HealingWell
Search Close Search
☰

Gerd + more? so confused.

Support Forums
>
GERD & Acid Reflux
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply
❬ ❬ Previous Thread |Next Thread ❭ ❭
Posted 7/29/2014 12:09 PM (GMT 0)
First off my symptoms cover so many areas...

Ok here goes the history...

At the age of 17 I one day started to feel very fatigued to the point where I would wake up and still be tired.

I got really bad stomach pains, it feels like my abdominal area is inflamed 90% of the day.

So at age 19 or so I went to the DR. and the took stool samples...all were negative. They diagnosed me with IBS. I told them I had coffee ground looking spots in my stool....for example if I wipe it looks like maybe 5-10 small pinhead black spots mixed in with the stool.

I accepted the IBS excuse.

I started getting acid reflux about 8-10 years ago.

about thirty days ago my throat became swollen and it seemed like food was being stuck in my chest....I have chest pain off and on and a persistent pain under both arms...(armpits) as well as my chest and lung area.

I have a pretty big loss of appetite also and have small burps after every swallow of liquid but not food. I also burp when I wake up, and when I take my morning pill it feels like it gets stuck in my chest.
Again all these symptoms are new.

I don't smoke, never have and I don't drink. I am 366 lbs, so obese, have been NY entire life.

So now I'm 33 and I have been taking tums to start (3 years) moved up to pepcid(7 years) moved up to a 24 day course of nexium and now today is my first day of prilosec as per my doctor.

I have a colonoscopy and endoscopy in 8 days from today.


I have been tested for major STDs including aids....blood tests to test liver function kidney function and basic blood levels....all were fine.

I have had multiple EKGs done...all fine. Chest xray about 7 months ago...fine.

Now when I went back to my doctors office I saw a new doctor and he said that the coffee grind stool is not normal for IBS and that the other doctor gave me a "junk diagnosis" because the tests that they did back then came back clean and because I was so young.

So at this point I'm feeling like I've been medically underserved for years.

Cancer runs rampant in my family, especially GI.


I'm afraid. I can't stop thinking that this whole time I have had cancer and it spread, or I have had a issue that went untreated for so long and it eventually turned Into cancer.

I feel like my life is crumbling and that 8 days can't come soon enough so I can learn my fate.
Posted 7/29/2014 12:50 PM (GMT 0)
Hi there

Not to worry if you had bowl or Stomach cancer that many years ago or 7-10 months ago you of died by now( sorry i don't mean to alarm you) but given family history its good that you are taking it seriously.

Good thing is that both the endoscopy and colonoscopy should clear up everything, make sure they take biopsies for helico bacteria/Hnpylori and also make sure also take biopsies for inflammation. This should rule those out but if you are having acid reflux then the two things that make most impact on your symptoms is DIET and WEIGHT, you must control both. My sister lost 5-10kg and fixed her diet to a GERD/GASTRITIS type diet and her heartburn and reflux subsided mostly. Then if you have hernia could also give you reflux also and together with colonoscopy you should get accurate diagnosis. I would not worry too much and be confident and positive you be fine. But given your family history I would seriously consider lifestyle changes if possible, more exercise and maybe better suited foods, loose excess weigh (Not rapidly) you will feel so much better.

Hope everything goes well for you and best of luck.
Posted 7/29/2014 12:54 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks for the reply....I can assure you that if everything is well or manageable I will be eating better and losing weight! In fact I've already started to buy better food last week. These new issues have struck fear into me and its been a real wake up. I just pray that I don't have any terminal illness and that its not too late to fix myself.
Posted 7/29/2014 1:13 PM (GMT 0)
You will be fine,

also just to mention some people tolerate nexium and find it more effective that prilosec(omperazole)
if so move back or onto another ppi, but try not to be too reliant on medication if possible. Discuss all this with your doctors and dietician. Try to follow a GERD diet and eat healthy, definitely low fat but don't cut fats completely but rather consume healthy fats. You need a well balanced diet.

all the best and let us know how you progress with everything.
Posted 7/30/2014 3:52 AM (GMT 0)
Seriously, it sounds like extremely low thyroid. It is very hard to maintain 366 lbs. in a healthy body by just eating a lot. If your digestive system is that messed up, you should be losing. Some of the symptoms of hypothyroidism are:

Extreme fatigue with inability to get good sleep at night
Difficulty concentrating
Feeling cold
Weight gain
Depression
Constipation
Colitis or IBS
Dry skin
Thin, brittle, peeling nails
Muscle and joint aches
Heavy periods
Heart palpitations or chest pain
...more

The list is long. You may have some, but not all of the symptoms. Get a Free T3 and a Free T4 test and ignore the TSH test that they will give you. Check for thyroid nodules. Read, research, study and take control of your health.

Post Edited By Moderator (opnwhl4) : 7/30/2014 10:59:07 PM (GMT-6)

✚ New Topic ✚ Reply