Some years ago, I went to the GP and she prescribed pain killers, but in so doing had to prescribe something else to protect my stomach ffrom the side effects of the pills she was prescribing. ?????
Yeah. That’s what I thought.
As I had to pay for my prescriptions at the time, nearly £20 was a bit much so I stuck with ibuprofen and paracetamol.
Hubby is having serious problems with his meds, and had successfully weaned himself off the omeprazole for his reflux having read that around 70% of his subsequent health issues were side effects of taking them. He found an alternative in DGL (liquorice extract) which has been working an absolute dream……… until he got a water infection.
The prescribed antibiotics are clearing that up nicely, but he now has his reflux back, twice as bad as it was, which is depriving him of sleep. Last night he was in dire straits and made himself some porridge at 2am (always helps settle his stomach) then went to every GERD site on the internet to cross reference the medication he was taking. In the small print it would appear that reflux is a side effect of the latest smarties.
He is not happy.
He is tired and in pain of all descriptions, can’t eat anything solid after 2pm and as a last resort is going back on the omeprazole until his course of antibiotics is finished.
Sometimes I wonder if the doctors actually look at their patient’s notes, especially as on numerous occasions Hubby has been prescribed something that should not be taken with warfarin or other blood thinners.
pensitivity101 
Many years ago, I had a doctor who was very convenient to get to but, sadly, I caught him writing up a prescription for me before I had finished telling him why I was there. I dumped him!
Oh likewise, only it was s sick note, not pills! I hate being a number on a tick list…. which is probably why I take umbrage at having to go at all.
How’s Ray now Colin? No more problems with that growth?
The test results were negative, so Ray is fine thanks! 🙂
Great news! I know I read theyw ere, but didn;t know if there were any follow ups done. Treats by proxy. 🙂
No he’s good now, but of course we will be watching for anything new that looks suspicious.
Usually they don’t, at least in my experience.
Hubby has a rainbow of meds unfortunately
It does get difficult when you’re being treated for multiple problems.
Sometimes these meds are a real quandary for us. I hope your husband feels beer soon.
Thanks Holly. Hopefully he’ll sleep better tonight.
Finger’s crossed…
It’s awful that we have to be our own watch dogs, but we do. Hope your hubby is better soon.
We’re getting there. Four more days of ‘bad pills’ then we can start again getting him sorted.
Good that he’s almost done with those pills.
my hubby (an RN) suggested he try drinking a glass of warm water with a tablespoon of baking soda dissolved in it before bedtime. Tastes nasty but helps with GERD when a person cannot take the meds due to side effects.
no effect on blood thinning meds either. hope he gets some relief soon.
Hi Suze. Thanks for this. The OTC gungie stuff he’s taking now (a shop’s own brand, not one of the posh one which didn’t work!) is heavily loaded with baking soda and he has some of that in the cupboard on stand by. Bless you for letting me know.
The age where the faithful family doctor is a rarity causes these shortcomings in considering the whole background of the patient.
Thank heaven our doctor still operates on traditional family doctor lines — and is a cousin many times removed, as it happens — even making house calls when necessary.
House call? Wow. Ours don’t make them. You might get a phone call though. !
Even here, both of those are rare.
I love my docs, but my dad was on a blood thinner that hadn’t been adjusted for years and he had major issues. As you age, your dosage sometimes needs to be decreased. He wasn’t on the ball at that point, but also stubborn, so ya know… he had to get sick or injured before he’d change anything. 🙄
Hubby has regular checks for his dosage but sometimes it’s other meds that don’t mix, which is the case here. We’ll get it sorted anyway. As long as he can get some sleep, that’s half the battle.
I also suffer with acid reflux and think the tablets I am taking are something like penteprazole. However, thy’ve not been working well lately so I’ve stopped them. I find certain foods are a trigger. Foods cooked in tomato sauce such as lasgne and bolognese, cream ice cream, chocolate and pastry. Proseco, champagne and wine when taken with certain foods. I have always eaten rennies like smarites but now my friend tells me they bring on dementia 😦 Mayve we take everything back to basics and start with food…
I don’t think the doctors read your notes.. in fact I am sure of it. When I had my op I was asked if any tablets did not agree with me. Yep.. tramadol and Naproxine
Hope your hubby gets better soon
Thanks for your input. We did a process of elimination with foods and came up with a lot on your list. It was a bummer as we had a bumper crop of tomatoes and I ended up eating about a ton on my own! However, we discovered a teaspoon of sugar in the mix helped.
We’ve discovered a cafe that does a gluten free carrot cake which has no effect (I go for the cheesecke if available, it is to die for) but we’re careful with other sweetstuffs. No chocolate! SOB!!!!! Hubby has now found this liquorice stuff in chewable tablet form and it really helps
I meant to say I’ve not heard of liquorice, I must research that!
It’s Deglycyrrhizinated Licorice (DGL)
and available from health food shops
Here’s one link of many worth checking out
https://www.healthline.com/health/digestive-health/dgl-for-acid-reflux#benefits