GERD: What helps long term?

Sounds like maybe stress. Vacations are fun and relaxing. How is your stress level at home now? Maybe an anti-anxiety med?

I’ve just been diagnosed with EPI, and in addition to coming to grips with the cost of the Zenpep I am just beginning to figure out my diet. I have so many questions. With the enzynes can I eat as normal? How do I know when to take two capsules and when to take one? Is there anything I can eat without taking the Zenpep. They are SO expensive I find myself not eating when I’m hungry to save the capsules.

@jlmp
Welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect!
I’m sorry to hear about your new diagnosis.
I have other digestive disorders and had to deal with super expensive medications.
You may want to look into Certified Canadian Pharmacies and see what they charge.
Also, have you checked to see if there is a generic brand here?

Thank you. Happy holidays!

Are u on medication such as PPIs or acid reducers? May have irritated the esophagus or stomach lining from drinking. May want to have another endoscopy
If GERD is out of control it takes about a month to control it with PPIs

Fdgard. Over the counter.

Quick answer - Stress is a huge factor in our lack of good digestion.

I see a lot of comments about symptoms and prescription medications. Treating symptoms will never rid you of GERD, (unless you are one of those who can be on a PPI for years and years. ) You need to find the causes of the symptoms. I had 3 endoscopies and with the 3rd one, the GI who performed the endoscopy told to never take a PPI again. It made my cells hypertrophic. I had been prescribed a PPI by 3 doctors. Each time I went off, the symptoms returned. If symptoms return, the PPI isn’t healing your gut! Doing the same thing over and over again is pointless. To heal, cause or causes are important and critical to rid you of GERD permanently, dietary changes are critical to rid you permanently, stress management is critical to feel good permanently - you want to stop feeling crappy for good, find a doctor that will test for CAUSES - bacterial overgrowth (SIBO), parasites, a yeast infection, a fungal infection and possibly a few of these may be present. That was the case for me.
After two years of sticking to changes in my diet - eliminating sugars and substituting with stevia, reducing desserts, going gluten free (and no I do not have Celiac Disease), drinking a coffee low in acid, going alcohol free for a lengthy period of time, being careful with spicy foods, eating organic as much as possible to reduce chemicals exposed to, managing my stress, and exercising (if you don’t exercise, even just walking daily helps with digestion), I feel fantastic. The changes I’ve made, I’ve kept up with. I never want to experience my symptoms again and feel miserable.

My PCP prescribed 40 mg of omeprazole 2 x a day. It didnt help. I began seeing a GI told me to stop immediately because that much reduces bone density and it can make the GERD worse because of the effects on the gut biome. I have AGS that has morphed into histamine intolerance and once I stopped high histamine foods the GERD stopped. I also take a low histamine probiotic and a DAO supplement. This had stopped the GERD and so many other seemingly unrelated symptoms.

I have Barrett’s esophagus and Gerd. I have now found what works for me. My daughter in law had her gallbladder removed several years ago. Her surgeon told her to take Ox Bile, a digestive aid which is available over the counter. I get mine at Amazon. I take one capsule twice daily. It took a while to figure out how much I needed, so I started with 125 mg and went from there.