it really cures esophagitis

Sucralfate soothes the angry beast I had gastric bypass surgery two and a half years ago, and as a result, my stomach has been divided into two portions; an upper stomach "pouch" that processes the food I eat, and the larger, lower stomach that just hangs around, doing nothing. Nothing except develop H. pylori-caused ulcers, apparently! My surgeon put me on Nexium to try to calm the acid production down (go see my review of that medication if you're interested) and Sucralfate for when the ulcers flared up.

Sucralfate works really well to calm down the intense pain of an ulcer attack. Sometimes these attacks would wake me from a sound sleep, and sucralate had me feeling normal again within 15 minutes, and back to bed in 20. I should note that I am NOT taking Sucralfate on a daily basis as indicated above, but symptomatically, when I have stomach pain.

The one thing I don't like about Sucralfate is needing to either crush or crunch it up, or to dissolve it in liquid, before I take it. My stomach pouch doesn't provide a good place for digestion so this was recommended, and though it doesn't taste like much (maybe chalk?), Sucralfate has sort of a nasty texture if you don't get to just swallow it.

Still, I can make a few awful Robitussin faces :-) if that's what it takes to make my poor stomach feel better (and it actually isn't as awful as Robitussin, either). And I like that, unlike big painkillers like Vicodin, it doesn't constipate me or cause other untoward side effects. I haven't noticed a single side effect when taking this symptomatically, other than the need to rinse my mouth out after I take it.

By the way, the generic name for this drug made me worry that I was just getting a sugar pill. I don't know why they chose this generic name, but the medication doesn't contain any sugar. It's safe for diabetics on that score too. I would have been very angry if I'd discovered that I'd been prescribed expensive 1 gram sugar pills!!

I have been dx'd with GERD and on PPI's for several years , on Prilosec and Nexium and have also used Carafate at different times when the PPI's could not help the terrible stomach pain, nausea, loss of appetite and weight loss that pop up once ot twice a year [at least]. I have been on 80 mgs of Nexium for 3 weeks, then down to 60 [40mg Nexium and 20 mg Prilosec for 2 more weeKs [was on 40 mg Prilosec for the last 8 months before that..no releif except when I take Carafate [generic]. I have troble swallowing it so I put in a tablespoon, add a few drops of water and then add 1tbs yogurt or applesauce and just eat the resulting goo. It does seem to help and I am able to eat more. Going back in for endoscopy soon but in the meantime, Carafate gives the most relief from pain for now.

Liquid is available I just wanted to let Julia know that there is a liquid available. Why take the tabs and go through all that if you can get the liquid? Your doc should know it is available.

Incidentally, I took Carafate a long time ago for a duodenal ulcer and it worked very well. i was just diagnosed with a esophageal ulcer and my doc wanst me to take nexium. I would prefer to take the carafate.

I had to enter the date taken, although I am not taking it yet for the latest ulcer. I had to enter it to be able to post.
Too bad we can't just have a reply button to reply to other posts without having to enter that info.

I have a multitude of medical problems. The Carafate, when taken as directed (an hour prior to eating in my case) works great. Not convenient to remember the "hour before" thing.

I am on Cipro for a month (1000mg a day) and the two of them leave me sick all the time. Stomach cramps, nausea, etc. I was told to take the Carafate and wait 4 hours to take the Cipro. I hope that helps, when I am this sick I can't sleep well. Getting an average of 4 hours sleep per day, even when drugged by Rozerem or Lunesta.

Without Carafate, I get sick every time I eat. With Carafate taken an hour early, I never get sick (so far). It works for me and I am very difficult to prescribe for. I recommend it only if you can follow the directions to the letter. My Iphone now has 4 times a day for the alarm to go off. Twice for Cipro and twice for Carafate.

I have GERD and IBS and have a lot of indigestion and pressure in my chest. This medication has helped tremendously. It takes about 2 weeks for the full effect of the medication, so be patient!

After having esophageal cancer, the doctor asked that I swish with this medicine and swallow. It's been helpful since I had the dry heaves and had a tendancy toward yeast infections in the esophagus.

Hard to take so it does not interfere with other medications

can not get off the toilet.... go every 30 minutes

I have been on this medication for the past 2 months, taking it 3x a day. I have a hiatel hernia and my esophogas was distressed from acid reflux every nite. Since taking the drug, I am free of acid reflux and the damage to my esophogas has healed.