GERD--Esophagitis--Please Help Me

I know it's long, but please read the whole thing, I'm desperate for help.

So basically I've been having problems swallowing for a couple years now. I HAVE to drink something in order for food to go down. It's really annoying because I can't eat anything without also drinking something.

So I went to my family doctor and he said I have GERD and told me to take Prilosec OTC. And so I did take the full treatment (14 days), but it didn't really help that much. The GERD symptoms weren't there, but I'd still have to drink something in order for food to go down.

I went back to my family doctor a couple months later and told him I'm still having problems, so he told me to get an Upper GI or barium swallow done. I did that and everything came back normal. So the doctor once again just said to continue taking Prilosec OTC. He also told me nothing is wrong which made me furious with him because I'm telling him something IS wrong.

Then my family doctor told me to get an esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) done. Now I thought I was getting somewhere, because when the results of the EGD came back, they said I have inflammation in my esophagus, or esophagitis. For some reason I was really happy. I think it's because I finally knew what was wrong.

So the specialist doctor who had done the EGD told me to take prescription Nexium, which she said would help the inflammation and GERD. But I've been taking the Nexium for months now and it's not helping. I really think that maybe I should also be taking medicine specifically for the inflammation. So I just don't know what to do, and I've just about had it. I'm tired of it all, I just want to be able to enjoy a meal like everyone else and not have to constantly be taking sips of water.

oh and one other thing... you might want to see a throat doc to check your motility of the esophagus make sure its contracting normally.. just a thought

Hi,

I'm sorry to hear about your problems. I have a hiatal hernia and had been diagnosed with GERD and had it for over a year until I came across a book called No More Heartburn. It covers a lot, but after going back to the doctor's so many times I got depressed and said to myself they can't seem help my burning throat, stomach and intestines. I didn't know why all of a sudden I started to burn so much, I had no ulcer, and I had a colonoscopy and endoscopy that were normal. The medication that I was taking for months, Zantac and PPI hardly helped. I got desperate and came across this book and followed the advise of the book, and a lot of it has to do with your diet and what you eat. Unfortunately, it's so difficult to change a person's diet, but it's all I had left to do, so within two weeks of changing my diet - no sugar, no yeast, no dairy, no caffeine, eat lots of vegetables, drink lots of water, etc. I was amazed at how I felt. In two weeks my pains and burning were pretty much gone, after a year of having the pain. I think everyone's body is unique, but we are much more sensitive then we think and every single thing that go's into our mouth's affects us. When I started feeling much better, because I was eating so healthy, I started to go off my diet just a little and my problems started to come back, so I know for sure for me it's what I eat. I hope this info helps. Oh, also try looking up how to alkaline your body. I bought another book online and the diet is very strict, but it has a lot of great information. The author was a GERD sufferer as well until he changed his diet for good.

I am sorry to hear about all of the problems you have been experiencing. I am 28 years old and I have long suffered from difficulty swallowing since I was 6 years old. Food gets stuck on its way down my esophagus and I have to violently choke it up or else it is stuck for hours and hours. It is extremely painful and disgusting. I also suffer from GERD, erosive esophagitis, and a hiatal hernia. The particular issue with swallowing was due to esophageal strictures. When I was finally 18, a doctor referred me to a GI specialist who performed the EGD with dilation. The doctor stretched my esophagus with a balloon. It seemed like a miracle cure, but it was only short-lived. I have had 5 EGDs total in the last 10 years, two with the dilation of strictures, and one with dilation coming up on Friday, 1/23/09. I have been told many times that there is no pain associated with this procedure, but I have experienced very much pain when the EGD is accompanied with the dilation of strictures. How can I manage my pain if I can not eat or drink anything afterwords for many days, and the doctor says I should be fine and can return to work the next day? It is hard for me to swallow anything and I find myself drooling into buckets uncontrollably afterwords. I am extremely anxious over the outcome of my next procedure. I am finding myself unable to sleep and I feel defeated because I can not find a way to stress enough to my doctor how terrible it truly feels. How can I minimize my agony afterwords. any suggestions?

as others said the best thing you can do IMHO is get a motility test done on your esophagus, which is NOT fun, but will tell you if you have issues there, such as achalasia. The doctors still dont know if I suffer from GERD or early onset achalasia, so they say, but if I had to pick one of the two from what I know and have researched I would probably pick achalasia. So don´t worry, just get the test done and see what they say. That should be a big step in finding out what is wrong.

I'm new at this but struggling with esophagitis with ulcers, hiatal hernia and gastritis of the stomach. I thought if see if others were having same symptoms. I'm not sure how to start a new post. Thank you joy