[mpopp]

Hi,

I am new to this board and Plavix. A little history. I am a 54yr old female. Four years ago I developed a rare autoimmune disease called Dermatomyositis. It causes several nasty symptoms including a painful rash, weak, sore muscles, sore joints and pain in general. The side effects of weak muscles gave me a severe case of acid reflux. Before the DM I was hypothyroid, overweight and half way through menapause. THe disease is being treated with heavy duty immunosupressent drugs. Two years ago I developed Atrial Fibrillation that is being treated with warfrin and atenelol. I now have a frozen shoulder that needs treating. In order to have that done I had a lot of preop tests. They discovered a blockage in my heart that was treated with two stents and now Plavix and aspirin on top of the warfrin.
My question is how do I keep the acid reflux under control while taking aspirin and Plavix which are both known to be hard on the stomach? My gastro doctor who actually understands my autoimmune disease has given me Protonix twice a day along with Zantac and Malox when ever necessary. They are all after me to control my weight also. How do I not eat and keep the drugs from destroying what is left of my digestive system? The acid supressing drugs are only able to lessen the amount of acid that gets out of my stomach as there is no way to shut off the round muscle that prevents the reflux.

Help![xx(]
Mary P