First visit in Nov. the NJH gastro doctor prescribed 40 mg Prilosec in am and 40 mg of Pepcid before bed for the GERD. Followup visit in June he added another 40 mg of Prilosec at night plus the Pepcid and not much of an explanation other than he wants to do a BRAVO test again with me on the meds which doesn't make sense to me. My local gastro doctor of 20 plus years said it's overkill and also a few other of my doctors. For years I took Previcid 20 mg with very little symptoms. With the 40 mg of Prilosec no acid symptoms so don't know why he would add the extra dose. I have osteopenia and PPI's can cause bone loss so I'm trying to just take Pepcid 40 mg in am and 40 mg in pm. I have had some heartburn so I take Gavascon and Prilosec in the am if I know we're having a meal that might give me symptoms. After watching a NJH gastro video where NJH's top ID doctor, Dr. Huitt, said PPI's do not get rid of GERD just the acid and if you don't have symptoms don't take them and you can still aspirate even with PPI's. She said PPI's reduce acid in the stomach and it's good to have acid because it can reduce gut bacteria. She also said PPI's can cause community acquired pneumonia. I won't see the gastro doctor on my 6 month NJH follow up because I'm not following his recommendation. He also recommended LINX surgery. I don't want to have surgery because there is only a 50% success rate which he did tell me. I have a local gastro surgeon who also told me only 50% success rate. He's highly regarded and pioneered gastro surgeries. As for the dysphagia, I was instructed to do swallow exercises which are hard swallows 10x's in a row, 3 times a day and another one holding your tongue and swallowing which I can't do. I haven't been doing them too often because I'm always bringing up mucus instead of swallowing. I have silent aspiration so no way of knowing if and when I aspirate. The barium swallow indicated it was liquid that went into my lungs. Lots of frustration dealing with all of this.

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