Can GERD really cause all these symptoms?

Hello,

I having been having some stomach trouble for a long time and just looking to get others thoughts on my situation.

It was about 10 years ago when I started noticing a feeling in my stomach as if I were hungry and although it would go away after eating it would return within 20 minutes or so. I also started to feel somewhat bloated in my lower stomach, especially after eating. I couldn't stand to have any pressure put on my stomach as it made this worse. This was in my early 20s and at the time I was drinking quite a bit and smoking cigarettes. I started vomiting quite a bit during this time, usually while smoking... as if it had some type of reaction on my stomach. This went on for a year or so and I finally was able to quit smoking and then drinking a short time later. My troubles didn't end however... I started burping a lot, very gassy, loose BM's most of the time. I spent several years on various medications, Prevacid, Zantac, Domperidone. Initially they seemed to help but they soon lost any effectiveness.

Things continued to escalate and I started bringing up acid with my burps, I would feel nauseated and really ill some days after eating certain things... although I could never really figure out what made me feel that way. I started feeling hungover every day without even drinking... breaking out into flu like chills and sweats. I started to taste/smell fumes in my throat and nose, I developed bad breath that my dr. had the privilege of witnessing and said it was very strong stomach acid. I eventually felt like all foods had a toxic effect on me and I couldn't handle eating or drinking anything anymore. I went from 150 lbs to 120lbs and literally felt like I was dying. A few other symptoms that I had which my doctor said was related were chronic post nasal drip, I was always clearing my throat, always blowing my nose, I had ear pressure and pain and burning eyes.

My doctor finally recommended that I have a Nissen Fundoplication since it was discovered on an Upper GI series that I had continual GERD. I also had an endoscopy done which revealed everything was normal... even the biopsy for celiacs.

I ended up having the operation and after several weeks of regretting it because of problems eating afterwards I actually started feeling better. My burping was down about 85%, I was no longer clearing my throat or blowing my nose, the pain in my stomach went away (it used to be very tender when the Dr. would press in on it)... everything started feeling better. The only thing that never went away was anytime I would eat within a few seconds I would have 2 or 3 quick hiccup/burps which almost seemed like a spasm of some sort.

For about a year I could eat anything I wanted and nothing bothered my symptoms. Now things are starting to get just as bad as they did prior to my operation. Everything makes me gassy again... drinking water even causes excessive burping. Constantly clearing my throat again, ear and eye pain again... etc. I'm most concerned about the nausea and ill feeling I am getting again and worried about loosing more weight which I was never really able to recover from before.

I do have a number of other neurological type symptoms that are quite bad but I won't get into them here but I don't know whether they are related or not. I'm wondering if GERD can actually cause all these things going on with me or if it could be something else like gallbladder issues or I don't know what else.

At this point I'm not sure what to do. I can't keep having an operation every year, although it did seem to help quite a bit for the time that it lasted.

Sorry this is so long but I wanted to provide as much information as possible to try and get to the bottom of this. Not sure what to do now. I have gone back to my doctor who keeps stressing not to eat dairy and citrus but I already don't and haven't for years. On top of this I don't really know whether I believe it's a diet thing because I could handle pretty well handle anything I ate after my operation and now suddenly everything is bothering me again. The medications aren't helping either but I still take them just because I don't know what else to do.

Really appreciate everyone's time in reading this and I look forward to and would appreciate your thoughts.

Thank you.

JR

it sounds like your atypical symptoms (neurological) are a result of a generally poor health due to long-standing GERD, rather than directly caused by GERD.

It also sounds like you always ate anything you wanted (including those "forbidden" food) after the operation. There is a very strict dieting code to follow for those who took Nissen in order to promote recovery and to maintain the recovery. I think very likely, the eating habit is what that landed you in this place.

To reverse the damage, it will take a proper diet and a good doctor once again.

WJF said...
it sounds like your atypical symptoms (neurological) are a result of a generally poor health due to long-standing GERD, rather than directly caused by GERD.

It also sounds like you always ate anything you wanted (including those "forbidden" food) after the operation. There is a very strict dieting code to follow for those who took Nissen in order to promote recovery and to maintain the recovery. I think very likely, the eating habit is what that landed you in this place.

To reverse the damage, it will take a proper diet and a good doctor once again.

Well I must admit that I didn't restrict anything other than dairy for the most part (cooked with cheese occasionally) and completely avoided citrus after my operation.

I was just wondering if it is possible that based on my other neurological symptoms (all over muscle weakness, twitching, dizziness, etc.) that something neurological is causing my LES to not function properly. I don't even know if that makes sense it was just a thought.