acid reflux in your 20's???

[ybelyay]

I think I have acid reflux and as soon as I get up the nerve to go to the doctors ill find out for sure....here's what I'm worrried about...I know there's no cure for it so I'm wondering will I have to take drugs for the rest of my life if/when I find out???? I honestly don't want to because I know the drugs will only do more harm than good....any suggestions/advice??

[gumdropper1]

ybe,

I suggest you try to cure it yourself. The problem with cures for acid reflux is that stomach acid is what kills things that can make you vomit. If you reduce stomach acid, you're reducing your first line of defense against puking. I know people who take drugs for their acid and they've told me they have more nuisance stomach problems (read: vomiting) than they did before.

Instead try taking Gaviscon. Gaviscon isn't an antacid. It forms a layer on top of your stomach to keep acid from splashing up. So you can control the acid without exposing yourself to emetogenic substances.

See if Gaviscon helps get your acid under control before seeing a doctor.

Doug

[Emeto_The_Alf]

Hmm, have you noticed a pattern with your reflux? I know not being able to "go" is what seems to on set mine. Some foods can cause reflux, and also certain positions you place yourself in at night or after eating. Luckily, as Doug said, this is not something medicine is a must for unless your doctor finds it to be severe enough Hope this helps you a bit!

[ybelyay]

thanks for the advice guys! I have a feeling its serious tho because I feel this burning sensation at least twice a week even while watching my diet.....I just don't want to take pills for the rest of my life.

[jkl81]

There's a couple of issues here....first it is very possible to have acid reflux in your 20s or younger. The acid is usually not the problem, a point gumdropper already made. The problem is usually the esophageal sphincter being weak and letting it reflux into your esophagus. Your stomach is well adapted for highly acidic environments with the tough lining it has, but your esophagus does not. It is the esophagus that can get damaged over time. Step 1 is to change your eating habits, cut out or reduce trigger foods like caffeine and alcohol, tomato stuff etc..the usual suspects. Step 2 is to try OTC heartburn remedies. It may or may not be the case that reducing stomach acid makes you more vulnerable to being sick...it makes sense...and it was shown in a small study where people were exposed to norovirus and an OTC antacid nearly simultaneously, the infection rate went way up. Whether this happens with all antacids is certainly open to debate. The next step after that is unclear...many doctors want to do endoscopies to test for Barret's Esophagus and similar damage, these can be really serious in some people. Barret's can up your lifetime risk of esophageal cancer from very low odds to 1/100 or so. At that point you may have to consider...do you want to play tose odds or play the odds at the norovirus table. My dad was diagnosed with Barrets in 2001 and they scared the living daylights out of him...and we would have been scared too, only my brother and I weren't told how serious it could be. At the time I was sort of like Damn, man, it's just some GERD, and you had a little damage....but I didn't know how awful that damage looked. My dad has a better quality of life on the PPI drugs....and it's hard to say if he has had more stomach bugs since then. He got one in 2003 and 2007 and something on the road a couple of years ago which I do not know if it was a virus or the awful local food and water in the developing country he was visiting. At any rate he does pretty well for himself with minimal complications so far. It just depens on how bad your problems are and what your risk tolerance is.

[Blushes]

Sorry I don't have much advice, but I'm 23 and I've had some serious heartburn and acid reflux that used to keep me up for hours on end. It was until I discovered that salty snack foods (especially chips, popcorn, pretzels, etc.) caused this, as well as spicy foods, coffee and tea. I have given up eating/drinking those ingredients late at night and I don't have that problem anymore. (I'm still addicted to drinking coffee and tea throughout the day, however, so I gotta watch my limit because it's giving me other unwanted symptoms like an irritable bowel).

[regina]

Diet drinks did it for me. Once I stopped drinking them my symptoms went away within days. You might want to try an elimination diet. It can take awhile but can be well worth it if it means you can you don't have to go on drugs.