Heartburn is crappy.... x.x

[Mysticalmelody]

Soooo .. yesterday an odd thing happened...

I went and hung out with my boyfriend and helped him steam wallpaper off his walls all day. When I got home around 10 I just wanted to get to sleep. So I went right to bed, knowing I'd need to go to work early the next morning. However, not long after I laid down I started having really horrible pains all over my stomach and chest area. I'd say on a scale of 1-10 ... 1 being a sting from a cat scratch that goes away and such and 10 being "I can hardly talk at all get me to a hospital" It was an 8 or 9......

I tried drinking water, going to the bathroom (or trying) and nothing was working. I really didn't know what could be wrong because it wasn't like a stomach ache as a result of something not agreeing with me. I'd had those before and water and using the restroom always help those.... it was way way worse pain-wise.

Sooo .. unable to solve the problem myself, and still in very bad pain I went and bugged my mom in her office, and asked her to help do something. She looked annoyed cause she was working so I explained to her how much it hurt and stuff .. She started saying it must be food poisoning or the stomach flu... and all I could do was take ginger and 7up and wait it out... Even though I preferred actual meds ..

I tried that... Tried it for a half hour or so but I couldn't even think about anything the pain was as bad as always. I went back into my mom's office telling her i couldn't stand it. She looked annoyed again and sighed and said she didn't have time for it and stuff and told me I could call the doctor on call if I wanted. I called the doctor and the receptionist hearing that I was in pain asked why my mom didn't call for me... "cause she's being a bitch..." I responded... honestly I was getting really annoyed it seemed like my mom barely cared... It was hard walking around the house looking for the meds or the phone.... even trying to talk to the doctor ...

Eventually I got through and explained things. My doctor said that I should find an anti-acid like Mylanta ... I said I didn't think we had any so she said "either that or the ER" So I told my mom exactly what she said and my mom looked at me and said "I have a lot of work to do tonight... and I thought you were too young to have heartburn" and looked at me like I was this huge burden. (24 hour rite aid is 2 blocks away!) She grudgingly went to rite aid and picked up some Mylanta ... I took the Mylanta and 5 mins later I was fine and went to sleep.

Rawr... I think I would be much nicer to her if she were going through the same thing x.x If she had just been more helpful it wouldn't have taken 2+ hours of pain for me to feel better. I wish I had my boyfriend's mom right then... She's a nurse...

Oddest thing though .. All I ate were sandwiches that day.. I had a 6inch turkey cheese and mayo for breakfast and the same for dinner.. and I had pb&j for lunch. What made my stomach acid hate me?

[Lisa M]

Are you on any meds? Did you take any ibuprofen/naproxen (Aleve)/other painkillers?

[El_CJ]

That's prety crazy. I only get heartburn if I skip meals for 24 hours or so.

[Jon885]

I have the same problem. That's why I always have tums in stock.

[Mysticalmelody]

I never had heartburn before. I usually use ibuprofen for headaches and such but I hadn't in a while.

[Masa the Masta]

Does drinking milk help??

[Kwiz]

Does drinking milk help??

I'm guessing it wouldn't, simply because it's not nearly alkaline enough to counteract digestive acids.

[Masa the Masta]

Weak sauce.

[MeneerDijk]

I'm guessing it wouldn't, simply because it's not nearly alkaline enough to counteract digestive acids.

Milk will neutralise the stomach acid a little bit, but it will also stimulate the production of more stomach acid, so taking it in small amounts is advised.

Couple of months ago i started having pains right under my lowest right rib, it wasnt super painful, but enough to distract me when i had to focus. The pain slowly spread to the left side of my body and i started becoming nauceous around dinner time. My physician put me on Ranitidine to make the stomach produce less acid so a possible irritation f the stomach or duodenum wall has time to clear up. It didn't help much though, after that she put me on Omeprazol, wich helped a bit, but didnt make it go away totally. So i had to have a gastro-duodenal endoscopy, wich means having a tube stuck down my throat to examine my stomach and duodenum and to take samples. Turns out i had a bacterial infection of 'Heliobacter Pylori' (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helicobacter_pylori). An eradication treatment with antibiotics should have taken care of that. I feel a lot better since then, my stomach isn't 100% but i'm confident it will be all better after my vacation, since stress wreaks havoc on my stomach.

[Jetsetlemming]

I'm guessing it wouldn't, simply because it's not nearly alkaline enough to counteract digestive acids.
I've read that heartburn is a lack sufficient stomach acid, and antacids reduce the amount of acid in the stomach to the point where your body goes into emergency acid production mode to fill the stomach back up, and really the best cure for heart burn is vinigar, but I don't trust the writer. :P (It's from "Natural Cures 'they' don't want you to know about" by Keven Trudeau) Take a tums or pepto bismol or something like that. I have a steady stock of pepto bismol tablets. That an aspirin and you'll never have to see a doctor again, right? :D

[japanat]

How long between your last meal and laying down? Oily foods or cayenne pepper? Citrus? Eggs? Could be a reaction to the glues used for the wallpaper (causing you to produce much more mucus, thus irritating the stomach lining).

Many foods that you tolerate well can cause problems if you eat/drink, then soon lay down. If the sphincter between your stomach and esophagus is loose or weakened (caffeine also contributes!), it can allow the stomach contents to back up into the esophagus. The pain can go from a mild burning all the way to a heart-attack-like feeling. Google GERD.

I have a hiatus hernia, where the stomach pushes slightly through into the chest cavity, and I have been to more doctors than I can count (it doesn't help that we're doing this all in Japanese, where I might miss important nuances).

Their recommendations:
Small meals (4-5/day, small quantity)
Increase protein, reduce fatty foods
Reduce caffeine (not at all at night)
Don't eat or drink anything other than water within 3 hrs of bedtime
Start keeping a notebook, listing foods eaten whenever it occurs
LOSE WEIGHT (if you are, like me, even a little heavy)

If you're careful, you can keep it from ever becoming GERD. Good Luck!

[Mysticalmelody]

well .... we ate at togos... turkey ham cheese lettuce and a lil mayo sandwich (filled me up well) and i had a diet pepsi .. then we went back to his house and watched a movie for a while... then we took about 30 mins or more to get me to my house and i went to bed soon after I'd guess we ate at 7:30 ish and i went to bed at 10... I've never had this problem before and hopefully I never will again. If I do though.. I'll have my lovely Mylanta!

[Kwiz]

Milk will neutralise the stomach acid a little bit, but it will also stimulate the production of more stomach acid, so taking it in small amounts is advised.

Ah, I stand corrected then. Have you ever used milk to settle a heartburn of your own?

[MeneerDijk]

When i was having my stomach infection trouble i put some milk in my coffee and had about 2 or 3 glasses of milk spread out during the day, usually during meals. I know caffeine isn't a good idea, but 1 cup a day wont matter too much. And it saves me from getting caffeine withdrawals

[Bruce86]

well .... we ate at togos... turkey ham cheese lettuce and a lil mayo sandwich (filled me up well) and i had a diet pepsi .. then we went back to his house and watched a movie for a while... then we took about 30 mins or more to get me to my house and i went to bed soon after I'd guess we ate at 7:30 ish and i went to bed at 10... I've never had this problem before and hopefully I never will again. If I do though.. I'll have my lovely Mylanta!


I hate to be pointing this out but it could be you are getting older. ^_^; well not old, but older. So you have to deal with new things your body throws at ya

[Shamu]

I started having stomach trouble when I was in my late teens. When I went off to college, the stress was too much for me sometimes and I developed an ulcer, which will occasionaly come back and give me trouble, if I eat really poorly and/or am very stressed.
My Dr. gave me a drug called Aciphex (sp?) that works really well though. Not sure how it all works, but I know that I felt better.
Milk always made my ulcer feel better, almost like it was coating it. Not sure if it was good for it or not though.
Mylanta works pretty well (liquid form) but I also like the little rolaids soft chews that taste more like candy than an anti-acid.

[japanat]

Water with a small amount of baking soda works great when you don't have anything else.

[Trump]

Did the doctor say it sounded like heartburn or did your mother?

What you describe does NOT sound like heartburn. Just because Mylanta helped doesn't mean it was heartburn.

Heartburn is when the acid from your stomach works its way back up into your esophagus. It feels like a burning sensation behind your heart and down your throat. It can be painful, but it comes down to that feeling (may be strong, but that's what it is).

Hmm... I bet I've felt what you are describing. No burning, but just pain in your mid to lower abdomen. It can be gutwrenching for lack of a better term and the pain is terribly distracting. You feel like you just want to curl up into a little ball rocking in pain.

Mylanta helps coat your stomach and who knows what chemical reactions it starts (or stops). So really, it sounds like you had some serious stomach cramps or gas buildup, not heartburn.

[Murakumo]

I've got my money on the mayonaise. You'restomach hates you because ofthe mayonaise.

.... and saying this is exactly the reason I will never make it in Japan.

American mayo = 100% fat (Japanese mayo a tiny less) and can't make your stomach a happy camper IMO. :blank:

Honestly, the best thing I've ever done for all sorts of things has been try to get my body alkaline... more energy, less stomach irritation... and what the hell, it even got rid of my dandruff. :duh:

Since I thought an alkaline diet tastes likecrap, I just eliminated a few of themore acidic things and take a supergreen supplement... mebbe this could help with your stomach woes?

[Mysticalmelody]

yeah I always tell them to be sparing on the mayo, but I hate mustard and dry sandwiches are crappy... as for the "heartburn" i don't think it was heartburn exactly.. but i do think it was a stomach acid problem of some sort I've had stomach cramps before.. they come and go and sort of taunt you with the pain, this was ongoing and nonrelenting and it hurt in a different way. Same with gas problems... toilet should have helped if it was that....

[japanat]

MysticalMelody,

2 questions:
1) How long did it hurt and was it constant or in waves?
2) Did it affect your breathing?
OK, 1 more: Was the pain generalized or in a specific point at one time? How large an area?