New here, severe GERD..

Hi guys,

I found this forum by searching for my symptoms. I've been reading many threads and decided to register and share my story (might be long).

I'm male and 25 years old. I started noticing my symptoms a few months ago. I had severe belching, gas, constant fullness, and chest pains. It was something I had never experienced before. In October I started feeling extremely full after any meal and thought it was time to visit a doctor. He prescribed me 20mg omeperazole, saying it should just take care of the problem. I took it for a few weeks with no relief. End of October I went back because I feared it was my heart. He did blood work, urine test, chest X-rays, and an EKG. Everything came back normal. He referred me to a Gi specialist for an upper endoscopy and I kept eating what I normally did because this was all new to me.. On November 29 I was diagnosed with mild gastritis, esophagitis, and a hiatal hernia. The doctor who performed the scope said he took a biopsy but didn't see anything serious, what I had was a pretty common thing. The days after the scope I felt very naseous and had severe headaches. I also had many chest pains/tightness. I was still paranoid that it was my heart. I spent so many nights awake thinking I would not wake up the next morning. I also noticed a lot of tingling and numbness in my head, arms, and legs. I ended up in the ER about 3.5 weeks ago with chest pains, numbness tingling in my arms, and severe dizziness. They checked out my heart again with same tests as before and said it was not my heart. They prescribed my ranitidine. Two days later I followed up with my doctor and he said not to worry about my heart that I am only 25 and he's never seen a 25 year old with heart disease. He said he could check my gall bladder but he didn't think it was that because my chest pains are on the left side not right.

I eliminated soda, greasy foods, spicy foods from my diet to see if that would help but I feel the same if not worse. I don't eat much right now.

My head has been numb for weeks and my chest isn't any better. I've been searching for answers ever since my problems started and I think it has made me worse. I have thought it is my heart and neurological problems. I've thought he worst of things. I went to the ER again on December 20 because my dizziness is driving my insane and because I'm so worried about my constant chest pains, numbness and tingling. They keep saying it's nothing to do with my heart and everything to do with my gerd issues. I was also put on anti depressants for anxiety and they told me I need a higher dosage of the omeperazole. So I followed up with my doctor and I'm currently on omeperazole 40mg and citalopram for the anxiety. I've experience many symptoms such as difficulty swallowing and burning sensations in my body.

I want to mention that I have a history of anxiety attacks in the months leading up to my gerd. I would be falling asleep and see something staring down at me and I would scream 'mom.' I have lost 25lbs since the end of October.

It seems as this has taken over my life. I can't stop thinking about this and I just wish I could feel normal again! Should I seek a second opinion? Is there something else going on? I'm sorry for venting. Any help would be appreciated...

Welcome to my life, except I haven't been feeling like this for as long. I, too, am constantly paranoid that it's my heart, even though my mother (who's had both heart and acid reflux problems) assures me that my pains are not heart related. My pains are also mostly on the left side.

I've been on Nexium for a week and right now, it feels like nothing's working. One of the things I've learned here is that it's important to find your triggers. Right now, I'm not sure what mine are because it still seems like everything I put in my mouth gives me trouble.

Hi s2obed,

DITTO! I had EXACTLY the same as you - ended up in hospital with a panic attack, thought I was having a heart attack or stroke - was feeling fine in the morning, no anxiety nothing at all and it just HIT me! I was diagnosed with mild reflux 3 months before and put on Omeprazole but didn't link the 2. After I had the panic attack I suffered SEVERE anxiety, couldn't leave the house, drive, be in crowds - changed my life completely!! I was put on beta plackers which helped but I lost my job, then my house and me and my family had to move in with my parents - really bad year of it.

I gradually started getting my life back together, started driving again, got a job etc... 1.5 years later I had a medication review and my GP sent me for another endoscopy as part of it... they found that my hernia had grown from .5cm to 5.6cm and my reflux was severe GERD and now have 4cm Barretts Oesophagus...the surgeon said that the panic attack and anxiety are all linked to GERD / reflux... the heart is linked to the Oesophagus and reflux / GERD has an impact on all these organs and could be responsible for many illnesses / conditions.

I have since had the fundo wrap - now 6 weeks post op... I haven't taken the beta blockers since as my blood pressure was too low and I haven't had any anxiety at all or panic attacks - I have yet to go back to work but I feel so much better... apart from worrying about the barretts and progression of that but my surgeon assured me that it was a success so I'm hoping it'll be OK.

Regards
Donna

Your story sounds somewhat similar to mine. Stress and anxiety can cause gastro-intestinal problems and acid reflux! I have gone to see many doctors who only prescribed me PPI and antacid that didn't help, until I saw an experienced doc who looked at my endoscopy report and told me my stomach anatomy is normal. All my reflux problems are caused by stress. He told me to stop taking PPI and start to take anti-depressant. Since then my problem has improved tremendously.

If your problem is anxiety related, PPI could make things worse. PPI is meant to heal esophagitis (inflammation of esophagus) and maintain that healing, it will not stop reflux. I suggest you seek a second opinion.

WJF said...


If your problem is anxiety related, PPI could make things worse. PPI is meant to heal esophagitis (inflammation of esophagus) and maintain that healing, it will not stop reflux. I suggest you seek a second opinion.

I beleive that as well, i beleive my symtoms are caused by stress/anxiety and overweight, i have lost all overweight now and needs to control the stress/anxiety part, i will visit my neurologist soon and will talk with him about this as he told me before to try Lyrica for my problems.

Hey s2obed and Sefi,

Welcome to HealingWell :) I would, at this point, recommend that both of you start keeping a food diary. I know it sounds tedious, but you can conclusively rule out foods that bother you as well as identifying those that do. I have managed to almost eliminate through diet, weight loss, and medication, but I credit the diet with helping me the most. I found an uncommon trigger - dairy - and have cut my symptoms by about 90%. I would never have found it if I wasn't writing my foods down.

Also, Sefi, you haven't said too much, so don't worry :) I am sorry to hear that you are suffering. Just be advised that if you want people to answer you directly, sometimes it's better to open your own thread - sometimes, if you post inside someone else's thread, your comment gets buried and others can't see it.

I hope you're all feeling well!
Ashley

s2obed

i experience much of the anxiety and related issues you talked about and as you can see from the responses above we re not alone

the digestive system is connected to the brain by the vagus nerve

that same nerve bundle has a lot to do with emotion

for example cholecystokinin a digestive enzyme can also cause nausea and feelings of anxiety and can delay gastric emptying...all factors in aggravating gerd ! ! !

how you feel, emotionally is going to have a large impact on your health and your digestive system

it was.... and is a top priority for me to implement effective strategies for dealing with anxiety

easier said than done, as anxiety agravates gerd and gerd boosts our anxiety...yikes!

heres what i do that has helped

i drink camamile tea and never drink caffeinated coffee

i go for 2 mile walks every day

i do breating exercises, and or yoga poses every day

i take occasional otc gaba enhancing supplements like passion flower when things get rough (can be had a grocery stores or vitamin stores where i live in the pacific north west.

finnaly i go on line to youtube or similar sharing services and listen to free self hypnosis sessions...many of them are junk but some are absolutely outstanding

you will be able to tell right away which ones are flashy garbage and which ones are plain relaxation monologues.

i listen with headphones in a quiet room

the good ones will just simply talk to you about slowing down and listening to your breathing and then direct you to feel and relax parts of your anatomy, head neck shoulders abdomen etc one part at a time.

also good sessions guide you thru relaxing imagery like walking thru the woods near a gentile water fall or sitting on a sunny beach listening to the waves

heres one example by a lady who has some good stuff and some stuff i think is just commercialism so i dont recommend everything she does, but this one is very simple and relaxing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ME7Dp8XfDb0&feature=related

dont get me wrong, i agree that diet, medication, diagnostics, etc are all very important in dealing with gerd

but for here and now i just wanted to say that relaxing and de-stressing is very very important in my effort to mitigate gerd

best wishes to you in the new year
mock turtle