heartburn and weight loss...worried

[mags1501]

His
I've been having mild hearburn for around 5 weeks now. Went to my lovely dr yesterday who gets my anxiety.
Was on Omeprazole for a couple of week but didn't like the side effects so they changed me to zantac. Over the last couple of days my mild heartburn has got better but i can still feel it after i've eaten. He told me that zantac is a milder drug and takes longer to work, to keep taking it for another couple of weeks and then ring him, he may prescribe another course. he said it time for the windpipe to grow a new lining
I've slowly been loosing weight since the hearburn I weighed myself last night and I've gone under 9st for the first time in years. I'm just over 5ft. Now I'm really panicking about my weight loss. I've probably lost 8lbs in 4/5 weeks since this has started. I'm just wondering if this is normal with hearburn issues. Most days i have no appetite and I'm really not bothered about food as I'm so worried my heartburn will flare up.
My dr said nothing was rining any alarm bells and basically shoved me out of the door.
anyone else experienced this

[BlueWaterGirl]

The weight loss could be due to you not having an appetite. You're not eating regularly, right? I too take Zantac (liquid form), but for GERD. I've been on it for a few weeks now, it is slowly making me feel a lot better, so just give it time. My doctor said that there are stronger medications on the market for acid reflux and heartburn, but to try this one out first.

I'm sure your doctor wasn't too worried because sometimes heartburn/acid reflux go hand in hand with no appetite. Just keep giving the Zantac a try and when you do eat, try eating smaller portions during each meal until you have worked your way back to eating normal again, also try to stay away from spicy, fatty, and greasy foods.

[stressedGuy]

The weight loss you've described doesn't seem that excessive at all, especially since your appetite's been off. But I completely get why you've become a bit anxious about it. I'm kind of in the same boat in that I'm using my weight as an indicator of my health status. In my head, no weight loss is a good thing these days and indicates (for a short while) that I don't have the illness that I'm afraid of.

Completely wrong headed thinking of course! Up until the last few weeks, I had a goal of losing about 20 pounds. My recent trip to the beach and the subsequent photos convinced me that I'd let myself go a bit. After hitting the gym and changing my eating habits, I was really pleased to be losing 2 pounds per week, exactly my aim and recommended by health professionals as a good, achievable weight loss goal.

Unfortunately, my HA kicked in for unrelated reasons and now I've stopped going to the gym. I'm now actively avoiding losing weight. If I put weight on, then it makes me feel reassured.

Quite sad when HA stops us from achieving our goals. That can manifest itself as a fear of doing cardiovascular exercise in case the resulting feeling of being out of breath convinces us that something is wrong with our heart/lungs. Or in my case, I'm now afraid of losing weight so I'm making myself unhealthy again by putting the pounds back on.