1986 I started having heartburn symptoms..I put up with it for 12 years...eating Tums like they were candy..Night time was a nightmare...I finally let my doctor know...I was diagnosed with acid reflux with some damage to the esophagus..He prescribed Prevacid..from the very first pill till today it helped 100%..I eat all and anything I want..On a side note..I reorder my meds from a mail order company..They had a paper error and delayed my script...As I am typing now I am having re occurrences of this problem[I have been without pills for the last 3 days]..It reminds me what a blessing Prevacid is..