Horrible awful burning heartburning awfulness

[mrs rockstar]

Heartburn. Didn't have it with my previous pregnancies but oohhhhhh am I making up for it this time. Please tell me there is something I can do for this because it's making me batty. Crystallized ginger actually hurts my stomach so I can't go that route, what else is there?

[Lorette]

I was having the most awful heart burn for the last couple months. It was making my life horrible-- waking me up through out the night every night and making me sick and uncomfortable all day.

I was taking tums all day and night and it didn't help for more than 3 minutes at a time.

I tried natural remedies and suggestions-- raw almonds, papaya, eating small meals, not eating before bed, etc. NOTHING worked.

At my last MW appointment she prescribed me Famotidine which is the same as over the counter pepcid. I FEEL LIKE A DIFFERENT PERSON! I can actually enjoy life now and sleep through the night without being in agony.

Of course, I try to avoid medications during pregnancy but this one is safe (the same rating at tylenol) and I really had to help myself. I was so so uncomfortable for months!

HTH

Lorette

[veganf]

I eat like half a dozen Tums every day now. Bedtime is often the worst, depsite 2 pillows.
Strangely, when I have a huge pasta dinner I'm fine! But I don't want to do that every night.
And a glass of cold chocolate almond milk during the day usually calms it right down....but once again, I don't want to be drinking a glass of ANYTHING before bed, as it is I'm up at least 3 times peeing every night.

The only thing that stops it cold is when I take some liquid Zofran. Sigh.

[Sugarshoc]

Sometimes I take an antacid. Sometimes I drink a small glass of milk.

[mrs rockstar]

See tums make me want to puke. Can't eat them or any of the other chewable antacids. This is not just a pregnant thing, I've never been able to tolerate them. If it continues, I'll definitely ask about that medication. Because yeah, even with a stack of pillows, it's awful.

Though that pasta dinner sounds yummy :

[xixstar]

I've got the same thing going on all day and night -- it's pretty rough!

My current strategy is Tums during the day - some days it'll just be 3, some days it'll be 7 -- I have bottles of them all over the house. At night, I take Zantac before bed and that lets me sleep. I may have to take a tums or two while it's still kicking in. This weekend we were out of Zantac and I had a horrible night.

I still occasionally use a tablespoon of vinegar in a cup of water, but it isn't working as well as it was during the first trimester cause this is now super wicked heartburn.


I'd rather not take anything during pregnancy but there is no ignoring heartburn like this unfortunately.

[madiesmommy]

Ice cream works temporarily, as does a glass of milk. Tums is the only thing that takes it away.

[pazerific]

i tried all of the typical natural remidies too, and tums are like a joke for my heartburn. after waking up twice choking on vomit, i went the western med route and never looked back! my doc said to try OTC zantac75 first, and if that wasn't doing it for me to come back for a script of something stronger. so far the zantac is working great. i hope you find relief, cause pg heartburn is HORRIBLE!!!

[broodymama]

Horrible heartburn here, too, ouch! I ended up resorting to some Zantac.

[143Midwest]

Is crystallized ginger the only kind of ginger that will help? There's always ginger tea (I cut up some fresh ginger and put it in a tea ball), ginger ale, and I've even seen ginger lozenges.

[paradoxia13]

Originally Posted by mrs rockstar

See tums make me want to puke. Can't eat them or any of the other chewable antacids. This is not just a pregnant thing, I've never been able to tolerate them. If it continues, I'll definitely ask about that medication. Because yeah, even with a stack of pillows, it's awful.

Though that pasta dinner sounds yummy :

I'm right there with you on the tums. I hate them. Can't do them even when not pregnant. BUT! I have found that the tums "smoothies" are tolerable. They don't make me pukey, and don't make me feel like I just tried to eat chalk. They seem to coat a little better too, or maybe that's just because they actually stay down!

~heather

[mhaddon]

Oh how I can feel your pain! W/ ds1 it started around this time and got horrible and I had to get a prescription. That helped some, but not all they way so I ate ice cream- probably why I gained about 60lbs!!

DS2 it began about 14 weeks. Oh that was a miserable begining that never got better Did the same thing.

Now I had it for the first time last night and proped myself up and did some relaxation and visulization and it seemed to help me at least get to sleep.

I'm not much help, but wanted to lyk that it gets better after your lo is born!!

[HulaJenn]

I am in the same boat. But I aked my doc if i could take anythign stronger than say Gaviscon or tums (like zantac or pepsid) and he said he'd preferr not to.......so I chew on 1 butterscotch flavored, aluminum free, extra strength gaviscon tablet before bed. I also sleep with my head slightly elevated. If the gaviscon doesn't work, my second choice is the liquid milk of magnesia (which incidentally has a laxative side effect but for me that is just an added bonus! LOL). I tried papaya enzymes after each meal and found at first they worked but after a while they were useless.
Hope you feel better soon!

[veganf]

Originally Posted by HulaJenn

...so I chew on 1 butterscotch flavored, aluminum free, extra strength gaviscon tablet before bed.

Sounds tasty...I'll have to go check out the ingredients on those.

[punky monkey]

i have had some awful heartburn lately too

[delicious]

my chiropractor told me to try drinking cold aloe juice. i haven't tried it yet, though. i'm on the fence about it.

[Lorette]

Originally Posted by HulaJenn

I am in the same boat. But I aked my doc if i could take anythign stronger than say Gaviscon or tums (like zantac or pepsid) and he said he'd preferr not to.......

Hmmmm.... I wonder why he would prefer you not to take Pepcid? It's rated B just like Tylenol for safetly (maybe safer).

I don't know why he would prefer you not to take a safe med that could help you if you are suffering?

[EugeneMom]

I've been having really bad heartburn this time around as well. A slice or two of cheese has worked for me. I it just aggravates the problem for some but it seems to be the trick for me.

Right after I had Maya one of the nurses asked if I had heartburn during the pregnancy and I said "yeah, why?". She said it is one of those weird wives tales that heartburn often means babies with lots of hair! I'm thinking this one is going to be coming out with hair you can braid if that is the case!

[prairieo]

I notice that I especially get heartburn when I eat sugar, which I enjoy doing. And then I get heartburn. So, I'm trying to knock it off. I also believe I have heard that it's yet again a good time to eat some protein. It's what I have been doing, and the combination of those two things seems useful to me.

[mrs rockstar]

I saw my (current as I'm switching soon) midwife today and she recommended that I not drink very much while I eat so I tried that at dinner. Still having pain now but not as much as I usually do so maybe there is something to it! I usually chug several glasses of water at every meal. I'm also going to look for those butterscotch things, they sound good! She also said I could try prilosec otc if it got really bad.