Heartburn not relieved by medicine
If your heartburn does not get better when you use nonprescription antacids alone or in combination with histamine receptor blockers (such as Tagamet or Zantac) or proton pump inhibitors (such as Prilosec), consider the following:
- Have you made the recommended lifestyle changes? If you are still smoking, eating large meals before lying down, or eating foods or using drugs that make heartburn worse, symptoms will keep occurring even when you take medicine.
- Have you given the medicine enough time to work? It may take up to 2 weeks before your esophagus has healed enough to reduce your symptoms.
- Are you taking the proper dosage of medicine? Antacids should be taken every 2 hours, and acid reducers are usually taken once or twice a day.
If lifestyle changes and proper medicine use are not helping, see your doctor to find out what is causing your symptoms. Other conditions, such as heart disease or chest wall problems, may cause symptoms that are similar to heartburn.
If your heartburn is not getting better with medicines that have been prescribed for you, talk to your doctor. The following steps may be needed:
- More testing, to make sure that a diagnosis of heartburn is the correct one and that you do not have another problem, such as an ulcer (peptic ulcer)
- Medicine changes or additions, which may help control the heartburn
- Medicines that can help your stomach empty more quickly (such as Reglan) may lessen the chance of heartburn.
- Medicines called proton pump inhibitors (such as Prilosec, Nexium, Prevacid, or Aciphex) may work better than acid reducers (such as Zantac or Pepcid).
- A change in medicines that you are taking for other health problems, if these medicines may be causing the heartburn
| Author: | Jan Nissl, RN, BS | Last Updated: September 6, 2007 |
| Medical Review: | William M. Green, MD - Emergency Medicine H. Michael O'Connor, MD - Emergency Medicine | |
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