Heartburn Girl

Do you know me? I'm Heartburn Girl. Decades ago, a physician diagnosed me with GERD, related to a hiatal hernia. GERD, or gastro esophageal reflux, is miserable, and can be dangerous. It may be associated with infection by a bacterium, H. Pylori, which does require physician-supervised treatment. Although not as dramatic as GERD, acid indigestion, heartburn, afflicts millions on a regular basis. Seniors are at risk, due to changes in the L.E.S., the acid controlling stomach valve.

My physician prescribed a proton pump inhibitor, Prilosec, for GERD. I'd already had tooth enamel eroded by hydrochloric acid, and wanted to avoid esophageal damage. After reading the instructions and warnings, I took the drug, and seemed to suffer none of the listed side effects. At the end of each fourteen-day course of treatment with Prilosec, I was wretched, while off the drug. It was not until much later that I discovered pharmaceutical companies are not obliged to report some side effects.

Eventually I began to experience severe muscle cramps. Later crepitus in my knees became osteoarthritis. Eventually low-level pain in one knee escalated to the unthinkable. The opposite knee became painful. Other joints in my body began to follow suit. Morning stiffness extended to daytime stiffness. A bone density study confirmed osteopenia. I was deficient in Vitamin D, magnesium and, it turned out, Vitamin B12. This was shocking, because I'd always had an excellent diet, rich nutrients.

Doesn't anyone else think it is a most egregious act to advertise medicine directly to the consumer? To sell prescriptions? To provide coupons for drugs? To send people to a website to take a quiz where they diagnose themselves online? Have we all lost our minds, our senses, our morality? -Donna Flagg, Reporting in The Huffington Post

Imagine my astonishment, on reading more and more reports by respected medical, consumer and news publications. The litany of PPI side effects in these reports sounded like pages torn from my life. Although my issues were not provable side effects, I decided to cut my dosage in half. Very soon some of the joint pain and stiffness began to abate. Let's just say, the honeymoon was over between me and proton pump inhibitors. 

Here is a useful link to a 2010 CNN broadcast. http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/05/26/heartburn.medication.fractures/index.html

The Livestrong and Mayo Clinic sites contain comprehensive information concerning heartburn and proton pump inhibitors. Here is an article regarding strengthening the L.E.S. valve: http://www.livestrong.com/article/346430-exercises-that-strengthen-the-les-valve/.

Remember the joke about the Jewish grandmother, who said  chicken soup might not cure a cold, but it couldn't hurt? An alternate approach to heartburn may cure, and are less likely to  harm!