I'm with the majority who are smiling.

PBP wasn't perfect for me. Some things went great, some not so great. But overall, it was certainly the best I've ever felt in PBP. I owe it to the "secret weapon" Nexium, the "purple pill," a prescription medicine for preventing acid reflux. I took a 40-mg capsule during each of the four days before PBP, then one cap every 12 hours during the event.

It let me eat like a pig at each control's cafeteria but suffer none of the incessant hiccups, vomit burps and searing acid reflux that plagued my other two PBPs.

Even with so many foods uncommon to my system (including more ham in three days than I'd eaten in the previous 30 years), everything digested quietly during the 50 miles or so between controls.

If you suffer heartburn while eating on long rides, I encourage you to ask your doc for a sample of Nexium. Give it a try. It's a medical miracle in my book.

I figure I burned 40,000 calories during PBP. I'll bet I ate enough to replace nearly every one of them. How wonderful to be able to digest food comfortably and never come close to running out of energy.

Scott Stinnett, M.D., a UMCA member from Siloam Springs, AR, adds his recommendations for modern medicines that may prevent abdominal pain and burning acid reflux. Most are prescription drugs, so check with your doctor.

• Initially, I recommend trying either Nexium 40 mg or Aciphex 20 mg. These could be taken once or twice daily. Similar drugs are Prevacid 30 mg and Protonix 40 mg.
• The next round would be Carafate 1 gm up to four times daily. The above four drugs stop acid secretion in the stomach while Carafate will protect the stomach lining from irritation and has absolutely no systemic effects.

Generic Alternative Nexium and Prilosec are made by the same company. Recently the patent on Prilosec expired and Omeprazole came on the market as a generic form.

• Round three would be Reglan, which helps with motility in the GI tract. It has serious neurologic side effects, especially if taken over long periods (months). It may also cause drowsiness. But taken in small doses, Reglan may help keep the gut going on 300K brevets, double centuries and longer. Pepcid, Zantac and Tagamet could be helpful, and they are available without a prescription. But they are far less effective than Nexium and the others.

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