oddz-endz said...
Thanks for the responses, all!
Buster1: Stress/anxiety is an enormous 'non food' trigger for me, as well. Sadly stress is a fact of life at my current job so I try to keep gentle music on in the background and do breathing exercises if I find it getting out of control. I'm not quite 'there' yet but still working on it regardless. Good luck to you in continuing to keep yours in check!
MrGerd: That's a very useful format for the food journal, thank you : ) I have been keeping one on a somewhat regular basis (though most of the time I don't think to do it at work) but yes, I do need to get to doing it more often. Thank you for the template!
Peabs: Yes, that's exactly what I mean - bizarre because you USED to be all right with it and suddenly it's like, you LOOK at it, and you get heartburn, haha! I'm thinking I'm going to kick cereal too, I feel like it's just not worth it anymore. I had scrambled eggs for breakfast this morning and lo and behold, no sore chest/stuck food feeling all day. I prefer cereal for its convenience, but honestly, it's more inconvenient to be dealing with pain all through the workweek. And good luck with your new GI!
Thank you Oddz,
I do have a hypothesis on why this is so. For the longest time I was able to drink alcohol even in large amounts with no issues. Yet, between my GERD, my bad diet, and drinking alcohol I was slowly doing two things: 1) killing off the good bacteria in my bowels 2) damaging my esophagus and stomach lining.
Once I developed erosive esophagitis I was being exposed to a lot more sulfite because I no longer had that protective layer that covered my esophagus. And then with the added inflammation it caused my body to react to things such as sulfites, msg, and other things.
When I stay clear of foods with sulfites and msg, I no longer get my esophageal spasms. Since both items are rampant in restaurants, canned foods, many frozen foods, sauces, etc. I no longer eat out. I also cook all my own meals with only organic, fresh ingredients. This was difficult for me to do and took a long time (and many painful esophageal spasms later) because I was partially in denial.
If I go back into a time machine, I would have done it a lot sooner and I believe I would have been completely healed by now. This time around I am not going to deviate from my diet and won't drink any alcohol until an upper endoscopy confirms that I am 100% healed. And when that day comes I will very slowly introduce one food at a time to see how my esophagus response.
Thank you for the well wishes.
p.s. I think it's great that you're thinking of kicking cereal. Yes, it's convenient, but it's not good for you. At least, none of the mainstream brands in the store are, they are loaded with chemicals and they are difficult for your stomach and intestines to deal with. You're much better off eaten a gluten-free, organic oatmeal.