Heartburn

Antibiotics are overprescribed,  but they work wonders when you need them.

The two that I am taking quickly reduced my intestinal symptoms, although one of the pills caused terrible heartburn.

This falls into the category of fixing one problem and creating another.

My pharmacist blamed the Flagyl (metronidazole); I could take it with milk or yogurt, although calcium decreases the absorption of Cipro (ciprofloxacin). The label on the Cipro says do not take antacids, iron, or vitamin/mineral supplements within 6 hours before or 2 hours after the medication. They all say to take with plenty of water. Since I was up twice at night from following that advice, I took the Flagyl with some yogurt before bed and the Cipro at 4 a.m. Another complication is taking five tabs of Exjade on an empty stomach and not eating for 30 minutes to keep working on my ferritin reduction.

My master's degree is only in journalism. You need a different type of degree to keep up with all of this. For a few minutes this morning I stood looking at the three new bottles, unsure which to take when.

A couple of Zantac helped, but of course that and Prilosec, which I got off of because of the side effects, are not good for your system either.

 I came upon some natural remedies while doing a google search for Flagyl and acid reflux and found all of these: aloe juice, slippery elm, romaine lettuce, fennel tea and ginger root. I found already had green ginger tea in my closet so I am drinking that. (Would rather be drinking coffee!) Today I bought a ginger root. Maybe mix it with the mint from my garden?

So, nix the dairy and try some of these. Also drink a ton of water. Skip the multivitamin and the calcium supplement. Worry about my bones later.

Licorice is also on the list, but I guess Twizzlers do not count even though I could justify a little something extra because I have lost five pounds in all of this.

I am on Melissa's schedule for a week from Friday, but I am trying to switch the appointment to this Friday after the ECP. Hopefully she will be able to help figure me figure out the pill-taking challenge.