Does any have gastroparesis and acid reflux and had success with medicine. How long did it take to feel better? I am a type 1 diabetic with gastroparesis and acid reflux. I have acid going into my mouth making eating and swallowing difficult. I have been put on Rabeprazole. I have been taking it since Aug 8. So far I haven’t had success. I am getting desperate. Is there anything doctors can do for me?
I have both of these issues. It got so bad at one point I was experiencing breathing issues because stomach acid was irritating my airway.
Originally, I was placed on Omeprazole which worked at first, but then seemed to exacerbat my gastroparesis.
Now, I have just the head of my bed placed up on six-inch bed risers which made a huge difference for me.
Between that - and removing problem foods - citrus, tomatoes, etc. I was able to stop the omeprazole. I still have to be really careful not to eat too much fatty/spicy/acidic food, but I no longer have many bouts of gastroparesis or reflux.
I go to bed at 10 pm most days. If I eat anything past 8, I will have reflux and a horrible night. So I was able to fix that by just not eating anything after dinner.
I’ve had GERD for years. What works for me is taking a proton pump inhibitor twice a day, and not lying down for at least 2 hours after eating.
Rabeprazole is a PPI. I don’t know what your dosage is, but when I first started taking them, I was only taking 20 mg, which didn’t work very well. My doctor switched me to a 40 mg pill, but that didn’t help much. Then I read somewhere that taking it twice a day worked better, so I switched back to the 20 mg pills, but take them twice a day. Haven’t had any heartburn for years now.
But…just getting rid of the heartburn is only part of the problem. If the esophagus is damaged and doesn’t have good peristalsis contractions any more, you can still get reflux, albeit without acid. That’s where the rule of not lying down for 2 hours after you eat comes in. It takes about that long for most of the food to move from the stomach to the duodenum (small intestine). The less food in your stomach, the less reflux you’re gonna have.