Experienced GERD Sufferers Please Help Me!

Hello, this is my first posting on here, but I have read many posts on a daily basis for about a month now. I am a 19 yr-old overweight male, and about a month and a half ago i suffered a panic attack, and have been in a downward spiral ever since. I have always had poor eating habits, always reaching for what tasted best than for what was best for me, I believe that I have had GERD for about a year and a half on and off. It has gotten so bad in the last few weeks that I have basically just stopped eating. Everything that i eat, be it big or small; healthy or not, makes me feel like i have eaten way too much, and have to burp non-stop which i have to lean forward to do, and that i have a ton of trapped gas. After all of the gas passes, I have horrible acid and regurgitation in my esophagus which is lessened slightly with Zantac 150. The reason I am very worried about my GERD is because it feels like now on a daily basis I am having trouble swallowing. and having pain in my esophagus and this makes me feel super anxious to the point where i just feel like crying. I feel super-anxious because i am very scared that i have barrett's esophagus, or the incurable cancer that results from not managing barrett's esophagus. I have felt very lethargic lately and am just wallowing in despair because everything i eat makes me sick and gives me reflux, which in turn i think is damaging my esophagus and killing me. It sounds silly that i should be saying such a thing, but i am scared to death. I am thinking of meeting with a gastroenterologist and discussing having an upper endoscopy done. I am also having tightness in my neck and some numbness on my right lower cheek/jaw and have had green pebbly stools lately. I am so scared that i am living my last few days on earth, not knowing what is going on inside of me. Please offer any help that you can!

I agree with what Souther Star told you.  Get to a doctor and get it checked.  Trying to self diagnose yourself can drive you crazy.  I know because I am guilty of that myself.  I look my symptoms up online and start thinking worse case scenario.  Get myself all worried then go to the doctor and find it is not as bad as I led myself to believe.  Your symtoms sound like you could have GERD.  Make the apointment with the doctor, write down when you have your symptoms when and what you eat. 

I also have difficulty swallowing, chest pain and the feeling of food gettng stuck.  My GI is doing somemore testing and setting me up with a surgeon.  I do have a Hiatla hernia and have verty strong esophageal spasms.  It can be scary but many GERD sufferers can be treated with medication  Alot of the symptoms you describe most of us in this forum have.

The best way to put your mind at ease is make an appointment with a GI and let them figure out what you have and how to fix it.  I know not knowing what is going on can be a scary thing but worrying about the worst case scenario will make things worse.  When I went to the er I with my chest pains I knew it was my GERD but I let the symptoms scare me and when I was life flighted to another hospital I panicked and stressed myself out even though I knew it was GERD not a heart attack.

Try to relax and wait until you have a chance to talk to your doctor, make a list of your concerns and discuss those with them.  Take everything one day at a time and talk to you doctor.  Let us know how you are doing and remember we are here for you.

MJ

You are young enough to be helped, I think. Go to the doctor - completely change your eating patterns. There may still be time. I had a period where I was eating healthy for 5 years and felt great - then I gained 70 pounds, ate lousy, and ultimately had gallstones and had my galbbladder emoved. Which leads me to now --

You could wind up like me. I was diagnosed with Barrett's Esophagus this past August. For a year prior, I never felt like I had acid going up into my esophagus at all, but for the year I'd suffered with a sour taste in my mouth and gunk on my tongue, every day. My throat finally began to hurt after 1 year of all that - and from what I'd read online I feared it could be Barretts - and I had an endoscopy with a biopsy, and it confirmed my fears. All of this began in 2007 when I had to take a medicine to relieve diarrhea caused by not having a gallbladder. It stopped the diarrhea, but gave me these other problems. Before I developed the sore throat I'd tried every so often to wean myself off the diarrhea meds... I couldn't go out without them, so I was stuck taking them.

I am now on Panatprazole (generic of Protonics) and Carafate for the past three months even though I hate pills --- and I am terrified every day. My throat still hurts. Taking these types of PPI's longterm is not healthy, but what is the alternative? Esophagus cancer or stomach cancer? Just lovely -- what a choice. I've never smoked my whole life, I don't drink. I'm in my mid-40s, and it feels like it's Over. I know that negative thinking is not really a good thing, but I am a realist. When something is awful, it's awful. Where's the way out of this? I've learned there is no "cure" for Barrett's, but they also say your esophagus "can heal itself". Sounds like double-talk to me.

I want to read all the online boards more often for help, but every time I read about Barrett's somewhere I inevitably see the "C" word that goes right along with it (like even within your original post) and it makes me really feel scared and like giving up. People tell me to get counseling -- but the realist in me knows it's a waste of time. For me, it is good physical health, or bust.. no concessions, no "accepting" the problem. And what can a counselor who hasn't ever walked in my shoes tell me?

And to think that today is "Thanksgiving"....

Post Edited (Joe9) : 11/27/2008 6:44:12 AM (GMT-7)

mtjbob, thanks for your post. When I found out I had Barretts back in August I really went into a deep depression.. I come out of it now and then but I occasionally dwell on it... and how do you not dwell when symptoms are always there and you always feel bad?

Since August I have purposely tried to avoid these boards, because there are so many differing points of view and case histories. But at the same time it's comforting to talk with people who sympathize, and maybe they can even help with their own experiences -- so what to do? But this morning I have finally spent an hour or more reading back many year's worth of talk about PPI meds, Reflux, and so on. What begins to happen is there are SO MANY different points of view that I don't know what to believe! Which posts are right? Which are wrong? 

I am sorry, but I just don't trust doctors. If you go to 10 doctors they'll each tell you 10 different things or treatments. Mine has me on a generic of Protonix since August, but is this the correct route to go? Who knows? I have read so many varying things right here -- from these PPIs possibly causing cancer on their own with longterm usage, to the fact that they could actually stop working at all after awhile, or that they may actually CAUSE REFLUX instead of STOP IT... and on and on and on... So who is right??

It's all guesswork, and that's very frustrating and hopeless. . Personally, I am seriously thinking of going OFF all medications -- no more PPI's, no more Carafate, no more Blood Pressure Meds, no more of the bile sequestrant drug which helps my post-gallbladder diarrhea... I cannot really make it without taking the anti-bile diarrhea stuff, but at this point having to run to a bathroom or risking going in my pants is better than the risk of esophagael cancer!

I was diagnsosed with Barretts in 2001 and am still living.  Barretts is not necessarily a death sentence.  Please see your doctor and take your medications as prescibed. 

In 2003, I had a nissan fundiplication to fix a hiatel hernia.  At that point, my surgeon took me off of Nexium because I wasn't having any reflux symptoms.  September 2007 I had a severe cough that I couldn't get rid of.  My family doctor ran several tests and gave me antibiotics and steroids for the cough.  Nothing worked.  In March 2008 I had my yearly endoscopy and it showed my Barretts Esophoagus was worse.  My surgeon told me to come back in a year for a repeat test.  I mentioned the Barretts to my family doctor and she immediately prescribed Nexium.  My cough improved and it was determined I had silent reflux.  My family doctor sent me for a second opinion for my Barretts.  My second opinion resulted in an appointment with a surgeon specializing in Barretts.  In Ocober 2008 I had an esophagectomy to remove the damaged portion of my esophagus.  Even though the surgery was more than I had planned I am doing great now.  I am not on any medications and don't have to see the surgeon again until May 2009, at which time I will have an endoscopy to ensure the Barretts has not come back.