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Told me NOT to use baking soda because it can cause electrolyte imbalances. Said it would be better to use pepcid to calm down the GERD.
He asked if I want to repeat the manometry test to see if the wrap created in 2009 has come undone. Fortunately the machine is broken, so I don't have to make up my mind right now. The test is not fun, and neither is the surgery.
http://wiki.ask.com/Esophageal_motility_study
Any ideas?
My GE just called...
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Baking soda is just sodium bicarbonate, which is found in bile. It's purpose in bile, of course, is to neutralize the acidity of the hydrochloric acid produced by the stomach. It's excreted into the duodenum through the bile duct. Most of the bicarbonate is actually produced by the pancreas, from where it's ducted to the common bile duct. I suppose that it could theoretically cause an electrolyte imbalance, if you took way too much of it. 
Here are the ingredients in Pepsid, (depending on which version you choose):
I sure wouldn't recommend Pepsid Complete over baking soda. Bicarbonate is produced naturally in the body - most of the inactive ingredients in Pepcid are about as far from natural as one can get. The starch in Original Pepcid is probably cornstarch, by the way. I'm a little concerned that it might not be, though, since the starch in the other version is listed as corn starch. That opens the possibility that the starch in Pepsid Original might even be wheat starch.
Tex
Here are the ingredients in Pepsid, (depending on which version you choose):
Pepsid Complete
Ingredients
Active Ingredients (in each chewable tablet)
Famotidine 10 mg
Calcium carbonate 800 mg
Magnesium hydroxide 165 mg
Purpose
Acid reducer
Antacid
Antacid
Inactive Ingredients — Tropical Fruit Flavor:
Cellulose acetate, corn starch, corn syrup solids, crospovidone, dextrose, FD&C yellow #5 aluminum lake (tartrazine), FD&C yellow aluminum lake #6, flavors, gum arabic, hydroxypropyl cellulose, hypromellose, lactose, magnesium stearate, maltodextrin, mineral oil, sucralose, triacetin.
Inactive Ingredients — Berry Flavor:
Cellulose acetate, corn starch, crospovidone, D&C red #7 calcium lake, dextrose, FD&C blue #1 aluminum lake, FD&C red #40 aluminum lake, flavors, gum arabic, hydroxypropyl cellulose, hypromellose, lactose, magnesium stearate, maltodextrin, mineral oil, sucralose.
Inactive Ingredients — Cool Mint Flavor:
Cellulose acetate, corn starch, crospovidone, D&C yellow #10 aluminum lake, dextrose, FD&C blue #1
http://www.pepcid.com/Pepsid AC Original
Ingredients
Active Ingredient
Famotidine
Purpose
Acid reducer
PEPCID® AC® Tablets
Active Ingredient (in each tablet)
Famotidine 10 mg
Purpose
Acid reducer
Inactive Ingredients
Hydroxypropyl cellulose, hypromellose, magnesium stearate, microcrystalline cellulose, red iron oxide, starch, talc, titanium dioxide
I sure wouldn't recommend Pepsid Complete over baking soda. Bicarbonate is produced naturally in the body - most of the inactive ingredients in Pepcid are about as far from natural as one can get. The starch in Original Pepcid is probably cornstarch, by the way. I'm a little concerned that it might not be, though, since the starch in the other version is listed as corn starch. That opens the possibility that the starch in Pepsid Original might even be wheat starch.
Tex
It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.
There is no way I am going to take pepcid.
And I don't take enough soda to be dangerous. Really! It all comes to about 2 teaspoons a day, if that.
I am taking calcium carbonate and magnesium separately. I don't need it in the pepcid, far less of it, less effectively delivered, and with all the crap they put in. I'd rather suck on rock candy all day than do that. Sugar, at least, doesn't have all the chemicals.
I have famotidine without all the packaging and the additives. Why should I pay actual money for something with less actives and more inactive chemicals?
I am SO disgusted with him. I am going to find out about other health care providers. And talk to my PCP about changing providers while open enrollment for medicare is going on. I need to find a doc who will work with me, not against me.
It's strange - a friend and I just watched a movie with Meryl Streep about epilepsy and the ketogenic diet. Made in 1997. Listening to he rants about medication, and then more medication for the side effects and so on and so forth, the unwillingness to open the mind to any other possibilities, ESPECIALLY diet, sounded so very like the experiences of everyone here. Nothing has changed. Nothing is changing.
And I don't take enough soda to be dangerous. Really! It all comes to about 2 teaspoons a day, if that.
I am taking calcium carbonate and magnesium separately. I don't need it in the pepcid, far less of it, less effectively delivered, and with all the crap they put in. I'd rather suck on rock candy all day than do that. Sugar, at least, doesn't have all the chemicals.
I have famotidine without all the packaging and the additives. Why should I pay actual money for something with less actives and more inactive chemicals?
I am SO disgusted with him. I am going to find out about other health care providers. And talk to my PCP about changing providers while open enrollment for medicare is going on. I need to find a doc who will work with me, not against me.
It's strange - a friend and I just watched a movie with Meryl Streep about epilepsy and the ketogenic diet. Made in 1997. Listening to he rants about medication, and then more medication for the side effects and so on and so forth, the unwillingness to open the mind to any other possibilities, ESPECIALLY diet, sounded so very like the experiences of everyone here. Nothing has changed. Nothing is changing.