GERD - part III

Natitc: Welcome back. You sound good.

Benny: What do you eat during the day? Are you trying any kind of diet? You must be so worry and anxious. What about going to see a naturopath Doctor? I feel the GI just gives us pills and tests, scans. You might need someone to listen and try to sort this out with you. The more you worry the more GERD symptoms you will feel. I was like that although I didn't loose as much weight as you did. Are you sleeping OK? I did run to ER too myself at the beginning since I never had heartburn before in my life. Please try to take it easy, this GERD takes a long time to feel better.

Gail: try not no think about the procedure. Can you read or watch something to get your mind off all the tests that you will be doing? The weather is nicer now and I am taking a walk with my hubby 30' after dinner. The fresh air makes me feel very good. It has been a very long winter!!!

Roah: you sound so serious about your study. Keep working at it and soon you will be out in the workforce and will make a lot of money. . Too bad you have to pay for some tests, once it's done you will have peace of mind. Thanks for asking about my daughter, I am still worry about her. I hope she'll settle down soon.

Sew: How is your GI appointment?

Chris: you do sound better. My ENT doctor does cosmetic surgery too. I think they make more money that way than seeing us regular patients.

Will: Hope all is well with you.

Hi Benny, welcome to our group.  Your symptoms sound like a lot like me at my worst.  My worst period lasted for about a week and obviously yours is lasting longer.  I still have similar symptoms but much, much milder.

Nat, welcome back.  Glad to hear the good news about your recovery.  Just so you can give me some hope, can you tell me your recovery timeframe?  I seem to remember that you were losing weight and feeling weak too.

Gail, yes, I do work in Silicon Valley and stare at silicon all day.  I have not been keeping up with the fire in the So. CA. 

Roah, I'm so sorry that you are in pain.  I wish I could just take it away from you.  It will pass and you will have better days.  First day on the job, I am just wondering if your body is reacting to changes.  Did you have to talk a lot today by any chance? 

Hi Viv, sew and EJ (i think she is traveling.)

Good morning all,
Roah: are you still not taking anything? What about DGL or digestive enzymes? Did you eat anything bad yesterday? Hope you feel better today.

Benny: There is another thread on here called: Fast Tract Diet. If you want have a read and maybe you can try that diet. I bought the book and I am trying to incorporate that into my diet. Looking at your food list, why don't you try dropping the apple and mash potatoes. Melon and cantaloupe are better. The GP and GI, you tell them your symptoms and they prescribe pills. You should go see Naturopath Doctor so he/she can help with your diet and also help you to reduce stress. I was a wreck too over a year ago. If you keep working at your diet your symptoms will improve.

Chris, Sew, Gail, Natitc, Will: Have nice weekend.

Hey everyone, I do not know why these symptoms have come about but like I am afraid when I eat it dries out my mouth more, I called my doctor asked him if he can prescribe me something for my dry mouth and he said that LPR does not cause that and I was like yeah it does well I only said that in my head because when you reflux bile/pepsin it dries out your mouth while acid gives you a sour taste, but I do not want to see my doctor now because he is gonna want have me keep coming back when I have like 5 doctor visits a year, so yesterday I was talking to my mom on how bad like this illness will get and stuff and she said if you feel like none of the doctors in virginia are like really giving you relief or you feel like they are not really updated on anything to do with your illness we can always go to a doctor in another state like you mentioned, because so far the best doctors are 2 hrs away so I might travel to see another doctor, but thank you guys for your concern, I think what happened is my LES is been getting looser, cause my diet has been whacked due to finals i have no time to like really make my usual organic food schedule. But speaking of carafrate I am see if my doctor can prescribe me that before my 24hr probe but he is such hesitant doctor i know he is gonna be like I want to see you first in my office, why can't he be like my GI who is so much more understanding and calls me for appointments on the phone free of charge, but the downside is he not so familiar with lpr except traditional GERD.

Just an update, sorry you guys been feeling really under it, gail hope you have good test results I do not want to see any of you guys like me in pain.

Have good day everyone.

Post Edited (inpinkagony) : 5/4/2013 11:57:44 AM (GMT-6)

Hi Everyone,

I thought maybe this thread was closed because I have not been notified in such a long time???

Roah, I hope things get better for you soon.  I know the doctors can get so

frustrating ........are you any better today??

Sew, I grew up in the Seal Beach area, my daughter lives a couple blocks from the seal beach border.  I miss being over in that area so much!.....it is prime area and very expensive, so  no hope for me to live there ;(

I was doing more research yesterday on ulcers.  wow, my symptoms match all most exactly........maybe this is why I don't have the heartburn issues like most of you guys???

It also said you lose a lot of weight with one.  guess I will know soon?  this waiting is making me nuts!.......anxiety, ucky thoughts, etc.  Tried a Rescue chewable yesterday to see if it would help, since they have soribtol in them, it gave me cramps and had to go to the bathroom like 4 times!.......so guess that is out........darn. I don't think they will let me take any kind of anxiety med "before" I have to go next week???   I will be so glad when it is over and I am back home.

If any of you have had these tests, please let me know how it was for you???

Chris, this illness of ours certainly takes a toll on our bodies and minds. I believe stress and worry had a big impact on my stomach. Everyday I'd be depressed and anxious. I had no energy or motivation to do anything. Then this past month, I decided to get it together. First thing I did was find a new GI doc. I told him my tummy hurts and I'm losing weight. He prescribed me Dexliant and Carafate. I just took the carafate only because I always have bad side effects with any PPI that I've tried. He said it was ok to stay with the carafate and Famotidine 80 mg. i was determined not to lose any more weight so I keep a calorie count of everything I eat to make sure I consume between 1300-1500 cals a day. For a man, I think it's 1800-2000 per day. The carafate helped me immensly.
I eat 6 meals a day. Slowly, I was able to eat a little more at every meal without pain or feeling full. When i started feeding my stonach on a regular basis, my appetite slowly came back and my tummy actually started growling, which it hasn't done in a long time. As for the muscle aches, my doc tested my blood for vitamin & electrolyte deficiencies. My vitamin D is very low. I have to take 2000iu daily. Since I've been taking that, my legs no longer ache. Also I use a transdermal magnesium oil that I spray all over my body. It's very calming and relieves some of the aches. I also found out that alot of my anxiety is caused my perimenapause. I always had mild anxiety but I guess perimenapause makes it 10x worse. I'm not taking anything for the anxiety (not yet anyway). For now, I just try to do deep breathing and talk myself down. Don't get me wrong, my stomach is not 100% better but its at a stage where I don't have to take alot of meds, I hardly have heartburn, no daily stomach pains, and I'm able to eat more variety of foods without it upsetting my stomach. I still have to be careful. If I eat the wrong thing, my stomach will let me know about it for sure. I'm just happy that now I have more "good" days than bad ones.
Pink, are you taking any meds for your throat? The reason I'm asking is because I had the same throat issues when I was on Nexium. Had to stop taking.
Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend so far.

Chris K, I have all those symptoms except for constipation and irritation of esophagus. i have discomfort under my right rib cage 24/7 and very weak with no energy and i always feel like there is something stuck under my rib cage. really dont know what to do. the GERD is not really my issue because have not been regugitating for few days now. but i still have other symptoms.

Natic,

I am curious about the weight issue, has this helped you stop losing weight?

I hope after these test next week, they can give me something so my stomach quits hurting and my appetite returns....

Nat: we are in the same boat: menopause! If I remember correctly were you the one started with bad vertigo like me months ago. You are right about anxiety. I have a hard time with it myself. Right now I am trying the Fast Tract Diet and I have to say my tummy feels not bad. The key is to limit the carb. food. I tried to follow it as close as I can except I don't know what to eat for breakfast anymore. The first week breakfast menu calls for a lot of eggs. I do like eggs but also worry about the cholesterol.

Chris: Did you read the Fast Tract Diet thread? Do you want to try this with me? Substitute sugar with splenda. I find multi-grain bread is hard to digest. I only tried this diet for couple of days and it's very promising. My throat is better. I am so hopeful.

Natitc, for me the weight loss has one more component unfortunately.  Because of my dairy intolerance, I can't have a lot of high calorie dairy foods like ice cream and cheese.  Same goes for high fat foods like avacado.  My appetite is decent but I also have symptoms of IBS, even though I have not been officially diagnosed with that.  So I go through bouts of loose b.m. and combined with the reduction in caloric intake, I can lose weight in a hurry, sigh.  My pattern during this whole period has been weight loss, stabilization and then I would push myself a little bit to eat more normal foods in hopes of gaining the weight back only to make my stomach and digestion worse and lose more weight.  Gail and I have been really struggling mentally with the weight loss.

Viv, I know sugar and refined carbs (which is basically sugar to the body) are not good for gastritis.  I would love to try the Fast Tract diet, except that my naturopath has formulated a diet plan for me to try for a month.  It's based on a food intolerance test she ran + her belief that my blood sugar level has historically been too high.  She also thinks based on my IBS like symptoms which have plagued me all my life, my GI tracts have been chronically inflamed.  Anyway, I am doing the following.

1. Eliminate dairy and soy (found to be intolerant).  This is really hard because many dairy substitute have soy.

  And no soy sauce!!!!

2. Drastically reduce sugar and refined carb intake (that means no more white rice, which was easy to make, easy on the stomach and good for calories).  The naturopath doesn't even want me to have fruit juice.

3. The last thing, which some of you might say sounds fishy, but I am not allowed to have grains and fruit (including things like jam) at the same time.  The food intolerance test showed that I don't do well if I consume grains and fruit together.  Not sure how much I believe it, but at this point, I will give it a shot.

So right now, I am eating lots of brown rice, vegetables, chicken.  I just tried a steak for lunch and hope that I won't have too much issues with it. 

Hey everyone,
sorry I been crying the past couple days, I guess pent up frustration has let loose these past couple days, and as far as my symptoms they have gotten weird, like I can not eat, drink, or brush my teeth, and breath through mouth, or talk with out having this weird sensation, I called my doctor and asked him about my tests and he told me it came back normal but wants me to do the 24hr probe and I am just super scared to do it because it's like 24 hr tube down my throat for 24hrs and he is making things worse for me because I told him how I am having these weird sensations. I can't blame him and nor do I want to discredit him but LPR is so fairly new and only couple of people who are really experts on this issue but they live so far. I just feel so lost and I am scared of eating without experiencing this weird knife dry thing in my mouth its like cuts all over my mouth with out blood and I can't see anything odd going in my mouth but these weird spots on my tongue. I think it might be burning mouth sensation but I do not have the burning mouth part. Gosh sorry always bring negative news I just know you guys worry so I have to at least post one day, to let you know I am here! As for my job I had to quit, I felt bad because my boss was nice man, but I couldn't continue without feeling miserable.

Hope all is well! :)

Post Edited (inpinkagony) : 5/6/2013 3:45:28 PM (GMT-6)

Roah, You really are going through a lot. I think Viv has given you good advice. Ask your doc for an anti-depressant. After calling and crying on the phone with my pcp's office, he put me on something lickety split. It was what I needed at that time. When we feel this ill, it really is hard not to despair. Don't be afraid to ask for help, even if it means a medicine. The anti-depressant can help too when you have the 24 hr probe. Hang in there, you will get answers soon!

Roah, I am so sorry to hear that you have been struggling. I am in full agreement with Viv and Sew that you could use a little help here for the anxiety. What is really anxiety? It's another word for worrying. We have anxiety when we have a problem to solve that we are not confident about. We have anxiety when something is pending and we are nervous about the outcome. And trust me, you will be anxious until you start to feel better. Even then, it might be hard to break the cycle. I am no longer anxious like "oh my god, I might have liver cancer" but every morning I am anxious about how many day will turn out. I get anxious if I get a slight stomach ache or if I start to feel low on energy. Basically, any sign that reminds me that I am not 100% makes me anxious. So I know where you are mentally and emotionally. And it sounds like you are going through a pretty tough stretch here. Don't be shy. Have your doctor prescribe something for the mouth but ask him firmly that you are suffering from anxiety about your health and it's making it hard for you to function. I don't see why he would deny you some relief at least short term to get you back on track. Try to reason with him. It's very obvious that on top of all the physical symptoms, you are also suffering from anxiety and possible depression.

For me, I have been prescribed lorazepame (ativan) and I break it into quarters and take it whenever I need help with anxiety or sleep.