Chronic Heartburn

Q: I think I have chronic heartburn or sour stomach or maybe IBS...if you suffer from any of these, whats it like I just wakeup with my stomach burning and feeling acidy and sour all morning, and i try to eat but i feel worse, and then i finally stomach a turkey sandwich at work, but all day its like a battle between feeling really shitty and halfway shitty...what should I do (besides see a doctor which I am doing soon, just looking for casual advice) ? Any OTC meds work for any of you for similar problems? I also have diarehha (sp?) on a daily basis, which is awful. Do you think its a diet issue (im not the most consistent eater) or maybe something else?

A:Prilosec is pretty good. Helped me ~sometimes~ with the same symptoms. The generic of it worked just as well. I lived in pain for years (started in my 30s, about a year or two after I married an addict). First, stop drinking these: No carbonated beverages (no beer but wine may be ok), no hard liquor, no orange or tomato juice, no more than 2 cups of coffee even if it's decaf. Personally I found that altering what I ate did not help me one bit, except for the list above - if I had those I could go into severe pain for hours. But eliminating these did not cure my heartburn... the ONLY cure for me was to lower my stress level, which I did by quitting the birth-control pill, and also my husband quit his addiction. I believe this is a stress-related illness for many people. If Prilosec does not cure you, talk to your doctor about trying a stress-reducing medication, perhaps an anti-depressant. I never felt stressed really, but the thing is, you can walk around all stressed out and not even know it. You get used to it, and don't even notice that maybe your

stomach muscles are clenched tight all day long. You may appear the calmest person on earth but have the stress coming out by physical symptoms instead (like me). Note too, that the physical symptoms of stress do not necessarily happen at the same time as stressful events. I'm not a doctor but I definitely know what you feel like, the runs too, and the arrow through the chest. I only have mild heartburn, once every 4 days or so now, cured by Pepcid AC. I just had to reduce my stress level to managable proportions. My friends say I'm probably allergic to something, but I've tried eating only potatoes, and even that didn't work, so definitely spend some effort on analyzing your stress level.