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Since then I haven't been able to rid myself of the heartburn. My PPC has prescribed me Zantac since the onset and has weened me down from 300mg pill / twice a day to now for the past 5 months 150mg pill / Twice a day.
Even further backstory... 8 years ago I had an colonoscopy and endoscopy due to blood in stool and mild heartburn ---- Cscope showed the blood was from hemorrhoids that have been banded and the Endo showed mild inflammation of the esophagus and the heartburn was secondary to anti-biotics. I went on Zantac for a month or two and the heartburn went away.
Currently
Having gotten over heartburn before I thought this would go away, but now after dealing with this issue now for almost 8 months I am now feeling that the Zantac is only a band-aid for a symptom and I want to get to the bottom of this by any means necessary.
Right now I have to take a Zantac in the morning because I generally wake up with a sour stomach that I know will lead to heartburn, and by the end of the day heartburn has crept up and I have to take Zantac before I go to bed.
I find certains food make the heartburn worst (tomatoes, vinegar), but so far it's been hard to figure out what is causing this because it's basically always there, no matter.
I tried just stopping the Zantac for 5 days (a few weeks ago) thinking well if I just stop taking these pills maybe it will just go away on it's own? Bad decision. I went back on the pills.
As of 3 weeks ago I have been completely dairy-free. I am trying this diet to see if it cures my heartburn issue and so far I am not really noticing a difference at all. Maybe a little? But not really, I still definitely have to take Zantac.
SO I've decided today, along with soliciting this community's advice I am going to try and go dairy-free AND gluten-free in hopes that as I eliminate things I can find a cause.
In addition to my diet I have started exercising. Running every other day - prior to I did zero exercising, so this is good no matter what.
I must also confess that my sleeping habit is very poor. I have trouble falling asleep and do not get 8 hrs of sleep everyday, maybe 6 hours at BEST. Which I know can contribute to stress/anxiety and ultimately acid reflux.
Stats
I am a 28 yo male, 148lbs, 5'8" tall - so I am at a good weight and am relatively healthy.
Plea
If anyone, anyone can please help give any sort of incite I would appreciate it - I DO NOT WANT TO TAKE PILLS for the rest of my life and live from episode to episode.View Thread

Now after NO dairy, gluten, tomatoes, and garlic, whatsoever it's been 3 months since I've had heartburn AND it's been 3 months since I've taken any Zantac, Prilosec or any sort of drug.
I am SO happy that I no longer need to be on chemicals in order to live a normal life and so happy that I no longer have heartburn.
This new diet is strict and tough, eating out is VERY hard, BUT I am healthy now and do not have to worry about side effects or long term use of drugs, as well as any sort of heartburn.
I would encourage any one who reads this to go see a dietician / holistic chiropractor get blood tests to see if there are any allergies!View Thread




To follow up to this thread I ended up having an MRI as suggested by a Colorectal Surgeon.
MRI found a mass near my anus in the perianal area. It was a bit deep which is why the mass was hard to feel with a digital exam.
Colorectal Surgeon wanted to excise and remove what he thought to be a cyst. After outpatient surgery he was right. It was an infected cyst in which he removed.
It's been almost 2 months now since it's been removed and I am healing very well. Unfortunately this was a VERY painful recovery for the first 2-3 weeks.
I am following up with the surgeon every couple weeks to months now.
Just wanted to share my results in case anyone has similar symptoms.View Thread
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