Hi all! I have the following conditions:

- ADHD (mainly the attention deficit part)
- asthma
- acid reflux/GERD
- meralgia paresthetica

I’m a big believer in "alternative" treatments like chiropractic, acupuncture, acupressure, herbalism, reiki, etc. I’d love to try acupuncture because I’ve heard so many good things about it, but unfortunately I can’t afford it right now. I can barely afford my chiropractor and my regular HMO medical plan, but I won’t give those up!

At any rate, I suspect it could probably help ALL of my conditions at least somewhat, but I’m wondering if anyone here can tell me which of the conditions stand the best chance of being helped by acupuncture? Also — and this is a long shot — if anyone knows of an inexpensive but GOOD acupuncturist in the Silicon Valley/South Bay Area of California, please tell me who it is! Thanks!

P.S. For those who’ve no idea what meralgia paresthetica is, click here: http://www.emedicine.com/neuro/topic590.htm
To Dr. N. & other doctors — no disrespect intended, but taking medication for some disorders is often only a "band-aid". It suppresses them, keeps them under control, but does NOT "cure" them.

All meds have side effects, & some meds also increase your risk of developing other disorders down the line. For example, I take generic Prilosec daily for my acid reflux (Zantac was too weak), but longterm use of proton-pump inhibitors like Prilosec correlate with increased risk of stomach cancer. Plus, it’s simply NOT NATURAL to force one’s stomach to not produce acid. It’s supposed to make acid, for crying out loud! I’m scared of what I’m doing to my body this way.

And what if I want to have a baby down the line? You’re not even supposed to take steriod-based asthma inhalers (like QVAR), of which I take 2-3 puffs daily. And I sure couldn’t take Prilosec or ADHD meds!

I’d much rather RESOLVE my disorders, not just "cover them up". I need to at least TRY alternative options!

Hi all! I have the following conditions:

- ADHD (mainly the attention deficit part)
- asthma
- acid reflux/GERD
- meralgia paresthetica

I’m a big believer in "alternative" treatments like chiropractic, acupuncture, acupressure, herbalism, reiki, etc. I’d love to try acupuncture because I’ve heard so many good things about it, but unfortunately I can’t afford it right now. I can barely afford my chiropractor and my regular HMO medical plan, but I won’t give those up!

At any rate, I suspect it could probably help ALL of my conditions at least somewhat, but I’m wondering if anyone here can tell me which of the conditions stand the best chance of being helped by acupuncture? Also — and this is a long shot — if anyone knows of an inexpensive but GOOD acupuncturist in the Silicon Valley/South Bay Area of California, please tell me who it is! Thanks!

P.S. For those who’ve no idea what meralgia paresthetica is, click here: http://www.emedicine.com/neuro/topic590.htm
To Dr. N. & other doctors — no disrespect intended, but taking medication for some disorders is often only a "band-aid". It suppresses them, keeps them under control, but does NOT "cure" them.

All meds have side effects, & some meds also increase your risk of developing other disorders down the line. For example, I take generic Prilosec daily for my acid reflux (Zantac was too weak), but longterm use of proton-pump inhibitors like Prilosec correlate with increased risk of stomach cancer. Plus, it’s simply NOT NATURAL to force one’s stomach to not produce acid. It’s supposed to make acid, for crying out loud! I’m scared of what I’m doing to my body this way.

And what if I want to have a baby down the line? You’re not even supposed to take steriod-based asthma inhalers (like QVAR), of which I take 2-3 puffs daily. And I sure couldn’t take Prilosec or ADHD meds!

I’d much rather RESOLVE my disorders, not just "cover them up". I need to at least TRY alternative options!

asthma, but is really from being obese?
I weigh 300lbs and have recently lost 15 lbs.
My aunt told me her friend had the same spasmatic coughing spells while eating. His doctors determined it to be his obesity and he underwent weight loss therapy.

Do you know anyone in my perdicament & what were their results?
Tell me whatever you can.

I have been to the lung doc and I was scoped for GERD.
None of that treatments for asthma and GERD keep me from coughing the second food or medication goes through my esophagus. And if it were GERD then Tums wouldn’t make me cough!!!
My aunt said it’s food pushing on the fat buildup indide me.

I face constipation on a daily basis.previously I had been diagonised for GERD but I took treatment by then.In the morning I don"t feel the urge to empty my bowel and I have to push myself very hard,but 80% I"d fail tp empty my bowel.
I also Have some sort of ripe liquid come out from my stomach and fill my mouth badly.
CAn anybody tell me what this is?is this serious?

I’ve been on Nexium for 1 month now for treatment of GERD, and over the course of that month, I gained 5 pounds. I am 5′3" and went from 104 pounds to 109 pounds… big frigging deal. However, I did mention it to my GI doctor just to let him/her (whatever it is … it’s a f u c k i n g transvestite/d y k e) know what was going on…… S/he said that Nexium could NEVER cause weight gain (lmao, s/he needs to check again… it is one of the most common side effects), and said that I NEED TO GO TO THE OBESITY CLINIC?!!?! Are you kidding me?!!?! I’m borderline UNDERWEIGHT!!!!!!!

What would you do if this were you? I already told him/her to go f u c k itself, but I’m not sure what else to do. S/he won’t listen to anything I say and keeps insisting that I have an upper endoscopy (even though I already had an upper GI that was 100% normal aside from the reflux that they could see happening during the test), or she will "tell on me" to my primary care doctor!!! What do I do?!?!?
She also told me to call the pharmacist and then get back to her after I asked him why Zantac interacts with Biaxin (an antibiotic — the Zantac blocks the absorption of Biaxin), yet Nexium doesn’t. Um, here’s an idea: maybe it is because one is an antacid and the other is a PPI!?!!? Nah, that couldn’t be it. The pharmacist was laughing and was like, "S/he didn’t know that?" It’s not funny though. S/he is running all sorts of outrageous tests (which I am now refusing), and s/he doesn’t know his/her ass from his/her elbow.

Thanks for any help! I’ll pick a best answer TODAY!!!!!
Read from all of the people who had weight gain:

http://www.askapatient.com/viewrating.asp?drug=21153&name=NEXIUM

And then some stuff halfway down this page:

http://www.askdocweb.com/nexium2.html

Here it is classified as a "WEIGHT GAIN DRUG":

http://www.healthyplace.com/Communities/Thought_Disorders/schizo/articles/weight_gain.asp

For the last few years, I’ve experienced the occasional sensation of feeling like something’s in my throat or difficulty swallowing. It’s increased over the last couple of years (occurring more often or feeling worse) but never to the point where it’s disrupted daily activities or anything like that. However, it seems to have taken a turn for the worse over the last few months, and specifically the last few weeks. I feel sick after eating just about anything (I can’t identify a trigger food(s)), but my stomach isn’t the problem–it’s a feeling in my throat/chest. If I have any pain, it’s either in my chest or in the V-shaped area directly below my sternum, between my rib cage and stomach. There’s an almost constant feeling of something being in my throat, sometimes just annoying (as it’s been on and off for several years) and sometimes to the point where it feels like I’m about to vomit. There’s been a couple of instances where it felt like vomit was actually rising back through my esophagus, even though my stomach was just fine (even hungry) and there were no other symptoms–I was just fine and all of a sudden had the sensation of throwing up. It’s now an everyday thing–every time I eat and sometimes when I don’t–so it’s really disrupting ordinary life. I’m a 3rd grade teacher, and this isn’t conducive to standing up and teaching all day (including after lunch). I’m only 22 and have always been healthy; I would like to be able to go out, date, etc. like a normal 22 year old and I can’t because I constantly feel sick (but not like when I was young and had a virus or something) or I’m afraid that I will feel that way, especially if I eat something. I’ve tried Tums, Ranitidine (in an Equate brand acid reducer), Gas-X with Maalox, Pepto-Bismol (which helped nausea but nothing else), and Rolaids and have had no luck. I’m trying Prevacid (the 14-day treatment) starting tomorrow–has anyone had any success with that? I don’t know what else this could be; I’ve looked up the symptoms of GERD and they are basically an exact replica of what I feel. I don’t smoke, I’m not overweight (if anything, I’m almost underweight–but it’s a normal weight for me), I eat a good variety of food, there’s no possibility of pregnancy–all of the risk factors they list. I’m thinking that I need to go to the doctor (and plan to), but in the meantime, does anyone have any experience with this? What helped? Do my symptoms sound like GERD or acid reflux to you? Any help is greatly appreciated–I just want to feel normal again.

I have had Gastroesophogeal reflux since 2006 and my G.I. doctor gave me a list of what I shouldn’t eat. I used to have it really badly and was on like 20 different medications like muscle relaxers (which is a new treatment for GERD) and really strong acid reducers. I stopped taking them around November and I don’t go to the doctors because Ihaven’t gotten sick like my mother (who is a nurse) said I would from not taking my medicine. My mom also stopped taking me to the doctor because she said it would be stupid to do so since I don’t take my medicine. Any suggestions on the food?

I had GERD problem about a couple of months ago. Too much coffee and soda caused it. A doctor recommended a edonscopy procedure and he found H.pylori bacteria and wants to have an appointment. Reading about it. 1 in 3 in the world population has this bateria. Now, I don’t have any digestive sympton, but I am worried that this bateric can be trasmitted to my kid. Has anyone had this bacteria and what was the treatment? I want to know about it before I see the doctor who is usually aggressive about removing batecria.

I face constipation on a daily basis.previously I had been diagonised for GERD but I took treatment by then.In the morning I don"t feel the urge to empty my bowel and I have to push myself very hard,but 80% I"d fail tp empty my bowel.
I also Have some sort of ripe liquid come out from my stomach and fill my mouth badly.
CAn anybody tell me what this is?is this serious?