I'm sorry, I'm going to have to miss the meal. I just don't feel well enough, Marie Lawson said to her friend. She wanted to go out with them for dinner, but these days, it just wasn't worth it. She couldn't eat anything without suffering severe heartburn, a burning pain which moved from her stomach up towards her neck.
Marie's problems started years earlier, after she had her children. She assumed it would disappear in time. She bought over-the-counter medicines from the chemist. I tried every antacid available, says Marie. When a new product came onto the market, I was always first to try it. But although the medicines worked for a short time, after a month or so, the problems always returned.
Although Marie is a practice nurse in a doctor's surgery, it never occurred to her to see the doctor. The problem seemed far too trivial. I just kept treating myself and accepted that this was something I had to put up with.
As years passed, Marie's problems worsened. At first, she couldn't eat pastry, or spicy or fatty foods, but as time went on, she had to cut out more and more - salads were a particular problem. In the end, she couldn't eat anything without pain. My friends would get together and we'd go round to each others' houses for dinner. But I had to check what everyone was cooking.
Although Marie loved gardening, she couldn't bend down because it hurt too much. I couldn't even bend down to play with my grandchildren, she says. The problems were particularly severe at night, and Marie had to sleep sitting upright, propped up against six pillows. I'd spend the whole night dosing myself with antacid tablets, she says. It was getting ridiculous. I was in pain all the time and I was living on baked potatoes and plain pasta.
Then one day at work, she was complaining about her problems to the doctor she works for and he wrote her a prescription for Losec, saying it would sort the problem out. Although Marie didn't believe anything would help, she took the medicine.
I realised immediately that I'd been able to drink a cup of coffee with no pain, says Marie. After a week, the problem had gone. I wish I had seen the doctor years earlier. I realise now that the heartburn was a symptom of gastro-oesophageal reflex disease, which can be treated, she says.
Now, her life has been transformed. I still take Losec some of the time, but I've gone for up to nine months without having to take anything at all, says Marie, 59. I can eat anything, do all the things I enjoy doing and go on holiday without taking a suitcase full of medicine!
Gastro - oesophageal reflux disease The Digestive Disorders Foundation
Heartburn is a common disorder in which stomach acid and gastric f contents leak `upwards' from the stomach into the gullet or oesophagus. Most of us suffer from this from time to time. The reflux can be shown by X-rays.- endoscopy (direct inspection with fine telescope) and measuring acid levels in the gullet.
Some people suffer from persistent burn. which can produce inflammation of the oesophagus. 'this is known as gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GORD) or reflux oesophagitis.
Normally, gastric acid is stopped from moving up into the gullet by a ring of muscle, or valve, in the lower oesophagus This valve may not be strong enough to keep stomach contents contained. Some are due to a hiatus hernia, in which a small part of the ate slides up through the diaphragm.
Heartburm. thought to affect 85 per cant of the population, causes a burning sensation behind the breastbone. These symptoms can be brought an by spec foods - spicy meals, fatty foods, pastries, tomatoes, cucumber chocolate, coffee alcohol laced hot drinks.
Bending over and lying flat can also bring it on. The condition can result from pregnancy and is more common in those who smoke, are overweight and mid dle-aged. Losing weight, stopping smoking, eating smaller meats, avoiding all Meal `trigger' foods. avoiding tight clothing, not eating three hours before bedtime and laying propped up in tai can help.
Prescription drugs known as H2 blockers (Arid, Pepcid, Tagamet, Zantac, Zings, Zits) and proton pump inhibitors {Losec, Nexium Pariet Protium, Zotons work well. Persistent Gord or reflux oesophagitis can lead to more serious problems. ! For more information, visit their website at: http://www.digestivedisorders.org.uk <http://www.digestivedisorders.org.uk/>