Crushing Nexium & gastritis

For those that read my other thread, you'll know Im suffering with gastritis, or similar pains atm. Something just happened and Im now convinced that my Nexium isn't working, but I cannot understand why. Heres the strange story.

A few weeks ago I ate some cucumber that sent my stomach off on one. At that time I was taking 20mg e-someprazole (generic Nexium) twice a day, by splitting a 40mg pill in half.

The pills I have are coated with a thick "gastro resistant" layer, which I was breaking in order to split the pill in half. In the past I had experimented with taking 1 40mg pill a day, but always found my acid levels got worse and went back to my pill splitting. I thought it was to do with frequency... but maybe I was wrong.

about a week ago, after my stomach had been bad over a week I went to the dr and asked for 20mg pills so I didn't need to break this covering anymore, thinking maybe that's interfering with the dose Im actually getting. The instructions for my pills clearly state that you should not chew or break the pills before taking them.

Anyway a couple of hours ago I went to bed, I had taken some aloe vera, 300mg of Zantac then carafate 45 mins after, my usual night-time ritual. I did a bit of relaxation, then tried to sleep. Thats when the burning in my stomach started. I grabbed a gaviscon and swallowed a couple of painkillers (not nsaids) then tried to sleep. It got progressively worse and worse, just knawing at my insides. The painkillers had kicked in and sent me a bit foggy but because of the pain my mind was racing as if I was in a fever or something. The pain was getting unbearable. In desperation I grabbed another esomeprazole 20mg, as I know I have taken 80mg a day before for short periods and been ok, but instead of swallowing it whole, I crushed it in my teeth then swallowed.

Something remarkable happened, after 5 minutes the pain went and now I'm fine.

So what Im thinking now, is that Im just not processing the pills with this protective coating and since switching to 20mg pills Ive essentially gone cold turkey PPIs. But I cannot understand why a pill would have a gastro resistant layer and tell u not to break it, yet when I do the exact opposite I get all the effects!?

Has anyone come across this?

Post Edited (Andy1986) : 5/14/2014 6:29:22 AM (GMT-6)

Thanks Alcie. Mine aren't in capsule form, they are a hard tablet so maybe my digestive system just isnt breaking through the coating.

Im not chewing them as such, just crushing them with one bite.

This morning I took 20mg whole and 20mg crushed, definitely notice a difference, not so much pain before or after breakfast, just nausea which is usually a sign my stomach is only mildly irritated.

I have a drs app today think I will try switching to lansoprazole anyway see if it works better

Let's hope that works for you. Thank goodness there are several different medicines available.

It's possible to acquire sensitivities and "true" allergies to these meds. You could also have an intolerance to fats because of gallbladder problems. Too many possibilities for this old grandma to think of.

If you continue to have problems keep calling the doctor. They get paid to do the Sherlock Holmes thing.

Argh spoke too soon. Burning is back, guess the nexium hadnt left my system yet. Im gonna try opening the lansoprazole capsules to see if that helps

Another update, I have been taking DGL for a while and think it is helping. It apparently stimulates the stomach to produce more mucus and lining. I sucked on a couple before bed last night, (also took 150mg ranitidine and carafate) and woke up this morning with my stomach feeling better than it has in 3 weeks so I will continue taking it before bed.

Unfortunately that didn't last, when I feel better my anxiety increases as if Im scared of it getting bad again so I have to deal with that, and this morning sure enough my stomach went from "ok" to "not so ok".

Does anyone know if Aloe Vera concentrated can cause stomach pain? Oddly I have noticed after taking these concentrated soft gels a couple of times that my stomach feels worse (though not always) and I get burning. I read somewhere it is very acidic when concentrated so maybe I'd better stay off it.

I order some pH strips from Amazon but they still haven't come, otherwise I could test it.

Post Edited (Andy1986) : 5/14/2014 6:38:43 AM (GMT-6)

Andy,

I used mastic gum for a little while and don't think it really helped me. Through research I did at the time I think it is only useful if you have a bacterial infection, specifically h. pylori, as it naturally helps kill it off. Other than that I haven't really seen any other information as to how it helps with gerd.

Recently I've come across some other information to help with gerd and found another person who claims they have a cure. I'm not sure if it will work or not but it makes sense to me and I'm willing to give it a try. What they suggest is to eat about 80% alkaline and focus on using enzymes to help break down foods so your body doesn't need as much acid. They also state to eat mostly vegetarian and just enough meat to get what you need from that. I've been doing research on the essential things you need to survive and am going to get a list of things together in order to know what exactly is needed and try to eat based on that and see if things will sort themselves out. If you think about it, gerd is a symptom of your digestive system not working properly. So in order to fix things, you just need to fix the digestive system. The key here is figuring out how to do that. I keep reading that if you give your body the proper nutrients it can heal itself. It just takes a little time. The question is how much time? Nobody really has an answer to that. I hope things get better for you as I know how much it sucks to have a lot of faith in a supplement just to find out it doesn't really do anything for you so you have to go back to the drawing board.