My vet prescribes Pepic AC when my dogs are prescribed antibiotics.

I do not know if Pepcid and Tagamet are similar. Perhaps you could Ask a pharmacist

I have the same issue...took cipro and ended up with all kinds of issues and the reflux is still here after 2 months. On prescription PPI's now, but still not helping. Doing everything, alkaline water, smaller meals, elevated bed...desperate now...considering cutting out wheat for a while, but it was the antibiotic that triggered it, so not sure if it will help

VedaBeeps, I don't have wheat sensitivity, but I don't eat much anyway. Not a fan of baked goods. It's not the wheat in the baked goods that causes the problem anyway, it's the bromine. Bromine displaces iodine in your thyroid and other tissues throughout your body. Iodine is needed by every single cell in your body. Eating a lot of commercial baked goods keeps your body from being able to use iodine.

Jim, thanks, but all proton pump inhibitor drugs can cause kidney damage, which is a big problem with lupus patients, because we usually get kidney damage anyway.

Here's an article on it:

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/common-heartburn-drugs-linked-with-kidney-disease/

Rekha, I only have this problem when I take antibiotics. Last time, I had to stop taking them after 4 days it was so bad. I couldn't eat anything. I was just drinking Ensure because my esophagus was so raw. I had to drink iced coffee, because I couldn't drink anything hot at all, not even warm. It was horrible. Took me two weeks of eating only Activia yogurt and drinking Kefir and buttermilk to get rid of the heartburn. Try the Activia. It's a little more than regular yogurt, but it really does help build back up the good bacteria in your system quickly. Also, maybe get some probiotic capsules that have several types of probiotic bacteria, not just lacto bacillus.

Several years ago when I got out of the hospital after a severe lung infection and was on about 22 different medications including huge doses of antibiotics, a neighbor who is a nurse brought me a bunch of those really sour little champagne grapes and they did help a lot.

It might be hard to find sour grapes this time of year when they're mostly at their peak, but if you can it's worth a try.

ETA I don't think it was the variety as much as the sourness that helped.

Have you spoken w/ the Dr. about this problem yet?

FWIW, I recently learned the probiotics in yoghurt, etc. are really not sufficient to replace all our gut bacteria. There are other foods that contribute to beneficial bacteria, & not all are fermented either...

I did talk to the doctor, who recommended the Activia and taking probiotics at night. I have a quality probiotic that has multiple strains of bacteria. I also eat prebiotic and probiotic foods daily. I eat lots of pickles (love them!), so plenty of sour stuff.

I only get this when I take antiotics. With some of them (doxycycline, for one), if I take it in the morning with applesauce, I'm fine. Amoxicillin is a whole 'nother animal.

Well, I have to take it, so I guess I'll have to tough it out for a few more days.

D, eating alkaline foods might help you, fruit, vegetables, nuts, no processed food, spicy or fried.

Drink plenty of water, have you tried the unsweetened almond milk? good protein, little calories, try it instead of the yogurt for a day or two and see if that works.

Hope that soon you get the sinus infection under control and don't have to take the antibiotics.

Silvia

Aloe vera juice or gel helps a bit too..

Silvia, thank you. I will get some almond milk tomorrow. Didn't think of that. I'm living on soft, mushy boiled veggies right now. Not too bad. Bread seems to help as well. I think it just sops up all the acid on the way down.

Cucumber is a cooling alkaline vegetable that you could eat at the same time as the yogurt.

Thanks, everyone. I'm a little better today, and only eating cool, alkaline foods and yogurt, so hopefully, the heartburn won't return as bad as before.

My coworker takes a teaspoon of Mustard. Worth a try at least once.

The thing that works best for me to prevent or relieve heartburn is digestive enzymes. Especially when I take them @ night before bed - which I do every night.

S Rodriguez, that's interesting. Maybe worth trying. I do love mustard.

Carol, I used to eat fresh pineapple or papaya every night before I went to bed. Lovely nighttime snack and great for digestion. I should try that again. Thanks for reminding me.

Just want to say a big thanks for all your suggestions. Still taking the antibiotics, and the heartburn still pops up, but less violently and less often than before. A couple of tums takes care of it. I'm pretty sick of yogurt, though. Can't possibly get sick of fresh fruits and veggies, so eating a ton of those has been fun, especially the fresh papaya -- yum! I usually don't eat much of that, since it's expensive, but this time I just wrote it off as medicine.

Have you tried a kombucha tea? Helps me.

I have to wonder if you are getting a bit of fungal esophagitis from yeast overgrowth, due to bacterial imbalance created by the antibiotic. It would make sense that probiotics/yogurt etc would gradually help. I don't know if there are any over-the-counter remedies for that; there are plenty of OTC vaginal remedies but not sure if those formulas are safe to swallow (although I do recall using vaginal tablets to treat oral yeast before an oral preparation was available).

You might ask your MD for a trial of oral nystatin. It is pretty benign as medications go.

It's actually much better now. The only time it flares up is if I bend over and the acid goes up into my esophagus. As soon as I stand back up, it goes away.

Halyna, I can't drink Kombucha tea because I'm allergic to mold, but thanks anyway.

I had to stop taking the antibiotics for a couple of days. No amount of yogurt, probiotics or alkaline food was preventing the heartburn, and it got so bad, I was in tears from the pain. Now I'm just living on Ensure, ice cream and yogurt. It's getting better, but it's going to take awhile.

A friend gave me a tip I wanted to share. She said to take 1/2 cup of oatmeal and 1/2 cup of rice and bring it to a boil. Turn it off and let it sit overnight (put it into the fridge once it cools), then stir well and strain off the water. Add a little sugar and cinnamon and sip on it during the day. The starch coats your esophagus and the cinnamon helps heal it.

I tried it. It works. Been drinking it all day.