Sever reflux what to do?

cruiser1

My BIL started having severe reflux this morning and it scared my sister. She thought he was going to aspirate, but finally it has subsided. I need to know if others are having this problem and what are some solutions.

He refused to eat breakfast and doesn't even want any liquid for right now. She was going to try to get him to drink a boost for protein a little later.

BIL (stage 4b) has had 7 Radiation treatments and 2 Chemo's. They also put in his port on Monday. (He had radiation on Monday & Chemo on Tuesday).

They insisted he needed a stent because of the size of tumor and this was done on 7/13/10 and so far NO problems.

Thank you all for your continued support and help.

Shay

nancyann3

Is he better now
Try to encourage him to drink something to make sure the stent is working. Keep the head of the bed elevated when he is laying down and don't lay down to soon after he eats. My hubby takes prilosec at bed time.

If he is in treatment righ now it is very important that he drinks to stay hydrated. Chemo seems to take the fluids out of them.

My hubby has his second stent in place and it is doing very well right now. The first one moved on him. Instead of moving down, it moved up. If he doesn't have a J tube, I would ask your docs about it. I wish my hubby had gotten his in the beginning. It is so handy to have, because no matter what happens with the stent or during treatment, he always has a way to eat and hydrate. This is just my opinion of course.

Take care
Nancy

Tina Blondek

Hey Shay
I agree with Nancy.
Hey Shay
I agree with Nancy. Sounds to me like he either needs to get the stent checked, or have a dilation of the esophagus done immediately. Do not wait. Call his dr. I know he does not want to eat or drink, I can understand why. But...he does not want to become dehydrated either. This will happen after a couple of days. He may need to go back to the hospital to get rehydrated. Best of luck. You are all doing a great job. Caregiving is one of the hardest jobs you will have. Keep in touch.
Tina

cruiser1

Tina Blondek said:

Hey Shay
I agree with Nancy.
Hey Shay
I agree with Nancy. Sounds to me like he either needs to get the stent checked, or have a dilation of the esophagus done immediately. Do not wait. Call his dr. I know he does not want to eat or drink, I can understand why. But...he does not want to become dehydrated either. This will happen after a couple of days. He may need to go back to the hospital to get rehydrated. Best of luck. You are all doing a great job. Caregiving is one of the hardest jobs you will have. Keep in touch.
Tina

Thank you all for your support and most of all information. His reflux has improved thank goodness.
But now he has other BIG problems. After reading on this site I encouraged my sister to get him on hydration. She did this for 2 days following his chemo. Now he has no appetite (the doctor gave him medicine to try to improve appetite) They talked with the chemo doctor about putting in a feeding tube but he said to try the meds first.
Today is not a good day my sister is so upset does not know what to do, BIL said he can't explain but it feels like his body is failing him. He still does not want to eat. He has lost 5 to 6lbs since last Tuesday chemo.
Can someone please help to explain is this all due to lack of hydration, chemo, radiation or all of it. (My BIL has had 7 Radiation treatments and 2 Chemo's. They also put in his port on Monday. They insisted he needed a stint because of the size of tumor and this was done on 7/13/10 and so far NO problems with the stint).
The bad thing is she dose not have a doctor to talk to on this. They have a radiation doctor and a chemo doctor but when he goes in for treatment it is the tech for radiation and the nurse for chemo.
They are in a Medicare Advantage HMO (it stinks)and their PCP he stinks too (other than one of the nurses that helps them get the approval from the HMO for all the treatments) it is so draining on my sister just to get through every day with having to deal with getting my BIL the best treatment he needs! She has tried to get out of the HMO but medicare tells her NO!
They need a oncologist doctor that they can talk to when these problems come up, because when she mentions anything to the radiation or chemo tech/nurses they only blame the symptoms on each other.
I feels so helpless at not being able to help them. Thank you for letting me vent and I hope someone can give me some information that I can share with them.

crystalbay

You feel like you're dying when this happens. It can be so painful that vomiting occurs at the same time. Besides taking 2 Prilosec a day, I chew 4 tums just as I'm going to sleep, make sure I'm on an incline by stuffing pillows around me, and if the reflux hits, whole milk seems to calm it better than anything else.

Unknown

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nancyann3

unknown said:

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Get the J-tube
I agree with getting a J tube. My hubby has the stent also, but now has a J tube. He eats by mouth right now, and we use the j tube for supplimenting. I don't know why but it seems the docs give you a choice to have a stent or J tube. I think both are a good idea. The stent if needed and the j tube for the caregivers sanity. No matter what happens with the stent or during treatment, we know that nutrition doesn't have to be interupted.

Take care