Rolaids, Tums or Gaviscon?

cj65

cj65

Gold Member
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Aug 30, 2008
Messages
35,953
Yes,
I know I am not the only heartburn sufferer. I am not good at a daily purple pill, so I resort to late night chewables. I recently thought I would try Gaviscon, thinking it may be better than my Rolaids extra strength peppermint flavored. Gaviscon is at least 2x the price, I thought it would maybe give me longer relief. Wrong! Not only does Gaviscon almost make me vomit due to the flavor, (maybe vomiting is a temporary remedy for acid indigestion), it does not even neutralize as effectively as Rolaids does.

Tums has the Smoothies which IMHO are just as good as the Rolaids. Still prefer mint flavor to fruity flavors.

What say you?
 
I use Tums and I have pretty bad GERD. in fact, I got aspiration pneumonia due to it. I used to take Prevacid every day or 2 OTC Prilosecs work well also, but since I lost my health insurance, I rely on Tums. Tried the other medications and they do not work very well for me.

I guess that everyone is different, but the mint ones seem to make my acid reflux worse. I use the maximum strength fruit flavored Tums.
 
If part of your problem is acid reflux at night, try elevating the head of your bed by about eight inches. You won't hardly notice it when you sleep, but it's enough to keep the acid down without any pills or liquids, just gravity.
 
As suggested, elevating your head helps, although it can be a pain in the neck (literally). I use Nexium which seems to work for all but the worst reflux. I also take Tums Ultra, Tropical Fruit Flavors. They are far and away the best tasting of the chewables. Give 'em a try.

- Mark
 
Gollnick said:
If part of your problem is acid reflux at night, try elevating the head of your bed by about eight inches. You won't hardly notice it when you sleep, but it's enough to keep the acid down without any pills or liquids, just gravity.
Click to expand...

Good advice - my own gastroenterologist called it "sleep on a West Virginia hillside". :) You can buy blocks or use pieces of 4x4 to raise the entire frame at the head or you can devise something to leave the frame level but just raise the box spring and mattress. I suppose you can cut the legs at the foot of the bed if you have a wood frame.

Before I got a prescription for Protonix (pantoprazole) I found that Pepsid Complete worked pretty well. Tums are pretty worthless and Rolaids are less than worthless.
 
I keep Tums in the sleeping chamber and in my man purse. They work (for me) and contain just calcium carbonate. I prefer the fruity flavor, though Mrs. Powernoodle likes minty.
 
Mark J said:
As suggested, elevating your head helps, although it can be a pain in the neck (literally). I use Nexium which seems to work for all but the worst reflux. I also take Tums Ultra, Tropical Fruit Flavors. They are far and away the best tasting of the chewables. Give 'em a try.

- Mark
Click to expand...

+1:thumbup:

Been taking Nexium for the last 4yrs,don't need anything else,never looked back.

Good luck whatever you decide CJ.Heartburn/AR shouldn't be ignored.
 
"the mint ones seem to make my acid reflux worse."

Peppermint stimulates acid production...why then are all antacids made in mint flavour? beats the heck outta me...

Famotidine (pepsid complete)

and gaviscon fruity chewables
it creates that foamy barrier...Tums and Rolaids are just ground up oyster shells.

alot of the above is good info
raise the bed....sometimes i sleep sitting up in a chair
no food minimum 4 hours before lying down
no smoking
no caffeine (none at all, not coffee, not tea, not soda pop)
no booze
no pepper ("spice" on the label of every food label)
no carbonated bevies
no onions
no garlic


and after a long time on the antiacids, i became vitamin B12 deficient and had trouble digesting fatty foods too felt just as bad as the reflux...

I started giving myself B12 shots in the fatty part of the belly once a week and it really helps alot.
 
Sleep on your left side,stomach opening is on the right,and upper body elevation helps-:thumbup::)----Regards Butch
 
I used to take prescription meds because I had a hiatal hernia. Anymore those are all sold OTC. But at the time it took a prescription to get them. I said all that to say that I found out, and my doc confirmed it, that different meds work best with different people. I actually found that Tagamet worked best for me. So I would suggest to you, Chris, that you try several medications and see which works best for you.

I still got the problem, but I learned what foods to stay away from so that I didn't need the meds. This is a longer term option and a couple of times a year I stop at the drugstore for some meds to take for a week or so when I get a flare-up.
 
Also gotta be careful not to eat sushi,when you're taking acid reducers.I think there's usually a nasty bacteria (or parasite?) in sushi,that your normal stomach acids would kill,but not so when on antacids.It's a shame.I love that stuff.
 
12345678910 said:
no food minimum 4 hours before lying down
no smoking
no caffeine (none at all, not coffee, not tea, not soda pop)
no booze
no pepper ("spice" on the label of every food label)
no carbonated bevies
no onions
no garlic
Click to expand...

I'd rather have major heartburn than follow that NO List! I do everything on it except Smoking. I use the purple pill (Nexium) on and off. As far as chewables, the Tums seem to do the trick in the middle of the night. If they don't work it's Alka Seltzer for me.
 
Surgery. I used to get the kind of heartburn that sat me up in bed coughing. sometimes I'de puke I coughed so hard. Then I had a Nissen Fundoplication due to the hiatal hernia and I haven't had heartburn once in 7 years. Right now I'm eating pasta with lots of sauce and drinking a beer. Yay surgery!

Good luck, heartburn sucks ass.
 
Gentlemen, and Lady (TKC),
Thanks so much. I gave up all the smoking and drinking about 5 yrs. ago. I love my hot peppers, and club soda so much, not willing to give that up. Coffee, I will drink on the day I die, so no way to give up coffee. I am grateful for all the good advice. Maybe I should do the daily purple pill. I think I may have to do the fruity Tums and Rolaids and give up the mint ones, they do work, get me through the night. Alka Seltzer, I forgot to mention, is instant relief.

Wishing all a great Thanksgiving weekend. Mine has been great.
 
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