Cryo-ablation and heartburn

[AllyAF]

After my cryo-ablation in Early September I was given 2 months worth of antacid tablets to combat heartburn - not sure why. Did have a few twinges of pain in my stomach occasionally in the afternoon but 2 nights ago in bed horrendous chest pain which continued for around 10 minutes. My son made me warm milk which made the pain go away. Nothing last night. Has anyone else suffered this?

[johnMiosh]

It is to protect against atrioesophogal fistula. Very rare but potentially fatal. Worth taking six months of relatively harmless pills for.

[AllyAF in reply to johnMiosh]

Thank you John. All sounds a bit scary.

[johnMiosh in reply to johnMiosh]

Sorry 6 weeks. Not 6 months

[irene75359]

I would not diagnose you as I am not a doctor, and continuing chest pain should always be checked out.

That said, for a bad attack of indigestion my Grandmother used to take tiny sips of warm milk which she said always worked. I have tried it too, and it is remarkable how quickly it takes effect.

Sorry, I have no experience of ablation (yet).

[seasider18 in reply to irene75359]

My wife takes milk for that but our GP is totally against it as he maintains that milk causes more acid to be produced.

[irene75359 in reply to seasider18]

I was interested in your GP's disapproval so I googled and found:

'You may have heard that drinking a glass of milk can relieve heartburn. While it's true that milk can temporarily buffer stomach acid, nutrients in milk, particularly fat, may stimulate the stomach to produce more acid. ... Try fat-free skim milk and don't overdo it.'

On the rare occasions I need to sip milk, coincidently it is always skimmed, but never in large quantities. Think I will carry on!

[seasider18 in reply to irene75359]

Have you tried A2 milk ?

It is from special herds depending on a cow's genetic make-up, it can produce either completely A1 beta-casein, a combination of both, or completely A2 beta-casein.

The two proteins alleles are almost identical but there are small variations and, while there is no strong scientific research, there is anecdotal evidence to suggest milk containing just the A2 protein is easier for some people to digest.

The milk is promoted and sold in supermarkets as an alternative for people who struggle to digest common varieties of cows' milk.

[irene75359 in reply to seasider18]

I am used to looking for dairy-free alternatives as my baby grandson is lactose intolerant (my daughter hasn't had a cup of tea for 10 months as the cow's milk passes through her milk to him!) so thank you for that - I have never seen this but will keep an eye out. It may be a half-way step for trying him out milk.

[seasider18 in reply to irene75359]

Morrison, Tesco and Waitrose certainly all sell it.

Good thing about it is you can buy it in bulk as unopened it keeps for over six weeks.

[AllyAF in reply to irene75359]

Thank you Irene. The warm milk did help and I have had no reoccurrence since Sunday night. It was semi slimmed. Thought I might buy some antacid for the house just in case. Only other time I ever had heartburn I was pregnant and that is definitely not the case now!

[mike1961]

You shouldn’t need to worry at all about atrio-oesophageal fistula with cryo as no burning as such is carried out. That’s what my EP (who does both RF and cryo) told me anyway. No doubt others here will weigh in here if I’m wrong!