GW
04-25-2003, 03:16 PM
Hi Gang! Thought I'd better post up over here in the "Medication" slot and share/confess about my recent digression and regression, instead of just putting this as a reply to someone else's thread over in the heartburn section.
Drugs are designed to help , not hurt when both the doctors and the patients know what they're doing.
As a lot of you know, a year ago I had finally had enough of a FIVE year suffering with ALL the typical and atypical symptoms of GERD. I was scoped and they found inflammation due to reflux and was officially diagnosed with GERD. I formed a "battle plan" and within about 3 months was healed. Now, I still can honestly say, I'm healed, but, what I'm about to explain has to do with the "panic portion" of heartburn woes and what I did to bring it about.....again.
The only thing that helped me was my own personal regimen I came up with which included the following:
TOTAL and COMPLETE lifesyle changes, ie, losing and keeping excess weight off, exercise program (5 days a week), a well balanced diet that increased from an avoiding of "trigger foods" to one that eventually included Mexican Food. Quit drinking and smoking (smoked only pipes and cigars very occasionally) and finally began to get back into prayer and meditation.
Meds included Prilosec, Celexa (for depression), and Xanax. Xanax for the panic attacks, which also cut down on the excess bile emission from the lower pyloric sphincter. This extra alkaline amount causes excess acid to build up in the stomach, thus forcing pressure and eventually coming all the way up into the esophagus.
This all has been working just fine for the last ten months until a few weeks ago I started being affected badly from the gas/bloat pains..... you know, the ones that radiatle in the chest, upper left sde and brestbone area? Well, just to prove the point to myself and anyone else, I guess ......I've put back on 20 pounds, and stopped exercising regularly a couple of months ago, and now with the woes of unemployment hitting our household (with no sign of relief here in the recessed and depressed state of Washington) the darn panic attacks started coming back again!! So, for the last week I've been on Alprazolam (generic xanax). Things are feeling fine now. I'm back into exercise, and dieting again....and best of all the "trembling and shaking" has ceased. I've just been using the 1/4 mg doses, one per day. I fully expect this to revert back to my old happy self again shortly. I'm in the "old dog / new tricks" thing again.
It's like the guys at the Lodge in Red Green's show alway say......."I'm a man... I can change... if I have to... I guess."
-geeDub
Drugs are designed to help , not hurt when both the doctors and the patients know what they're doing.
As a lot of you know, a year ago I had finally had enough of a FIVE year suffering with ALL the typical and atypical symptoms of GERD. I was scoped and they found inflammation due to reflux and was officially diagnosed with GERD. I formed a "battle plan" and within about 3 months was healed. Now, I still can honestly say, I'm healed, but, what I'm about to explain has to do with the "panic portion" of heartburn woes and what I did to bring it about.....again.
The only thing that helped me was my own personal regimen I came up with which included the following:
TOTAL and COMPLETE lifesyle changes, ie, losing and keeping excess weight off, exercise program (5 days a week), a well balanced diet that increased from an avoiding of "trigger foods" to one that eventually included Mexican Food. Quit drinking and smoking (smoked only pipes and cigars very occasionally) and finally began to get back into prayer and meditation.
Meds included Prilosec, Celexa (for depression), and Xanax. Xanax for the panic attacks, which also cut down on the excess bile emission from the lower pyloric sphincter. This extra alkaline amount causes excess acid to build up in the stomach, thus forcing pressure and eventually coming all the way up into the esophagus.
This all has been working just fine for the last ten months until a few weeks ago I started being affected badly from the gas/bloat pains..... you know, the ones that radiatle in the chest, upper left sde and brestbone area? Well, just to prove the point to myself and anyone else, I guess ......I've put back on 20 pounds, and stopped exercising regularly a couple of months ago, and now with the woes of unemployment hitting our household (with no sign of relief here in the recessed and depressed state of Washington) the darn panic attacks started coming back again!! So, for the last week I've been on Alprazolam (generic xanax). Things are feeling fine now. I'm back into exercise, and dieting again....and best of all the "trembling and shaking" has ceased. I've just been using the 1/4 mg doses, one per day. I fully expect this to revert back to my old happy self again shortly. I'm in the "old dog / new tricks" thing again.
It's like the guys at the Lodge in Red Green's show alway say......."I'm a man... I can change... if I have to... I guess."
-geeDub