Is this the end of my normal life? Gerd/stomach issues/hair loss/etc

So I will try to be detailed here, I found this forum looking for help on symptoms but with an upcoming appointment tomorrow I guess anxiety has kicked in.

Back in January of last year I was in the middle of moving to a new home, very excited to finally be a home owner at the age of 29. Within a month though I started feeling severe gas and stomach pain, I figured it might be coming from my abnormal eating habits due to all the moving, but upon trying to reduce the strain (I also took some prilosec for the first time) nothing was working. I saw a doctor in February but did not have insurance at the time. She prescribed me Pantoprazole 20MG and I took that for about 2 months if I recall, she had said to stop the dosage after the fact and I did. I also remember her pressing on my lower stomach areas and causing some minor sharp pain at the time, which has subsided at the moment this much later.

I felt some acid kick up here and there but it wasn't too bad, until one day I had some kind of really bad pain that went into my ears (ear throbbing/soreness) and my throat. It got to a point where even speaking was painful. I tried a lot of different things, probiotics, digestive enzymes, and went on prilosec for a couple months. None of that was helping me feel normal, I called the doctor again and she put me on more pantoprazole. The symptoms improved but, other things have been happening to me. Hair loss is something i've noticed a lot of which is terrifying to me as I had a full head of hair just a year ago, and now see a lot of scalp. Other symptoms are excessive mucus that I have to constantly spit out or clear and it gets progressively worse at night, sometimes even waking me up. I've also somewhat felt like food resides in my stomach longer than it used to.

Now I have insurance and am going to get a scope done tomorrow, my main doctor upped my prescription to 40MG pantoprazole, but I feel since then my symptoms have worsened with my nose/mouth becoming incredibly dry, the mucus is worsening and in general I just don't feel very well. Combined with that and the hair loss, I feel my life is being crumbled and no doctor seems to think all of these are connected :(

I saw a GI doctor for the first time a week ago and he largely told me all the same stuff my original did, but tomorrow I have to go in at 4PM on an empty stomach to get a tube put inside me. All the doctors seem to think the PPI could not be causing my hair loss, but to me it would seem oddly coincidental that I go from full head to a lot of loss in the same span all of this began. Obviously, the internal problems are a big concern as well but I guess I feel i'm being assaulted on all angles.

Does anyone have advice, tips, what to expect and things I should know about? I've looked at a lot of topics here but find so many people have their own symptoms that it might be easier for someone to look at my specific set. I feel after my procedure tomorrow I don't know what to expect, but have a feeling nothing good will come from it :(

Post Edited (catch) : 2/3/2016 10:58:43 AM (GMT-7)

Thank you for the comforting words, I'm pretty nervous about hospitals in general and have always avoided them until now, I just feel like my life is slowly falling apart.

Wow, I felt like I was reading my own story. Im 29 too and just moved into my new house last summer and what was supposed to be a happy time in my life has been pretty much destroyed by health issues that just wont go away.

I hope you find some answers through your testing. Maybe they can put you on another type of PPI just to see if the hair loss is coming from the current one I mean everyone reacts to meds differently.

Keep us posted.

It was an endoscopy that they did? At least they didn't find anything alarming!

I know how you feel . It is better to find something and then know how to treat it ( ideally) then not finding anything.
I would ask why biopsies were taken if nothing looked abnormal. Make sure you get a copy of the pathology report. You do have a right to it.!! I have had experiences where the doctor did not mention everything written in the report.

Hi Catch.

I'm glad you got your endoscopy done and over with. Don't worry about the biopsy. I had an endoscopy last year and they told me they always do a biopsy to check for H. Pylori and Celiac. I have also noticed hair loss and my nose is always congested (but without mucus) since I started having GERD.. along with a ton of other symptoms cause I'm special like that lol.
Keep us posted!
- Brian

So weird I have the same symptoms....esp with gas in chest. Had barium swallow done today, nothing of significance came up according to the radiology PA

Yeah it's the worst, I mean on one hand yeah you don't want to be told you're sick, but when you know you're sick and they say all is well, it just is the most frustrating feeling. Especially with the money invested into being told you're fine :/

Hallguy, Have you had a stomach emptying test?? Do you know what that one entails? Seems like maybe food is taking too long to empty and that's why you are wanting to throw up?
I feel a little better today but throat is feeling weird again. Omg the never ending cycle I'm so over it. Acupuncture went fine, can't tell a difference after 2 sessions. Interesting concept but can't say that I totally understand it

Sounds like h pylori.

Its nasty stomach infection n it near killed me. I activated mine by ingesting too much garlic n burning into lining where the little buggers live.

I had mucus dryness etc mucus cannot be causes by acid alone only by infections. I also felt like id Seine flu but the idiot doctors just kept saying it was gastritis. They really are stupid sometimes.

I also has scope which didnt pick up the infection. Only after months of suffering needlessly i booked myself in for a breath test n it was positive which i knew there was infection in there.

The stress from moving may be not eating properly or anything really could have triggered it off. They should just treat them from symptoms coz where i live they dont do Camera unless your bleeding...otherwise theres a waiting period which is too Long when your that sick. I ended up getting so los on potassium i near had heart attack from not eating n vomitting. A tummy problem is no joke. Im still battling the potassium deficiency which is the hardest mineral to build a Store back up of. My life is on hold n i suffered so much because of it...weightloss n severe symptoms with no help from medics.

Melig

So you're saying they biopsied you and it showed nothing, then you got a breath test and it showed you had h pylori? I'm going to ask for that if so.

###typo###

That was meant to say biopsy did not detect the bacteria...may be coz of the ppi i dunno but it was wrong false negetive so i wud Defo opt for a breath test as its more accurate.

Ow wow. I read you can't take anything for a month prior to the test is this what you did?