Posted 3/2/2016 2:30 AM (GMT 0)
Hey again guys. I figured i'd try to update a bit on my issues and perhaps gain some insight. I am out of state working and will be gone for awhile, so I figured i'd try to run down some things and hope for some sound advice.
I went to my normal doctor one last time before I left and unfortunately her only advice was just to take more PPI. I wanted to run down with users here to retrace my symptoms a bit. Back when this first began, like the very beginning, I was going through a mixture of high stress (moving) and horrible eating. Soda, candy, pizza, I did it pretty much every day for a month before these things began happening. No one teachs you about acid in the stomach so I never thought it would be an issue. Before I first took a ppi, I had sharp pain in my stomach (almost an ulcer like feeling based on what she said) as well as a bunch of bloating and other issues.
I guess my issue is, when I got my endoscopy done, they didn't really say anything about why i'm having acid reflux, just that I am. The doctor said it might be my LES just not closing when it should, but if that was the only problem, why would my stomach itself be torn up by the acid back when my first attack happened?
I ask because, I have noticed with my increasing my dose my hair lose escalated again causing now entire thinning at the top rather than just in the back, practically in the span of a week after being on 2 doses of 20mg a day of pantoprazole. I also notice dehydration, mucus formation and tightening in the throat in general. I was going so nuts about it I decided to reduce my Pantoprazole to 10 mg a day..
I felt much better in all my symptoms for the first day. Obviously no changes in hair, but the mucus and choking feeling was almost entirely gone, also the pain I was feeling in my hands (kind of an arthritis like pain i'd say) went away and the dehydration is gone. Unfortunately, after the first day I seemed to have failed in managing the acid as it kicked up and now my whole chest hurts. I took the normal 20 mg again, but I am certain it is causing bad effects on my body, it's just a matter of choosing which ones I want to deal with.
I guess I feel like i'm kind of doomed, either I can lose my hair, be in other pain and choke on mucus, or have constant acid attack pain and possibly cancer in the future? The doctors don't seem to care to find out once and for all what is actually causing my issue and if it can be resolved. I recently began taking Calcium and Magnesium due to some users advice here but, this does not seem to be helping after a few days. I'll continue on just to see but, I feel like i'm going crazy during a time I need to focus on my work or else risk my lifestyle entirely. I really, really feel like I triggered this problem on my own and just have no idea if I permanently doomed myself or if there is something I can do?
I also have really worked on cleaning up my diet, eating small meals, probably under 1500 calories a day at most.