3 medical thingies

[marydell]

1. I've had reflux for at least a decade, and sometimes I can make it go away by religious adherence to both allergy-diet and reflux-diet, but I am not inherently religious, and I just really have to have caffeine and albuterol, both of which relax the esophagus. So reflux is a fact of my life, and sometimes it's really really bad and gives me bad asthma to boot. (Just like Charlie, which is what helped me to guess what was happening with him) I've never switched off of Zantac onto a PPI like Prilosec despite my reflux-having brother telling me how awesome Prilosec is, because I literally can't go a day without Zantac. Thanks to the reading I've been doing about Charlie's prevacid and general approaches to GERD for toddlers, however, I've discovered that a lot of people take both a PPI and Zantac, just at opposite ends of the day.

So, during a bad bout last week I decided to steal one of Charlie's prevacids just to see. And OMG. Reflux totally went away for 24 hours. I promptly went out and got the OTC version--same strength, just in capsule form instead of meltaway form--and have been on it for about 4 days, and seriously? I didn't know I was capable of feeling this good. The only oddities so far are that I don't seem to get a chemical signal telling me I'm getting full, so the difference between "hm, still a little peckish, think I'll have some more" and "BLARGH SO FULL OOF BLARGH" is like 2 bites. The other is that I no longer seem to drink a lake's worth of beverage with every meal, because I'm not having a hard time swallowing food, apparently. So now I get to discover if I have some sort of brain signal that tells me when I'm thirsty. Also I will need to start taking a proper calcium supplement because I'm not eating 6-8 tums a day (it's usually not that bad, but the past couple of weeks were ridic.)

2. I got my very first bone density scan, and my bone density is way in the positive numbers, yay, so I am not currently headed toward osteoporosis or even osteopenia. This means I can stay on (potentially bone-eating) depo-provera, which in turn means I can keep my (jerkface) internal lady parts for the time being, since on DP they continue their slumber and don't bother me with their nonsense. This makes my heart, in the cardiac sense, happy. So hooray all around. My right hip is somewhat denser than my left hip which I blame on Charlie--I always carry him on my left and I think my bones on that side are being cowed into submission by his heaviness (43 pounds now). To think I used to play "Bonecracker" on the ipod for him when he was a wee 20-something pounds.

3. After going in the sun I got some small discolored patches on my arms, conveniently the day before going to the doctor for other stuff, so I showed them to her and she said they're caused by sun+yeast. Apparently my arms have been eating cupcakes and taking antibiotics while I wasn't looking. The treatment is to wash my arms with Selsun Blue dandruff shampoo (b/c it has selenium sulfide in it), which is weird but fine, if it works. So I got some and it's not blue nowadays; more of a blue-tinged green. In my flailing about with the stuff I splashed a bunch on the wall of the shower and my geek brain went "hey, it looks like I just murdered Spock in here!"

Comments

[cakmpls.livejournal.com]

I have had a very similar experience with Prilosec, and now using Zegrid, with includes a bit of sodium bicarbonate.

And when P was in a body cast when he was very young, I recognized that it was too tight and was causing reflux because I knew what that felt like!

[readinggeek451]

I used the Selsun Blue dandruff shampoo treatment (on, like, my whole body) when I was younger. It works a charm. Did she tell you to leave it on for multiple hours, or can you wash it off again straightaway?

[icecreamempress.livejournal.com]

Yay for happy Prilosec experiences! Boo for reflux.

Your arms need to rein it in. No more Zithromax cupcakes for them.

[marydell.livejournal.com]

The internet says I should leave it on for 15 minutes, but the doc didn't say that, so today I didn't. If I dont see any change in a few days I'll try leaving it on longer, but 15 morning minutes arehard to come by! So I hope I don't haveta.

[marydell.livejournal.com]

Although next time I need a Z pack, I think it should be provided in cupcake form.

Advil cupcakes would also be a fine thing...

[readinggeek451]

I was supposed to leave it on overnight. Of course, it rubbed off on my clothing a little. Not fun! But it did work.

[unhappytriad.livejournal.com]

Wow, yay for amazing improvement in symptoms! And also yay bone density--my husband has asthma, reflux AND osteopenia. This makes juggling meds oh so much fun.

[pixelfish.livejournal.com]

Can you use prilosec for more than 14 days? The omeprezole package I got only wants me to use it for 14 days. Since my reflux has been really bad in the last month, I tried to stretch it out by using it every other day.

[marydell.livejournal.com]

The OTC labeling for Prilosec & Prevacid says 14 days only, but if a doctor says otherwise you can take it pretty much forever, apparently. Charlie, who weighs 42 pounds, is on Prevacid 2x daily for the next 3 months, and then we'll have a followup with the doc and "we'll see."

I'm going to take it daily until I start to feel guilty about not getting a prescription for it, and then I'll see a doctor. I figure that'll happen in 3 months or so.

So, IANAD, but in your shoes I would take it every day for a month, then try going off it, and if the reflux comes right back, see a doctor to determine the long term plan. If you're insured the copay for the prescription tends to be a lot cheaper than buying it OTC, too.

[rubynye.livejournal.com]

Poor Spock.
*grins*

[icecreamempress.livejournal.com]

That "14 day" thing is a legal fiction, which means "you should see a doctor if you're going to use it for any length of time." My dad took it for 20 years solid.

[pixelfish.livejournal.com]

Well, the doctors actually prescribed it to me initially for my cricopharyngeal spasm, but the prescription they gave me comes in the capsules that float to the roof of my mouth, that I couldn't swallow, because of said cricopharyngeal spasm, whereas the Omeprezole OTC is in hard tablet form and goes right down. They seem to have the exact same dosage though....

Maybe I can just ask the pharmacist if I can get it in hard tablet form.

[marydell.livejournal.com]

A lot of things come in solutab form now, where it melts in your mouth - Charlie's prevacid is like that. I think to get a drug in another form you need a new prescription, though.

I know with some capsules you can open the capsule and dump the powder into something and eat or drink it, but that may not be the case for all medicines in capsule form. The doc told us if we run out of prevacid (there's a supply problem in our area at the moment for the solutabs) we can get prilosec capsules, mix the contents into applesauce or oj (has to be something acidic), and give him that.