Hi to all sufferers. I'm male 37 years old. My problem started in Nov 09 when I was eating my dinner and during it, out of the blue, it felt like my food wasnt going down my throat normally. I was finding it difficult to breathe. I got some fresh air and came back and finished the meal, scared.
I then swallowed a tiny piece of chicken meat unchewed in Jan 2010, and thought I was choking on it. Tried to cough it back up, but no luck. I wasnt choking, I was comfortable enough but in no shape to sleep. Went to A&E at 11pm at night, and was seen at 2pm the next day. Doc sprayed my throat, told me to swallow a few times, put camera down me and said there was nothing there. I was convinced it was stuck there somewhere, cause thats what the feeling was like (turns out this is a GERD type reaction). He told me to go home, relax and eat as normal. I knew there was no way I would be eating as normal.
For a week I ate just smooth foods to give my throat a chance to heal. I then tried to eat burger and chips a week later one night and 10 minutes later I thought I was being choked to death. Had to go for a 3 hour walk. Was still feeling choked, and had to sleep sitting up. Real scared this time, went back to porridge, youghurt, ice-cream diet. But to be honest, appetite was gone, afraid to eat.
Experimented with what foods were giving me a bad reaction, and white bread was a bad one. So eventually found some things I could eat and stuck with that. Added Pringles crisps to the diet, and went fine for a couple of days. Unfortunately made my already inflamed throat sore (even though I chewed all as much to a liquid as possible, little chards must have hurt my throat). So crisps were out. So just kept eating my porridge, ice-cream, biscuits soaked in tea, youghurt. Was losing weight though, 200lbs down to 170lbs.
Then a real scare one day after eating biscuits. After a snack I usually cough up a little phlegm, only the phlegm this time felt like it was a metre long, not the normal little blob that I could easily get rid of. Couldnt get it up and it felt like it was choking me. Major scared. Tried to swallow it back down and after some fresh air and a good hour walk, succeeded.
Read up on phlegm, and the two worst foods for phlegm, sugar and white flour. The main things my biscuits were made of. Eliminated them and the ice-cream from the diet, and stuck with my porridge and yoghurt. Problem was I was now 160lbs and my throat was still sore, even after sucking a pack of Strepsils for a week. The main pain during all this time was a pain in my MIDDLE back (maybe my lungs?). Usually a few hours after I eat, on a scale of 1-10 where 10 was unbearable, it's always been just a 2, and always gone when I wake up in the morning. But its there after eating.
So I decided to go to the G.P, see if he could know what the hell was wrong. Told him my story and he was surprised my weight had gone from 200lbs to 160lbs in 2 and a half months. Recommended a gastroscope at the hospital. Date was set for a month later. During that month my throat actually healed, and it felt fine when I was due the gastroscope. Done the gastroscope, no problem, throat - normal, just waiting on results back for stomach now. They said may be a bacterial infection, they'll let me know. Meantime they gave me a prescription, they said will help the lining of my stomach, 28 days of 10mg Losec Mups Gastro Resist Tabs PCO, and 20mg just Losec Mups Gastro Resist Tabs.
So Im on Day 4 taking these. Pain still there. Im hoping it will go after the 28 days, but from what I read on this thing, that looks unlikely. During this time I have changed my diet to see if it helps my digestion problems. Using the Food Combining technique, not mixing carbs with proteins at meals, eating fruits alone, and no acid fruits, no alcohol, no chocolate, all the usual GERD rules. Have been sleeping with a raised bed for a month or so as well.
Thats where I am at the moment and will let you all know how my progress goes.
Niceguy2010