeks and if not better, he would have an MRI run on them. Today, she does think the adjustments he made Thurs helped and she seems to be moving things around and walking better. Her next appointment isn’t for 2 more weeks but she feels that she will just keep doing the stretches and icing and she might be OK.

On Tuesday evening, I started getting nauseated again and took some Zofran. By bedtime, I still felt a little nauseated but went to bed. About 1:30 AM Wednesday, I woke to feel a little acid reflux and very sick. I took more Zofran and went to sleep after a time. I still didn’t feel well Wed morning. I met with my Pulmonologist at about 2 PM Wed and I told him how I felt. He told me to stop taking the Esbriet since my sickness didn’t come up until I had started it again for a couple of times. He said even if I was able to take 1 pill per day of it that it takes 9 pills per day for it to do any good and he felt I would never be able to work up to that amount. He then said it didn’t look like I would be able to take any of the IPF drugs. He said that there was Ofev but that was out for me as it shouldn’t be taken by someone that has been having heart attacks and it causes stomach and acid reflux problems. He says he thinks that maybe the acid reflux problems that I had for many previous years may have been what caused my IPF. So, he said that since I couldn’t take the drugs, and my 0xy level was above where I would need oxygen, that I should just come in every 6 months and take the (SPV) spirometry and methacholine challenge tests and he would monitor them to see what I may need. I take my next SPV tests about the middle of January. He said there wasn’t much else he could do.

So, I guess that means an obituary for me as far as my participation in the “Starting Esbriet” Forum. I am really going to miss the friends that I have made on this forum and all the help and concern that has been given to me especially by a couple of people I have been corresponding with. You and Paula have more problems than I would ever want to have but keep plugging along giving advice to some of us that don’t yet know what real trouble means.

I am very happy that maybe your Taxi accident court case is finally ending, and you can maybe reap a little financial help from the proceeds. I’m sure the suffering has far exceeded what you may receive.

I do not know the size of the agency that you work for, but it seems that the larger they get politics starts playing with the life of its employees. Some people are just working for what their status is in a company instead of the real things that matter in life. As you seemed to put it, life-threatening diseases and other life crippling hardships mean a lot more than just what a job can provide. I really envy your resilience and stamina to help people see what life all is about. It isn’t just black and white. Just keep fighting and I’m sure you will receive more blessings than a lot of people will.

It is comforting to know that you have some help for the cold snowy weather you are having. We have had some snow and the fellow I had contracted to clear it didn’t show up when it snowed. A neighbor boy shoveled it for me for $35. I just hired and paid in advance another Landscape company to clear the snow for the year, but I must pay him $240 in advance for each month I contract with them. They figure that would cover 6 or 7 times it snows and if it didn’t, they would refund or credit me for the unused times they didn’t have to come out. I can cancel any time. I am also going to contact them for lawn fertilizing and spider spraying for 2019 too. It is cheaper than what we paid for the same service last year. I hope their service works well, I don’t want to worry about the snow and lawn care if I can get away from it. We are expected to get more snow this next Mon, Tues, and Wed. The temp is still in the single digits at night and in the 20 deg F in the daytime with some wind.

The news weather forecasts show cold and wet weather going to be covering the East Coast this next week. I hope it doesn’t last through you and your moms Thursday thru the following Monday NY visit and you are going to be doing something special there and have some fun.

I will be checking the IPF Forum from time to time to see how things are going with you and Paula. I hope Paula can get some good news when she goes to Boston about getting new lungs. She is really having a rough time of it. I also hope things continue to go well for you. You really have a lot of strength and faith that things will go well for you. My Pulmonologist told me about the same thing that you more or less stated. We must look at how well we are doing from day to day and month to month rather than a long in the future. Each day seems to be a new trial.

I’ll close as this is getting long again. All my prayers to you and Paula and the other sufferers of PF. I hope we can all survive with all the trials this disease piles on us.

Ray

[Raymond C. King]

Hi Charlene,

Belated Happy 31st Birthday. I’m sorry this wish is late. I didn’t know when it was. I hope the celebration with you and your dog watching Christmas movies, the spa visit, and order-in dinner was relaxing for you. You really needed some good things going for you.

Really happy to hear from you as I know you really needed the rest and to get away for all the correspondence for a while. You have really been having a lot of problems going on with you that have caused you a lot of stress trying to solve what to do about those pesky new occurrences. I am very happy that some of the problems have quieted down for a while.

Thank you for your nice inquire about my wife and my health problems. My wife is still having the shoulder, back, and neck problems and is making visits to the Chiropractor. She goes to him again tomorrow. I have been taking her because she can’t boost herself into her car and she has problems even getting into the passenger seat of our other car. I think after tomorrows Chiropractor visit, he will recommend her to Physical Therapy. Her stiffness has been a little better, but she still can’t sit, or lie down, or reach things very well. I must help her put on the ice packs. She can still tape on my bandages and operate the syringes when she gives me my medications 4 times per day, but she can’t crush the pills to prepare the meds. She puts on ice packs 3 times per day for about 20 minutes on each place she is having problems and walks as much as she can in the house.

As for my sickness from taking the Esbriet at 2 pills per day. The vomiting stopped almost immediately after I quit taking the 2 Esbriet’s and I started feeling good again. I go to the pulmonologist again Wednesday. I think he said he was going to run more testing on me to see how the IPF was progressing. No, I haven’t discussed taking Ofev. I will question him about going to it on my visit. I know initially that he wanted me to use the Esbriet because it was least likely to cause me problems. I know that one of the things OFEV wants you to tell the Dr before you receive OFEV is if you have had heart attacks and that if you have a bleeding problem. I have had heart attacks and I am taking Plavix, a blood thinner. so maybe that was it. I don’t remember exactly what he had said as both drugs were new to me and I didn’t know anything about either one at that time and assumed he knew what he was talking about.

I went to my regular doctor this morning on a scheduled 3-month visit. He examined the healing scab on my neck where the other doctor had opened the spot to get to the vein to extract the IVC Filter stint. It had not been healing very well and a few days ago, festered up and some puss built up and drained a little. He said that one of the self-dissolving stitches probably hadn’t completely dissolved yet or there was something else in it. He gave me some different kind of salve to use on it other than the Neosporin I was using. He said he didn’t want to lance it yet and to give it a couple of weeks to see if it would heal up and if it showed redness or more swelling, to make another appointment.

I am happy to hear that you found someone to do your snow removal. Sounds like you and Paula have been mainly getting a lot of rain? We haven’t been so lucky, I guess. We did finally get some snow. We got about 4-inches Saturday night and Sunday morning. At about 9 AM Sunday I heard someone shoveling the snow and asked who he was. He said he was the 16-yr old kid that lives across the street. I think his mother had sent him over. Last year he and his mother came across the street and helped my wife do some of the snow shoveling. He had done about ½ of the driveway. I told him I thought I had someone hired to do it. I asked him how much he wanted to do the job. He said there was no charge and I told him I would be happy to pay him and asked how much he wanted. He kind of stuttered and said $5. I told him I’d be happy to pay him more than that if he would do it. Just a short time later, he had just shoveled most of the driveway and said he was through. I guess that was all he had intended to do. I told him we would like the sidewalks done too. He said OK and came back a short time later. I saw him talking to someone on his cell phone or he was playing a game, but he finally came to the door and said he was done. There was still a lot of the sidewalk and part of the driveway that needed to be cleaned and I pointed out exactly what we wanted still done. He finally got it well cleared and we decided we’d give him what we were going to pay the fellow we think we had hired to do it for the winter. We gave him $35. The guy we thought we had hired never did show up, so I guess we are “still out in the cold” for someone to clear our walks this winter. We did get about another inch of snow last night and this morning but no one else has been clearing their walks so I guess we will just leave it. The temperatures are supposed to be in the upper 20s daytime and close to the zeros the rest of the week. Maybe more snow Wednesday/Thursday.

Really sorry you must put up with having to go to work and having the school finances to pay along with just regular living, especially in your condition. Did you finally get your settlement for the terrible wreck injury you had last year, or are they still fighting it? I hope your attorney didn’t take everything as I know they seem too.

Sounds like you have a cute dog. My son and daughters all have dogs. My son’s dog has been costing him a fortune for medical charges. His dogs are both small Shih Tzu’s and their legs and ears are always having something wrong with them. I think they have paid as much for surgeries as it costs for his and his wife’s procedures.

I really hope you have a nice vacation with your Mom in NYC this next week. How long will you be there? I hope the weather there will be good. I notice on the TV news that NYC is having a lot of rain also. Have a good time but just beware of the Taxi Cabs.

I’ll hope this post goes OK on Starting Esbriet. It’s kind of hard jumping back and forth between both locations to see how you and Paula are doing and corresponding at a different location.

I’d better close now. I hope this isn’t too long and it still posts. Keep us posted on how things are going. I love to hear how things are going for you.

A person that worries about you,

Ray

[Raymond C. King]

I tried to delete the above accidental post. Please disregard it. It didn’t work!

Ray

[Raymond C. King]

Thank you, Charlene,

Your above post answers a lot of my questions about the problems I have been having when I have tried to reply to your post to me on the topic “Starting Esbriet”. I also tried to send you a Private Post that I guess died because of the new rules. I will try to make sure I don’t post messages longer than the 300 words limit and I will no longer use MS Word to edit the message prior to sending it in the future. I will revise the message I had previously tried to send to you earlier.

I had also included my reply in an email to you. I am not sure you received it so what you may receive on “Startin Esbriet” later may be duplicated if you got my email.

The only thing I don’t like about responding directly in the Forum Reply Box and not using MS Word is that direct entering doesn’t show how many words you are entering or if there are spelling errors, so you must copy it to Word so you can get that information before submitting.

Ray King

[Raymond C. King]

Hi Charlene

Thanks so much for your reply!

Very happy to hear your headaches are better today. I hope the chair arrangements request to the HR manager to adjust your chair helps. Is that the HR manager at work or on the forum?

Happy the snow has started to clear your area now even though you got a good dump.
I kind of figured out your Canada location and I see you are really close to 3 of the Great Lakes where I’m sure you get a lot of lake effect caused snow.

It was nice of someone to have cleared your driveway for you. I do hope you can find someone to do it for you the rest of the winter. We have very few people that want to be hired to clear walks and drives here. I have advertised in the paper to get it done and I get no good responses. I did have one person that said he would do it but he refused to sign anything saying he would or what would trigger his start to clear it. I don’t know if he will follow up until the snow starts getting deep here. So far, no measurable snow though.

I viewed the Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland store in Michigan you are going to go to this weekend. It looks like they have everything you might like pertaining to Christmas. I hope you have a wonderful time.

I’ll close now. I know you are busy preparing for the trip.

I love hearing from you as I worry a lot about how things are going for you.

Ray

[Raymond C. King]

Hi Charlene,

Thank you for your quick response even though you are rushed and still fighting that head pain. I hope you can find a solution that will help soon.

Thank you for inquiring about how the Esbriet procedure is going for me. So far I haven’t had any real bad symptoms except the little dizzy spell right after I take it. I’m just on that small dose now though. I increase it some next Tuesday.

I have noticed that the Nor Eastern is really going to hit the East Coast and it looks like Eastern Canada is being hit too. Hence your not being able to see across the street because it is snowing. Having to shovel the snow is no fun, as you are really aware of. Especially hard in your condition. Can you get someone to do it for you?

This front seems to be coming from the South of you now. I hope it passes your area fast enough not to foul up your trip with your friends to the States this weekend. Will you be driving or flying? If you go, I hope you have a good time. Just watch those taxi drivers!

I notice on TV we are going to get another cold storm from mostly north of us and it shows in the projection that it will sweep through Canada later this next week. Winter is here!

I’ll close now so I can maybe keep my posts a little shorter. Have a wonderful trip and weekend if you can. I will be praying for you.

Ray

[Raymond C. King]

Hi Charlene

I have been noticing the cold temperatures and other winter type weather in your area. We have had low temperatures too and I seem to always get cold. I too try to keep the house heat thermometer turned up a bit, but my wife always says its too hot. I try to keep peace and compromise and turn the heat down some. She tells me to put on a sweater. I have a couple I can grab and that helps.

We are about 775 miles from San Francisco, CA fire areas and about 850 miles from the Los Angles, CA fire areas. We are in the dry high fire danger area too like most of the Western US States. We have had some wildfires too, but the fires were in the mountain’s areas. Most all our wild firefighters are now in the California area helping to put out those fires. Since most of the winds are now blowing to the west, it is blowing most smoke away from Idaho, so our air quality is clear.

Yes, I have had a pretty good experience with the Pas. Most of them have been working with the doctors long enough that they seem to know what to do. If there is anything they may question, they can always consult with the doctor.

I had a follow-up appointment with the pain doctor that worked on my shoulder Tuesday. I think the shoulder shot worked a little, I’m not sure. I was starting to get a little better before the shot. I assumed I was allergic to one of the shots but wasn’t sure as I had been taking the Esbriet again for 4 days. I took some Benadryl. By Tuesday, the swellings were down. I did ask the doctor if there was anything in the shot that may have caused it. He said he didn’t think so as he always has given me the same shot in my back, neck, and shoulder 2 years before and it didn’t happen then. Other than that, he said he didn’t know what caused it.

I hope things are still going well for you. I know you are busy answering everyone all over the forum.

Until later,
Ray

[Raymond C. King]

Hi Paula,

Sorry to read about all the problems you have had about getting the pills you need, etc.
I see where you are still waiting for your acceptance for a lung transplant. When do you see your doctor next to find out if you can qualify? Waiting for results that might help seem to just intensify the stress you still have. I hope you can learn something soon.

I hope you don’t run into any road problems when you go for your CT Scan on Friday. I have been noticing the weather on the East Coast a lot. I guess you are not looking forward to 1-3 inches of snow forecasted for your area and I guess there may even be more up and down the 95 corridors? It seems like you have been getting all the wet and cold weather there and the Western States areas and where I am, having just been getting dry conditions with high fire warning areas. We haven’t been getting the bad smoke from the California and Oregon fires like we were. It seems that the winds are blowing the smoke to the West. I guess that is bad for the Los Angeles and San Francisco areas because the fires mostly started in the mountains east of them. We do need the moisture, but we have been getting a few nights down in the single digits with the days in the upper 30s and 40s. We get a lot of cold wind blowing from the surrounding mountains that now have snow on them. I guess its just winter and that can be anticipated. I’m sure the snow will soon start to fly locally soon.

I hope you don’t have a problem when you go to the Boston Celtics game in February. Has that always been a tradition for you and your family or just you and your son? I hope everything works out well for you. I hate to fight the crowds at those type of events. I just stick to watching games on the TV. I guess the game would be blacked out on TV though in your area?

I’ll close for now. Take care.
Ray

[Raymond C. King]

Hi Charlene,

No, we haven’t been getting any snow. Just some cold and freezing nights. We haven’t had hardly any rain in the Southern Idaho area. It all seems to be going north of us. We have had a real dry spell. The whole west has not had hardly any moisture and now the forest fires have really started up bad in California and Southern Oregon. So far, we haven’t been getting any of those since camping has well stopped since school and the colder weather has set in. Sorry to hear about all the rain and cold weather has started in your area and that always seems to upset your health problems. A nice warm place like Nova Scotia would probably help some of your SAD symptoms and other problems too but it costs a lot to locate in one of those places. Some of those places aren’t too nice now because of all the hurricanes and now the LA and San Francisco area fires. So many people are now going to be left in the cold, so to speak.

Happy to hear that your virus problem seems to have abated now after that 16 hours of sleep. Sleep can really help with a lot of problems. I hope the headaches are gone now too?

Thank you for your kind words about all my medical problems when mine seems to dwarf what you and Paula are going through. My neck incision has well healed up now. I was able to take off the bandages this Friday.

The heart doctors visit went well although, as usual, on a routine visit with my heart doctor I end up just getting to have a doctor’s PA (Physician Assistant) doing the tests and checking the results. It was kind of funny that the while talking to the PA I told him that I had been getting a lot of migraine problems with the shimmering angle glare in my eyes that only seemed to last 15 to 30 minutes. He told me he worked with a pain and spine doctor for several years before coming to the Cardio office and that the pain doctor could give me a Sphenopalatine Ganglion Block that always seems to work. I asked him who the Doctor was, and he told me. I said wow, I have an appointment with him on Friday to give me a shot in my shoulder and I will ask him about it if he has time. My heart ECG and other tests went well. He did listen and confirm he heard the crackles in my lungs from the IPF. My EKG test and SpO2 levels were in the mid-90s and blood pressure was 110/56 so everything was well within ranges.

On Friday, I did go to the Pain Dr to get the shoulder shot. I told him about the Migraine condition and the Sphenopalatine Ganglion Block that the heart PA told me that he gives. He said that they only do that block in rare cases as it is permanent. He said if it is really bothering me, there are a lot of medications that can help and to let him know if I want to try any. I told him I didn’t have them very often and it seamed to happen more with the bright sun and other bright lights that caused them. He said that was a common cause. I later looked up the subject of migraines on the internet. It seems to be a pretty common problem and if the shimmering goes away after a short time, no real treatment is needed. I don’t get headaches with them, so it probably isn’t caused by any serious brain problem. Anyway, the shoulder shot went well. I just had to lie down on a slab under the X-Ray unit for a short while when he gave me the shots of, I guess a combination of Steroids and Cortisone. That is what they usually inject for that type of pain. It has helped a little, I think. It still aches a little, but I can comb my hair now with my right hand and don’t have to support it with my left arm while doing it. I think it was getting better even before the shot so maybe it helps and maybe not. I go back this coming Tuesday for a follow-up appointment.

So far, the dizziness from taking the Esbriet has kind of stopped. I get just a little dizzy just after I get the shot, but it goes away quickly. I’ve only been taking the 1 one time per day tablet now for 5 days. In another 9 days, I will be taking 2 per day. I have had a couple of nights that I got a little acid reflux, but it didn’t burn like it had a month and ½ ago. I can just chew up a Tum and go right back to sleep for the rest of the night. I’m careful that I don’t eat anything after 4 PM and don’t recline for 3-4 hours after I eat. I also chew 2 of the esophaCool tablets with a sip of water before going to bed. I think that helps too. I have been keeping a log of each day for the Esbriet, so I can refer to it if I need to later.

We went to a free lunch at the Texas Roadhouse Restaurant at 11:15 AM today. Several restaurants were giving Veterans a free meal today and tomorrow to celebrate Veterans Day. I had to pay for my wife but mine was free. I was a Korean Veteran. I was drafted into the army in 1954 to 1956. I had been an eye glasses lens grinder before I was drafted so I served time as a medic.

I hope you had a good weekend and it went well. Keep us posted.

I’ll chat with you later. Keep in touch. I love hearing from you.

Ray

[Raymond C. King]

Good Afternoon Charlene,

Thank you for your quick responses especially when you don’t feel well. I hope things ease for you soon. I’m glad you decided to just set things aside and go back to bed to get some needed rest. I do hope it helps although, with all the problems you have and have had, you might not be able to sleep long enough to make them go away.

I have noted on the TV weather forecasts on the East Coast, it sometimes shows me the approximate area where I think you live and as you said, there has been a lot of wet weather. I couldn’t see if it had some snow or not mixed up with it. The only snow we have had was just a skiff one morning and other than that, we have had a few days with a little rain.

On the 12th-16th of October, we drove to see our daughter in Ft Collins, Colorado. On Sunday, two days before we left, they had about 4-inches of heavy snow. Luckily, on Tuesday when we left, most of it had melted. When we were leaving though, I had to clear the snow and frost off my car windows. The rest of the snow melted and blew off the car before we hit the Wyoming border. The roads were all clear all the way home so the 8-1/2-hour trip home went well. I guess its winter time now, so we were lucky.

I am sorry your SAD has been acting up on you. I’m sure that more depression isn’t what you need. I have been lucky that I don’t have to worry about the weather changes because it changes so frequently, even within the day. I once worked with a guy while I lived in Southern Utah that had to move to a desert area in California where it is just hot and dry all the time. He did have a bad case of Asthma though and that seemed to help him. I guess where you are the weather changes quite often. I’m sure it gets cold there now and since you are in a Great Lakes line, there can be a lot of different types of wet weather changes. Is there anything you do about your SAD other than anti-depressants? I guess while you were in Nova Scotia, it didn’t act upon you too much? Keep us posted. I really worry about you. I hope you are not coming down with something new today that knock you down more?

About the IVC removal last Friday. We changed the neck and neck bandages last night and both areas seem to be healing properly and no sign of infection. In fact, we were able to just put a regular Band-Aid on both wounds. The neck area doesn’t hurt too much now. I think I have just made more out of it than was necessary. I guess I am just a glutton for sympathy.

I did start my Esbriet this morning. So far, the only thing I have noticed was that about 5 minutes or so after having it crushed and injected into my intestines, I got really dizzy. It only lasted for about 15 minutes. I’ll keep a record of how it goes when the rate and frequency are expanded.

Thanks for the best wishes on the shoulder shots for this Friday. I guess there is a chance it might help.

I will be telling my heart doctor tomorrow that the little sound he said he heard while listening to my lungs 2 years ago, turned out to be IPF. On that check, he said he heard a small click on my left side and that I should let my family doctor know about it on my next visit. I did tell my family doctor what the heart doctor told me, but he said he didn’t notice anything there. He was my same doctor that noticed the crackle early this year and started the discovery of the IPF. Maybe he got a better stethoscope that he used then. I just must keep these doctors in business by my constant visits.

I’ll close this now. I hope you start feeling better and that the bad symptoms you said you were having this morning didn’t develop into anything bad and some extra sleep helped.

Thinking of you,
Ray

[Raymond C. King]

Morning Paula,

Thank you for the fast response. It sounds like you and Charlene start your day early in the mornings. I too seemed to start my days early, but I have no real reason to do so. All my life I just have always been an early riser. I woke up at 4:05 AM this morning but thought I had no reason to get up and tried to go back to sleep. All that happened was my thinking of all the things I wanted to do today and since some of them required I had to check things first, I decided to get up at about 4:50.

I always must start with a cup of coffee and while drinking it, I can make me a list of the things I want to accomplish before the day goes away so I won’t forget. Just a memory problem or old age I guess. I don’t know which has the priority. I can also catch up on the news on the TV while sipping the coffee.

Then, my wife usually gets sometime after 6 AM to get ready to give me my first sequence of daily medications and change my bandages on the J-tube at 7 AM. She is a night person and stays up way after I go to bed at about 10 PM. Sometimes I wake up at 1 to 3 AM and she still hasn’t gone to bed. A lot of times, she takes naps during the day and goes to sleep in her recliner while we are watching evening TV. I have never been able to take naps in the daytime. I figure that a waste of time for some reason. They say it is better for you to take a daytime Siesta, but I just never could.

Anyway, there is a lot of things to keep up with today, election time and I guess we will have to go and vote. As you say, the election results might be quite interesting and to take a lot of time for the results. I always hate to go to our voting place as it is a school and there is never any place to park. It is only about 6 blocks away and if the weather was good, I could walk there if I was able. Today, the weather forecast is for some cold windy conditions with rain and possibly a little snow. I see on the TV that the East Coast is having bad weather too.

Thank you for your information on the shoulder shot. WOW! 5 surgeries on the shoulder. My doctor did say that sometimes the shoulder rotor cuff surgery doesn’t help. My wife did have a knee problem of a worn-out knee cap pad and she got immediate relief from the shot the doctor put in it. That was over a year ago and she still has had no trouble with it. My brother had knee replacement surgery and he said it worked well, but it still hurts from time to time but not as bad as it did before the surgery. I guess its kind of a crap shoot one way or the other. Everyone seems to get different results

I am happy to hear that your cold seems to be going away. Some of them have been hanging on to people for over a month. I know my wife had one that seemed to last forever and a lot of the medicines she was taking didn’t help her much. It seemed to really knock her down.

Thanks for offering to send the “Fat Fairy” my way but I really don’t need her or his help. (I have to include both sexes to be politically correct nowadays”) LOL, I don’t seem to be losing or gaining weight, so I guess I am getting what my body can handle.

Take good care of yourself. I know your days are chocked full of a lot of frustration over what this PF is adding to other problems.

Until later,
Ray

[Raymond C. King]

Hi Paula and Charlene,

WOW! I am way behind catching up on all the IPF news and posting replies. SORRY!

I hope you don’t mind my combining a response to you both in one post and not making it more of a personal response to each one?

Thank you both for inquiring about how I was getting along after the IVC filter removal.

It was a long Friday. They called me at about 9 AM Friday and said they had a cancelation and wanted me to come in as soon as I could instead of 12 Noon. I went in at about 9:30 and didn’t get home from the hospital until about 5:15 PM. I thought it would be a lot shorter as it was done in the Out-Patient Surgery part of the hospital. The doctor said he was going to have to make an opening in my neck area to pull it out. He also went into the groin with a probe with a balloon on it so if it broke up or one of the legs that were embedded in the vein wall broke through it, he could cut off the venous flow of blood. After the procedure, he did say he had to cut away some of the neck mussels to get to the vein, so it would be a bit sorer than normal. Anyway, it all went well, and it didn’t break up during the extraction. The only bad part was that after I got back in my room, I had to lie flat on my back for 3 hours to make sure the bleeding had stopped. My neck still hurts when I twist my head. I will take the bandages off tomorrow and then get started on the Esbriet procedure. My pulmonologist told me to start it again after I was feeling OK this week. We decided tomorrow was the date.

I seem to spend most of my time going to doctors. Wednesday, I have my normal yearly heart doctors visit. Friday, I go to my Spine and Pain doctor. I went to him last Thursday for a really bad shoulder problem I was having. It got to where I couldn’t reach my head to comb my hair. He said it was my shoulder rotor cup and that there were 3 things he could do to help it. One was surgery. The second was giving me a shot in my shoulder and the third was send me to Physical Therapy. He then said that for me, I only had two options. I was too old for surgery and I would more than likely die if he went that way. He told me he would recommend trying the shot and if that didn’t work in a few days, he would make an appointment for me for Physical Theory. The shot option would last for maybe 6 months if it worked and the Physical therapy would help increase my movement range a little, but nothing would cure it. So, Friday I go in for the shot. He does it with Contrast injected first so he can see under x-ray where the needle is going. But he said someone must be with me to drive me home because of the Contrast injection. Well, that will kill Friday and the follow-up appointment for the following Tuesday.

Sorry to just keep posting problems with me but at my age, that seems to be my life.

Paula,
Thanks for posting the information about the Z pack. Since I am not on things like that yet, I was at a loss. It sounds like a really harsh drug. I hope it is and will work for you?

I hope that you get over that cold. The high fever undulation sounds quite scary, I know that the fever alone can really knock a person down.

I don’t know what to recommend for the “fat fairy” issue. My dietitian wants me to gain weight. Does the prednisone cause weight gain?

Charlene,
I see all your many, many posts on all the different forum topics and it looks like you are keeping awfully busy. I don’t know where you find all the time. It takes me forever just to. put in a post. I just procrastinate too much and waste time.

Happy you got your flu shot. I’m not sure they work because my brother and his wife never get them and don’t ever get flu shots. I keep thinking that someday they may be sorry they didn’t get one, but I have no ammunition to counsel them. All I can tell them is we always get ours but when we still get a little dose of it sometimes anyway, what can I say?

I’ll close for now and get this posted.

Take good care of yourselves and keep me posted how things are going with you.

Ray

[Raymond C. King]

Hi Paula

Thanks for the quick reply.

Yes, this Esbriet saga is quite exasperating. I am thinking that I should just tell my Pomologist to forget about it. He did ask me if I still wanted to go through with the whole process when he kind of felt that I might not be able to get to the full strength. It’s going to be a long time to find out and Esbriet doesn’t have any real way of knowing for sure if it is working for everyone. It is just a guess and of course, they want to sell their product.

The stint removal Friday is just done as an outpatient procedure, so it is in-and-out after your wakeup and can walk ok. The Doctor said they will be going through the vein in my neck, so they can pull the stint out top first. They will also open the groin vein, so they can help guide the legs of the stent or remove any pieces if it should break up during removal. My wife will drive me back home after I wake up. It’s no big deal. I have had a couple of stints put in before, but they never did go through the neck vein. They always just went through the groin vein. Thank you for thinking the good thoughts for me. They are appreciated but I think it is just kind of a minor short procedure. Just like going to the Doctors office but a little more stuff available if they need it.

I am sorry you have been having a bad time with your cold. My wife had something similar over a month ago and after a time, went to the doctor about it because it was knocking her down and she was afraid she had phenomena or something. The doctor told her it was just the crud cold that seemed to be going around everywhere and just to take the store medications for the symptoms she was experiencing. She took a lot of Cold Ease and other medications for the congestion. It really lasted for a lot longer than the regular cold and the newscasts said it was quite an epidemic that was going around. I know this doesn’t help in your case and I wish you well dealing with it. With your loss of oxygen problems, this is no small deal. Keep us posted.

Keep us posted about the problem you are having about using a Z-Pack while being on OPEV. I hope it doesn’t apply to Esbriet too but maybe I won’t even be on it if I get to the point of needing external oxygen. So far, I am still above the 88 OXY
Sp02 reading necessary to require it.

I didn’t know Charlene was not feeling well. I haven’t heard from her for a while. I hope it isn’t serious.

I’d better close for now and get a few things done. Winter is starting to come on heavy and I still have some items that need winterizing outside.

My best thoughts are with you and Charlene.

Ray

[Raymond C. King]

Hi gain Charlene and Paula,

I’m just catching up on how my IPF and Esbriet challenge is going. I finally got my bleeding ulcer cleared up and got a visit with my pulmonologist. He has decided to try to get me back on Esbriet again but on a modified dose. I am to take just 1 pill daily for 2 weeks and then 2 pills daily for 1 time per day etc. As my doses continue to expand, if I have problems, I am to let him know immediately. He said that since I am taking tablets ground and powdered and are they are going directly into my intestines without the slow to release action that the tablets were designed to be dissolved, that I may never be able to achieve a full 9 pills per day. Also, he said that whatever point I find that my system will not tolerate a stronger intestinal concentration that I will just have to end up taking that amount. He said I probably will never be able to take the 1 pill full daily dose tablet Esbriet version because my system wouldn’t accept that strong of a concentration. Therefore, I will just end up taking whatever amount I ended up being able to accept. At that tolerance point, he said he didn’t know if what I was able to take would do the work it was designed to do because Esbriet life extension tests were run with people that took the full dose over the test period. He said he did not want to switch me to Ofev because it might cause more side effects to the other problems I am having.

The result is that I may not be able to take enough if any, Esbriet to do me any good and it is going to take a long time trying to build up any quantity of Esbriet for it to get to a point that it is extending the progression of my IPF. I am truly a Genie pig for Esbriet for this type of taking their medication. They have no clue of what my results might be, and they keep calling me to see if I have started taking it again yet and if so, to please let them know what problems I am having if they should occur. THEY OWE ME!!

As for now, I am going into the hospital again Friday to have an IVC (Parachute type) stint taken out. It has been in for over the 5-year time they say is considered safe to leave them in. They can deteriorate and break up and go into your lungs, or heart. Some have caused death. Mine has been in for about 10 years and my HRCS shows one leg is sticking into the blood vein and the head has tilted, so out it will come. The doctor said they don’t put them in anymore unless it is extremely necessary.

I’ll let you know how the Esbriet process goes from time to time, but it looks like it’s going to be a really long process, so I probably won’t post much for a long time.

Hope things are going well with you both. I see things have fallen apart a lot for you, Paula and you, Charlene, appear to be as busy as ever. Keep up your spirits and take care of yourselves.

Ray King

[Raymond C. King]

Hi,

I have been reading this forums posts and I would like to share some information that might help anyone with the acid reflux problems. I have had the Acid Reflux problem interment for over 50 years. I have had 3 Hiatal Hernia operations locally and even one other at Mayo Clinic to try to help with the acid reflux problem.

In early 2011, I had one Hiatal Hernia operation that ended up causing me to have a frozen stomach requiring me to now take all my food supplements and medicines through a J-Tube that bypasses my stomach and goes directly to my small intestines. In late 2011, Mayo Clinic tried to help with the problem and have determined I have no Hiatal mussel therefore I have a straight shot from my mouth directly to my stomach, so stomach acid can flow freely from my stomach to the esophagus causing the acid burn.

Since 2011, I been sleeping on my back with my upper body elevated approximately 30 degrees in a hospital type bed. This has helped but I still get the night time acid reflux burn. Naturally my regular Gastroenterologist has me on Nexium 2 times per day to help reduce the acid but that doesn’t always help. I still get the reflux especially if I accidently slide down a little in the bed while I am sleeping.

Now for what I have that seems to help with the nighttime Acid Reflux.

While I was in the hospital about 6 weeks ago getting a new J-Tube replacement in my belly, the hospital Gastroenterologist was visiting me and I told her of the acid reflux problem I was still having. She said, “you have the same problem my husband has had for years and he has been taking a non-prescription pill and he swears that it has helped with that problem”. She said, “I don’t remember the name of it but if you call me, I will find out and let you know”. I called her a couple of days later and she told me “it is called EsophaCool by LifeExttensions.com. At LifeExtensions, the price was $9 for 60 tablets. I purchased a bottle of it from Amazon.com Prime for a little over $10.50. That costs about $0.17 per tablet. I bought it at Amazon because I have Amazon Prime and that gives you 2 days free shipping and I could get it faster. I have tried using EsophaCool for about 3 weeks. When I chew 2 tablets at bedtime, I have never had acid reflux at night. I tried just taking one chewable tablet at night and I woke up during the night feeling I was starting to get the reflux problem and then I chewed another and went right to sleep the rest of the night. From now on, I’m not going to skimp on chewing the 2 tablets. After I chew them, I usually sip a little water to wash them down. They have a medium licorice taste, so if you don’t like licorice after taste, you may not like them. Somewhere, I have read that taking black licorice helps people with acid reflux problems and this tablet doesn’t say it has any licorice extract in it, but it tastes like it. Anyway, you might give it a try if you want. Maybe it will help.

I do have a lot of medical problems and take lots of medications. I guess it comes with being 83. I also have IPF and I am trying to take Esbriet for that. Starting Esbriet ended up with my having a bleeding stomach ulcer, so I have stopped for it to heal for 30 days. I think I am a Guinea pig for the company that makes Esbriet as I must take it crushed and inserted into my intestines. Esbriet doesn’t know if it is possible to be taken that way. All they know is it must be taken uncrushed and with food. I can’t eat food, and the crushed Esbriet bypasses my stomach, so Esbriet doesn’t know what that may cause. My Pulmonologist wants me to try again shortly anyway but to take the recommended doses at a slower rate. He isn’t sure if I can ever work up to a dose that will do me any good. Time will tell.

I hope any of this helps. Good luck with whatever you try.
Ray King