Venting and overwhelmed with how to help my DH with his GERD and allergies

justbreathe2

My DH has struggled with allergies all his life and chronic GERD the last couple of years. This brings on coughing, snorting, spitting, clearing throat all day long. He’s take nexum, acid reflux, nose sprays, mucinex, etc. We went back to his allergist yesterday, and he order him Symbicort inhaler and we were hopeful it would help. Although $400 for the prescription we were not happy. The doctor would not accept a generic one. The inhaler is also not helping him much.

I feel bad for him, but it so stressful. . He doesn’t remember his last dosage of meds so keeping him on track is difficult. Not sure what to do for him.

ImMaggieMae

justbreathe, have you tried elevating his head at night while he sleeps? I rented a hospital bed for my DH and raise his head to about a 30 degree angle. He took protein pump inhibitors for a few years prior to sleeping with his head raised but they didn’t always work well. After raising his head at night he slowly discontinued the acid reflux meds and rarely takes anything other than the occasional tums type antacid now. He occasionally has a little coughing at night this time of year with all the Spring pollen in the air, but not the discomfort he had before. When he was still able to climb the stairs and sleep in our own bed, I bought a couple of memory foam wedges and stacked them under his head. He always sleeps on his back so that helps.

Nowhere

My husband has had GERD/Acid Reflex and sleep apnea. Sleeping in an electric base bed and elevating his head (and feet slightly to keeps him in place) has helped to heal his esophagus and he snores less. I also eliminated fried foods, chocolate, and caffeine six hours prior to bedtime. He still takes an acid reducing medicine (famotidine) each day. He does not have seasonal allergies, but I do, and what I count on is non drowsy Claritin. Wishing you both some relief!

justbreathe2

ImMaggieMae, yes, his head is propped with his pillow. Once he gets to sleep he is good. This is ongoing throughout the day, so it gets on my nerves terribly, but I don’t say much. It is bothersome to him too. It just seems to be getting worse in the last several months. He is also on statin and ER for over active bladder and read some of these meds can worsen it. His PCP has talked to him about his symptoms, but said nothing about stopping any of his meds.

Thanks!

Iris L.

Medications for overactive bladder worsen memory and cognition. He may have to stop this. Discuss with the PCP and the neurologist.

I was on Symbicort, then was switched to generic Breyna, they are both the same medication. I paid only a co-pay of $75 for Symbicort and $50 for Breyna.

He will probably need to use a nebulizer for the inhaled medication, I'm sure he cannot coordinate the inhalation.

Is he managing his own medications? He sounds like he needs supervision of medications.

Iris

M1

Symbicort takes a while to kick in. Give it at least a month....

justbreathe2

Thanks for all your comments. Hoping it will just take time M1. Will be meeting with his doctor and will discuss his medications. Yes, Iris, I completely managing his meds.

Quilting brings calm

check goodrx.com for a coupon. If you do it immediately, your pharmacy may be able to reverse the charge and apply the coupon to the purchase you already made. Pay close attention to the pharmacies listed. The coupon makes items much cheaper at specific pharmacies. I searched for Symbicort and the coupon brought it down to $110 at Walmart.

FYI- you can use that same coupon every time you fill the prescription

justbreathe2

Thank you QBC.

I sent the doctor a note to ask why he would not approve the generic. Apparently Walgreen’s misunderstood the prescription. He will order the generic one. Thank you for the coupon info. I will look into it.

justbreathe2

https://alzconnected.org/discussion/comment/206302#Comment_206302

Thank you Nowhere. He props his pillow, but he is good at night. Does not snore unless he rolls on his back. He takes a Nexum for acid reflux in lower stomach and the Famotine for upper. I have Spring allergies too. I take Zertec or Claritin, but the nose sprays help me the most if I use it daily in season.

DTSbuddy

I have solved my GERD problem by drinking a tall glass of water 10 minutes before eating each meal, and then drinking no liquids with the meal.

ImMaggieMae

https://alzconnected.org/discussion/comment/206303#Comment_206303

justbreath2, just propping the head up with pillows probably won’t help much. Acid reflux occurs when the sphincter muscle at the lower end of the esophagus relaxes at the wrong time and lets stomach acid back up into the esophagus. You need to raise not just his head, but incline gradually from around his waist on up, like the incline with a hospital bed. We used one of those memory foam wedges that I bought on Amazon but they sell them at other places too. It was a gradual rise from 0 to 7 inches. We eventually used two, on on top of the other for a 14 inch rise. Used a normal pillow on top of that. It worked very well. Just try a search for “memory foam wedge for gerd”. Hope this helps. It is very effective for the acid reflux for my DH. He very rarely needs medication for it now.

midge333

ImMaggieMae is spot on! You can also try putting 2-4" blocks of wood under headboard of bed which inclines the whole bed. It doesn't take much.

justbreathe2

https://alzconnected.org/discussion/comment/206453#Comment_206453

Thanks DTS…my DH does not drink enough water and will encourage him to drink more water.

Iris L.

https://alzconnected.org/discussion/comment/206453#Comment_206453

I'll give this a try, too.

Iris