Sinc Christmas evening I have gone to the e.r. twice for my heartburn and nothing helped so I went to the I H S Clinic twice today and the pills I received still isn't helping me! I just now took one more pill of Ranitdine HCL 150mg and how long would you say it would take effect in my system because I am hurting severely!

Read the directions that came with it, and if no relief go back to the clinic, and tell them it ain't working, and the pain is worse. That's what I would do.

I'm not sure in your case but ranitidine and famotidine work fast for me at low dosage. Did they do an Upper GI on you?

Also if you don't change your diet, pills often have little effect

I suffer from severe heartburn with certain foods. Tums and a glass of milk usually does the trick for me.

I have to agree with Chuck though. If you're not changing your diets, the pills will have very little effect. Heartburn is normally caused by certain foods. So what are you eating?

Drinking a ton of water and not swallowing the spit that you create works for me. The spit is pure acid and when you swallow it that is the burning going down. Also stand, don't sit. And at bedtime I lay on my side almost on my stomach. Laying on your back is a killer.

Stop eating!
Don't lie down!
Sleep sitting up.
After 24 hours of warm broth or plain water only, try some oatmeal with milk.

Maybe you have an ulcer or acid erosion of the esophagus. Stop going to ERs too - regular daytime clinics, where you get more thorough attention.

(I've lived on about 6,000 mg of TUMS a day for at least 15 years... try to lower it as much as I can..)