New, 3 years and going

Hello all ! My name is Jeff and I'm 21 years old. I have been suffering lately and just came across these boards and there is so much useful information!

I've had gerd for about 3 years. It started my senior year of highschool and pretty much ruined the thrill of graduation and doing what seniors do. It started one night when I went to sleep and got some pain in my left arm, immediately after I had shortness of breath and kept burping.

For the past 3 years I've gained more symptoms over time. I'm not sure if gerd is te cause for all of them, but ever sense that one night I was never right again.

To this day my symptoms are
-shortness of breath
-coughing on and off at times
-soar throat hurts to swallow very raw
- a lot of back pain
- never had much heart burn, but my area below my rib cage in the middle is always really tender and hurts like its right or spasm, also in the center of my chest bone
-burping and warm mess in throat
-when I bend over I get the acid feeling instantly

Right now my stomache and throat/breathing has been so bad my surgeon has put in for seeing a surgeon ASAP for Linx surgery.

I saw a pulmonary yesterday because my gi doctor wanted me to get a bronchoscope for my breathing or aspiration. He said my lungs were perfectly clear and my oxygen levels about 99% but seems to be my biggest problem. My stomache will get tight and breathing feels hard and less but my peak flow says I'm fine.

I just wanted to introduce myself to you all because I'll be sticking around! Also when I get Linx I will keep people informed of my procedure and symptoms.

Some days it's so bad I feel like giving up and I never get any sleep. This fourm has relaxed me and built confidence to hang in there.

I was curious if many people have had symptoms like me.

Btw I've had 2 egds (another 1 this Friday)
Gastric emptying
Barroom swallow with low bowel follow through
Colonoscopy
Hida scan
Ct scan
And maybe more I can't think of...

Tests mostly confirmed I had celiac disease (have been on diet for 2 years not really affective, but think its because of gerd)
Gastritis
a little delayed emptying
And also inflamed lymph nodes in stomache.

I hope to get help soon because I've tried everything.

Thx for your time!

Thanks Aeshleyrose !

Right now I think is the hardest it has ever been for me, I had to call my doctor on call and she rushed to send out referals to see a surgeon.
I just got my appointment set for tomorrow morning. My doctor and I both discussed that I wanted to go for Linx, but I'm seeing a local surgeon and am not sure how wide linx is spread yet.
I'm not going to Nissen

Currently though my chest all over is in pain and feels really tight with occasional sharp pains. Also my raw throat has been getting better but swallowing difficulty still occurs.
My breathing still feels tight and seems bad but my peak flow is showing me normal results and my oxygen levels and lungs sounded clear from a pulmonary just on Monday.
Gerd really is a beast of a thing =/

I am currently on nexium 20mg 4x a day, rinitidine 300mg, and my gi doctor yesterday just gave me Carafate to start using and some tramadol she said would help with the pain.

Curious, do you have a hiatal hernia?

Hi Jeff,

It's definitely possible that PPI's have helped control your symptoms, but curing the root cause might mean focusing on your anxiety. This can be great news if you were hoping to avoid surgery!

Plus, you'll get conclusive results during your Bravo pH monitoring (the capsule test you were talking about).

Take care,
Ashley

Glad to read you made it through the EGD.  You still have the pH monitoring test to go - correct ? 

I have posted in the A & P forum to your anxiety and your concerns.  Please read my posts there re anxiety.

sup Jeff, your symptoms are exactly like mine. Everyday I have chest pain that radiates to my back and it hurts when I touch my chest in a few inches above the sternum. It has ruined the lasr two years of my life and he's made me miserable. I now refuse to take the ppis, because of the side effects I had on them. Im 27 and was started on ppis when I was 12. I am now of of them for a year and live with my gerds. Here's the Dell what your having is more than likely gerds even though your not burping sour stuff jp

other things are coming up. Lpr they call it. Dont buy the anxiety bs that's just the doctors cop out when they dont know how to help you and they push more drugs in your system that will make your gerd even worse. Your a young guy like myself and I came to the conclhsion I dont want to take ppis my whole life and niether did my surgeon so im doing linx. We have a lot of life ahead of us and dont wanna be slaves to ppis. Most people are gonna get angry when they read this but ppis are not cool. They mask the real problem and just cause more over time. Your not alone dude, hang in there with that back pain to. Gerds radiates to the back and can make you hurt greatly. I will keep in touch on how the linx worked for me when I get it.

Ativan ! Thanks for the advice ! I haven't been on opus for 3 years, I started Prilosec probably about 2 years ago and I was on and off with it. Didn't seem to help so they tried dexilant for about 2 weeks and that didn't help either. Then I was put on nexium and rinitidine which seemed to help a lot, but Appearently I had a flare up or it was getting worse because I wanted to die from the chest pain and throat feeling.

Right now I'm doing better. I can get to sleep fairly easy, throat doesn't cause as much pain and my stomache pain has gone down. Although I know I could be better and nothing is completely fixed. I'm pushing myself to go out once in a while and not focus on it.

I had my 3rd egd last Friday and they said my esophagus looked fine but that I had gasritis in my stomache and Antrum of my stomache. They took biopsies but I don't know the results yet. I also had an esophogram done too. I will see my gi on Tuesday and we'll talk about the results of each. I'm figuring I need to get in contact with a Linx facility in either San Diego or USC and see about getting the procedure. Not sure if insurance would cover it though cause I definitely couldn't get it otherwise.

Only tests I haven't had done are the mamo or bravo type tests because they scare me crapless...trying to get some sort of wireless one done.

All tests show I look good though besides gasritis and it is frustrating and ruining my life. Noone says it looks like I had gerd/lpr yet the symptoms are there.

I've heard people say their mamo tests even show normal but after surgery they'll a lot better.