Hi jlh2375, I take Omeprazole 20mg for GERD. Unfortunately, GERD is an issue with Scleroderma.

I had difficulties with severe constipation for a while too. I have Dermatomyositis with overlapping Scleroderma. My DM effects all the muscles in the body. The intestines are muscles too. My intestines are slow to move food through my system. I eat bran cereal, prunes, and cruciferous veggies like sauerkraut, brussels sprouts, broccoli, cabbage, etc.. and this has been helpful to assist my intestines to move food.

I also eat several small meals each day instead of three larger meals. I will avoid that horrible bloated feeling, and food moves better too with smaller meals.

I know you probably also experience bloating and back up of liquids after drinking water too. I must drink a lot of water daily. I take small sips over several hours sometimes to avoid that terrible bloat.

I take an OTC lactobacillus that is in the refrigerator at Walgreen's pharmacies. Just go to the pharmacy and ask for the refrigerated pro-biotic. I find the lactobacillus to be a good product for me. The pro-biotic does need to be refrigerated at home too.

Not to be discouraging, but a pro-biotic is not going to help much if your intestines or stomach are getting stiff. Scleroderma will stiffen up organs in the body too.

My gastroenterologist ran a gastric emptying study on my stomach. It is a painless test where I had to eat an egg with radioactive iodine, then I laid down for an hour while the x-ray machine examined how quickly my stomach moved food. My test came back normal. I was grateful for the normal results, but it did not explain why the bloat, excess GERD, and the slow movement of food. I came to the conclusion that the problem must be slow intestines and not slow stomach. The small meals has made a big difference for me.

I hope this helps. We are all different. The website Sclero.org is helpful too.

One more thing I forgot to mention... I have found that juicing has helped a ton with digestion of nutrients. I will juice low sugar veggie drinks, and I feel 100% better. Be careful to watch sugar content when juicing too.

Thanks for the advice. I can't use omeprazole at all. I am on Nexium 2 x per day at 40mg. I have hiatal hernia which doesn't help the situation. I will have to try the store pro biotic. I have been getting mine from the health food stores here and some seem to make it worse.

I have MCTD with a lot of scleroderma . I have gastroparesis where my food does not digest or empty properly. My GI dr had me drinking meat tenderizer to break up the food, which was awful plus all the salt. I researched the enzymes and went to the health food store I take a digestive enzyme which works great. Call Digestive Gold. I also take the prilosec 2x a day and also reaglan to help my belly empty. hope you find something----michelle

Hi Auggie,

I somehow missed your reply, That really stinks. I also have MCTD. It's a pain to never know what is wrong with you.