MY GERD STORY, please read! I need opinions and suggestions

Hi Jasmine --

So sorry to read about all you're going through!  High school is difficult enough without having to deal with terrible health issues.

I want to give you something totally different to consider, to talk over with your parents, and your doctor.  You've described some serious symptoms, and your doctor(s) haven't addressed this.  I'm not surprised...my experience with GI doctors has been very poor, generally speaking, and I've been to eight.

You need to have your blood tested for the celiac marker, but even if that comes up negative, it's possible you could still be suffering from something called non-celiac gluten sensitivity.  If this is the case, the only way to diagnose it is on a trial gluten-free diet, and then "challenge" the diet after a few weeks to see if the challenge produces symptoms (assuming that you are better at that time).  This type of food intolerance can be host to all sorts of non-specific symptoms, including asthma, and even GERD.

There is also another potential antagonist, with a similar molecule to gluten/gliadin...and that's casein.  Often, people with this sensitivity can have intolerances to both.  There are specific blood tests for these intolerances, but the antibodies won't be apparent in significant numbers unless you are ingesting foods containing the proteins in question.  In other words, if you experiment with the diet on your own, you can't be tested accurately while on the diet.

Unlike food allergies, like with peanuts or kiwis, for example, food intolerances are subtle, and insidious.  An allergy will produce symptoms immediately, while an intolerance can take hours, or even days to appear.  This makes diagnosing it all the more difficult.  In addition, a special diet can take days or weeks to produce noticeable results, not only because it may take time for the irritating molecules to leave your system, but also for you to heal to the point that your immune system is no longer attacking various points.  This point is important to understand, because it's possible you may not notice significant improvement until a month has passed.  Perhaps you may feel better after a few days, but a diagnostic diet such as this should last at least four weeks.

I don't mean to increase your anxiety, but at this point, it appears as if you're still chasing symptoms and not making any progress.  Hopefully, thinking "outside the box" will bring you to a more comfortable place.  I'm not suggesting that this is the answer for you, but it may be something to consider.

Best wishes.

-Bruce

Post Edited (bcfromfl) : 12/25/2012 12:02:41 PM (GMT-7)

sunbeam48 said...
Jasmine,
Bruce offers good advice. He is very well-informed.

You don't mention what you are eating or drinking. Eat protein like eggs, fish, meats, they are the easiest to digest. Green vegetables are better than starchy ones. Sugar even from fruit is harder to digest, so eat that in smaller amounts, fresh or frozen straberries or melon are good. Jasmine rice and short grain white rice are good, also in smaller amounts because carbs are hard to digest. Splenda is the most digestible sweetener. Fats like butter and olive oil are fine.

I'm sorry, but I do NOT agree with most of the recipes posted on RefluxMD.  Most of these recipes contain gluten, which is absolutely not the correct approach in this case.  As a matter of fact, I might make the claim that most cases of reflux are due, at least in part, to the immune response to gluten/casein intolerance.

There is a letter brewing inside me to the American Board of Gastroenterology.  Not one of the GI doctors I saw over a period of three years EVER mentioned diet, or the possibility of food intolerance.  Recent studies on the habits of doctors shows that the majority of them never read new material and studies with respect to their specialties.

-Bruce