What next?
in [Heart Medication]
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From: shinypenny on 28 Aug 2007 18:56 I've been on a course of nexium for the past 3 or 4 weeks, to deal with this most recent bout of issues. It's working well - despite a two-week vacation eating rich fatty foods and drinking alcohol and doing everything I shouldn't be doing, I've had no issues other than some mild stomach upset that was probably due to being off my normal diet (though I do have a sneaking suspicion it *might* be a side effect, now that I'm back, time will tell). My doctor (GP) told me to take the nexium for only one month, then to wean off it. After that... I'm not sure what is next, and he didn't really say. He recently sent me a follow-up letter with my most recent test results, and only suggested that if I continue to have chest pain and/or joint pain, to call and he'd refer me to a rheumatologist. He said nothing about seeing the GI specialist again. Recap: I saw the GI doc a year ago when this all first started. I was on the nexium at the time, which works like a charm for me, and having no symptoms. She monitored me every few weeks but never ran any tests. Her diagnosis and my GP's was GERD. Back then, the problem was constant heartburn and some stomach pain and nausea. After several months on the nexium, it went away for a year then came back recently in a new form, this time with chest pains and pain between the shoulder blades (look up my posts on this group if you want more detail). My GP's diagnosis, last time I saw him a few weeks back, is now more vague... he just says "my bet is that it's something with your GI tract." Heart tests are all normal. Last ultrasound was last year, and it was normal. Blood tests all normal except for the ANA, which indicates I may have arthritis (hence the rheumatologist). Nexium works like a charm... but doc says take it only short term. He's no longer saying I may need to take it the rest of my life, like he did last year... though I'm not sure why (but am glad). The question is: what next?? Do I just wait until the symptoms return, or new ones develop? Or do I ask to be referrred to the GI doc and then ... what? What tests should I ask for? If the nexium has given my system time to heal, would such a referral be a waste of time anyway? I guess I'm okay with waiting it out if that is the best next step, just not sure if it is... or rather, I wonder if I wasn't on an HMO there wouldn't be a different next best step. :-) P.s. Please don't recommend I try all the "lifestyle" changes because - except for the last two weeks on vacation - I've spent the last year doing every last one of those things, yet it returned again with a vengeance anyway!!! jen
From: Vanny on 29 Aug 2007 03:16 Have you had yourself checked for IBD (inflammatory bowel disease), i.e. Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, indeterminate colitis, collagenous colitis, etc.? http://www.umm.edu/patiented/articles/what_crohns_disease_inflammatory_bowel_disease_000103_1.htm PPIs are often found to help mild cases of IBD possibly by deacidifying the body and also GERD often accompanies IBD (and other chronic autoimmune diseases, such as type I diabetes), for example, in my case (Crohn's since I was a child). Perhaps, the next step would be to have gastroendoscopy plus colonoscopy - you will be out for both and apart from a slight sorethroat and possibly a little bit of soreness at the other end there will be no long-term aftereffects if the operator knows his/her stuff. What about your gallbladder? Are you suffering from intermittent mild colic? My gallbladder used to flare up every six months for years prior to having it out after I could not eat without RHS chest and sometimes shoulder pain. Write down all of your symptoms, the chronological order in which they occurred and whether or not they all persist, including any diagnoses and treatments, for as many years as you can. Include every pimple, wart and new freckle. Only in this way will the docs. be able to perhaps detect a pattern and obtain a diagnosis if you have something in addition to GERD. Do a search on your syptoms on PubMed and Medscape. On the surface of it your symptoms do sound like classical GERD. And you know that if you routinely challenge the disease by eating things that exacerbate GERD then the symptoms will flare up. PPIs do not stop reflux, they just change the nature of the reflux and only a fundoplication operation will rectify your problem if you only have GERD. Search through the archives for this group at Talkaboutsupport or google groups if you want to know more about fundoplication. I posted a couple of videos a few weeks back. Vanny "shinypenny" <shinypenny0001(a)yahoo.com> schrieb im Newsbeitrag news:1188341780.136324.250330(a)w3g2000hsg.googlegroups.com... > I've been on a course of nexium for the past 3 or 4 weeks, to deal > with this most recent bout of issues. It's working well - despite a > two-week vacation eating rich fatty foods and drinking alcohol and > doing everything I shouldn't be doing, I've had no issues other than > some mild stomach upset that was probably due to being off my normal > diet (though I do have a sneaking suspicion it *might* be a side > effect, now that I'm back, time will tell). > > My doctor (GP) told me to take the nexium for only one month, then to > wean off it. After that... I'm not sure what is next, and he didn't > really say. He recently sent me a follow-up letter with my most recent > test results, and only suggested that if I continue to have chest pain > and/or joint pain, to call and he'd refer me to a rheumatologist. He > said nothing about seeing the GI specialist again. > > Recap: I saw the GI doc a year ago when this all first started. I was > on the nexium at the time, which works like a charm for me, and having > no symptoms. She monitored me every few weeks but never ran any tests. > Her diagnosis and my GP's was GERD. Back then, the problem was > constant heartburn and some stomach pain and nausea. After several > months on the nexium, it went away for a year then came back recently > in a new form, this time with chest pains and pain between the > shoulder blades (look up my posts on this group if you want more > detail). My GP's diagnosis, last time I saw him a few weeks back, is > now more vague... he just says "my bet is that it's something with > your GI tract." > > Heart tests are all normal. Last ultrasound was last year, and it was > normal. Blood tests all normal except for the ANA, which indicates I > may have arthritis (hence the rheumatologist). Nexium works like a > charm... but doc says take it only short term. He's no longer saying I > may need to take it the rest of my life, like he did last year... > though I'm not sure why (but am glad). > > The question is: what next?? Do I just wait until the symptoms return, > or new ones develop? Or do I ask to be referrred to the GI doc and > then ... what? What tests should I ask for? If the nexium has given my > system time to heal, would such a referral be a waste of time anyway? > > I guess I'm okay with waiting it out if that is the best next step, > just not sure if it is... or rather, I wonder if I wasn't on an HMO > there wouldn't be a different next best step. :-) > > P.s. Please don't recommend I try all the "lifestyle" changes because > - except for the last two weeks on vacation - I've spent the last year > doing every last one of those things, yet it returned again with a > vengeance anyway!!! > > jen >
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