Indigestion

And not go into autopilot.

Thanks for all your advice I guess its just more than tests until they find the answer

jingle I have only just seen your remark to me or I would have replied sooner. I was NOT referring to a 'random French doctor ' but to my Medicin Traitent which is my GP here in France. He is an extremely GOOD doctor and not only a local doctor but he trains interns and teaches at the local hospital - a man who is probably far more experienced than any GP you have ever been to!!! He spends time with people and actually listens to what they have to say.
I would not just write anything on here or pass on a tip and opinion like that if I considered it to be either random or likely to be false. I have found this does in fact WORK for me.

I had a gastroscopy just over a year ago. It was uncomfortable rather than painful.
I did have a lovely nurse holding me still and reassuring me throughout which really helped a lot.

Interesting about sleeping on the left. I've slept on the right for years because I read/heard somewhere that it was better for the heart. I think I'll roll over now!

Just going to check the differences between colonoscopy, gastroscopy and endoscopy!

OK, I should have known - the tube goes down!

Thank you I am now going to eat my main meal at lunchtime and try eating more apples as I have the same problem.
However, I would always ask for a heart check if I have bad indigestion because when she was 59 my mother had terrible pain during the night and thought it was indigestion. She spent the night walking round the bedroom in agony and in the morning my father called the doctor (he would have accepted her self diagnosis during the night or may have been asleep). The doctor took one look at her and sent her to hospital where they diagnosed a coronary thrombosis and luckily she recovered.

Welshwife "....other than the Omniprazle as all those drugs do eventually do something to your intestines - he went into graphic details which I can only remember the gist of."

Can we have a link to the scientific paper your marvellous French GP got his evidence from. Please.

(I assume you meant 'Omeprazole'.)

I have reflux. I've had two endoscopies and two 24 hour manometry tests. I think the truth is, if you have reflux your valves, which keep stomach acid in your stomach, are weak. This could be part of the aging process or due to a predisposition.

There are a number of things that can help and are definitely worth trying. The thing that's helped me the most is stopping all alcohol. The alcohol replaxes the valves further and irritates your stomach. Chocolate has a similar effect. There are other foods worth noting, such as fried food, spicy food, raw onions, tomatoes, caffeine and fizzy drinks.

Other things to do include losing weight, eating smaller meals, eating earlier in the evening, wearing lose clothes and raising the head of your bed. Smoking is a big no no.

If you do all the things suggested, you will probably still have some reflux. Keep going back to the doctor until you are prescribed enough proton pump inhibitor to control it. Silent reflux needs a higher dose.

Someone on GN a little while back said that Kiwi fruit can help reflux. I am trying this and finding it effective. Thank you to whoever it was.

Pollyparrot I think in my case it is an ageing thing. Agree about chocolate. Yesterday I was tempted by, and ate, a small Valentines bar of chocolate. Been paying for it since. [big sigh]

Jing I don't understand why you are being so snippy with Welshwife . Just because you feel like maybe? And then go on to recommend a similar remedy - Is it OK for you to recommend kiwi fruit but not for someone else to recommend apples.
Gaviscon is different to other antacids because it contains a seaweed product that forms a frothy layer. I can imagine that apples do the same as I think mashed up apple would float on water, wouldn't it?
Acid blocking medicines are drugs which stop the stomach producing acid and something that has such an effect will inevitably run the risks of side effects. NICE does not recommend their long-term continuous use. They are also hard to give up for some people, as there is a "rebound effect" i.e. when they are given to non patients and then taken away a significant number suddenly acquire acid reflux symptoms.

Like Elegran I now have main meal at lunchtime, and very little after that. Toast etc in evenings. Plus fruit.
I can only eat eggs at breakfast, otherwise terrible indigestion.
A lot of trial and error to find a solution.

Gaviscon doesn't work for me. The only thing that works is the right dose of a proton pump inhibitor. I don't get side effects from them.

Some people need to take them in order to have a reasonably normal life.

The study which showed the rebound effect hasn't been widely replicated and the sample of subjects was small.

There's an awful lot of stuff on the internet about reflux and PPIs. Much of it is rubbish.

What's the difference between acid reflux and hiatus hernia?

Hiatus hernia is a condition that can give rise to acid reflux - which can have other causes.

A hernia is a bulge of a bit of "innards" through a weak bit in the muscle above it - men can get one in the abdominal wall at the point where the testicles descended from the abdomen to their final resting place. Weight lifters can get one from the strain of lifting heavy things, that is why they often wear hefty belts to reinforce their muscles.Both men and women can get them in other places, if the parallel muscle fibres weaken a bit to allow a bit of intestine to protrude through. If that bit then gets squashed or can't slip back to where it should be, then there can be serious trouble. Surgeons can put on a terylene patch to strengthen the weak point.

A hiatus hernia occurs where the digestive tube goes through the diaphragm, a muscle that crosses between the chest and the stomach. There has to be a hole in that to let the tube through, and a weak spot can develop there.

Elegran. We know. We have all got doctor google now.

If you can come up with a reliable cure for it, that would be very welcome.

Oh sorry. Didn't see someone has asked a direct question. Soz soz soz.

Jessm. I think giving unsupported facts about drugs in common usage is dangerous and wrong. I am not being 'snippy' as you call it. Don't project your own characteristics onto me please.

Do keep up, jings !

I have just eaten and enjoyed a roast pork dinner. Mincemeat pie and cream for dessert and a glass of white wine. And a bag of Valentine sweets given to me by my very darling daughter.

I cock a snook at consequences.

I looked into having the operation for this. Thankfully there was a warning in the article. Beware, after having this OP, you will never be able to burp.
That put me off. If you've ever had that feeling where you want to bring up wind and it won't come, you will have that forever.

I've had the op. I can still burp but I cannot vomit. I still need drugs, so it wasn't exactly a success.

Polly. That's interesting. Your the only person I 'know' who's had the 24hr thing.
Nobody has told me if I'm staying in hospital for the 24hrs. I was going to call them nearer the time (11 April) and ask.
I don't want to ask my Doctor as he's rushed off his feet ( one man practice)
and to be honest I now know more about this condition than he does. His words.

They sent me home with the tube in situ and a box you wear like a shoulder bag. The box contains a machine which records information. When you are awake you press a button when you experience acid reflux. You are told to eat and drink normally for the 24 hours.