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GERD-Esophagitis-Anxiety

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GERD & Acid Reflux
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Posted 9/7/2016 5:13 PM (GMT 0)
Hello Everyone,
I am new to this site, but from what I've read and seen, this is a place where you can vent and share the good (and bad) about this condition and learn from each other's treatments etc. I have been dealing with acid reflex/Esophagitis for the last 5 months. I've always been a "healthy" girl...I didn't eat very healthy (most of the time) but never had diabetes, high blood pressure, cholesterol, etc until now. I went to the emergency room due to my throat closing causing me to choke and therefor make me have panic/anxiety attacks. That is where they discovered I have diabetes and acid reflex issues which have damaged my esophagus. All this to me seems like it happened over night. I am in pain and on pins n needles every time I swallow (water, saliva, pills, food) or even try to take a deep breath! How long does this take to go away?
Posted 9/8/2016 1:53 AM (GMT 0)
Hello cookiesk9, only a medical doctor can guide you on this, however, when I began my journey with GERD and Hiatal Hernia repair I went in with similar issues and the issue that put me over the top was the pain associated with food being stuck in my esophagus (and yes the heartburn and night time food backing up into my esophagus was there). Once I was diagnosed with GERD, I was put on a regimen of PPI's and that helped for quite a few years. One Prilosec a day, moved to Prevacid, moved to Nexium and upped the amount over time. At any rate, after a couple of weeks of being on prescription PPI's things began to calm down. First to calm down was the pain associated with intermittent swallowing issues, then the heartburn dissipated. Life got alot better.
For me, this wasn't the end of the road and I scheduled Nissen Fundoplication/Hiatal repair surgery 17 years later. To that extent, I am 2 weeks post-op and feel better than I have in quite awhile.

I wish you success and a quick recovery.
Mike
Posted 9/8/2016 3:35 PM (GMT 0)
Hello mekpdue,

I am very happy to hear you are now doing and feeling better!

They said dont believe everything you read/see online about anything,but when I do my research and compare my symptoms I feel like I have the worse kind of GERD and no one is doing anything about it; I have to trust that my DR knows best and that I am not that bad otherwise they would of given me stronger medicine. Hes never mentioned PPI's (which I dont know what that is) and hes giving me a 60% recovery for the month treatment he assigned. I will talk to him about other options to help me recover faster; the pain is annoying and hurtful, has really stopped me from living my life :(
You give me hope, I wish you nothing but the best!
Posted 9/8/2016 4:14 PM (GMT 0)
cookiesk9:

Unfortunately, sometimes unhealthy eating habits take a while to catch up to you. Hopefully, now with some dietary and lifestyle changes you can begin to heal. I know 5 months seems like forever, but a lot of people on this forum have suffered with GERD symptoms for most of their life. I'm assuming that you had an endoscopy and that's how they diagnosed your GERD, did they prescribe any medication? I know that anxiety can either cause symptoms or make the symptoms that you have seem worse, you may want ask your doctor about getting your anxiety under control. You can try keeping a food diary to see if you can pin-point what your trigger foods are. Simple changes such as following a GERD-friendly diet and losing even a few pounds can greatly help. I agree that trying to self-diagnose through Dr. Google can be your worst enemy. Unfortunately, recovery takes time and it's not something that will happen overnight.
Posted 9/8/2016 4:59 PM (GMT 0)
Hello SharonZ,

Yeah, I know that now. They've always told me "take care of yourself, eat right, it'll catch up to you". As a young person with a mentality of "this won't happen to me" I didn't make the changes I should of in time. I am now paying the price for it, and oh what a high price this is. The damage I did to my body with all that bad food is something that will take time to get fixed, I understand that, but when I can have a bad day or the pain is really present, OMG I just want to be "right" again :(
They did an esophagogastroduodenal test and they saw how the acid came back up in causing my throat to be damaged. They decided the endoscopy would be too invasive and do me for harm than helping with the diagnosis. I've lost 37lbs, I've completely changed my diet, I exercise now, take my medicine on the dot...I'll say with that I am doing pretty good.
Oh I agree, Dr. Google is my worse enemy, but Mr.Google is nice lol its made me find places like this one to communicate with people like yourself and talk about this more freely. Also, its given me SOME hope that I am not alone and that I too can get better.
Posted 9/9/2016 3:50 PM (GMT 0)
I agree with SharonZ, it does take awhile for the body to adjust to new 'habits'. As far as the PPI's (Proton Pump Inhibitors) you'll probably know them by the commercials on TV...Nexium, Prevacid, Prilosec, etc. If you are put on one of these (or any other med), it may take a bit of time for them to fully kick in and help you feel better. But when they do kick in, that will help ease some of your worry.

It appears they are working to find the issue, just continue onward with weight reduction, eating healthier, keep a food diary to find those foods that 'inflame' you (make you worse), and guess what....cross that food off of your list to eat for awhile. I had to give up some of my favorite things along the way, Jalepeno peppers, beer, spicy foods like HOT wings...Medium is good, but I miss the flavor. I also had to stop eating after 7pm, that helped me sleep better. That was hard, especially when the family wanted a late dinner or late pizza...ugh is all I could say. While I didn't completely give it all up, I did moderate and adjust my diet and the times I eat.

Success to you!

Mike
Posted 9/9/2016 10:09 PM (GMT 0)
MEKPDUE,

I've learned that the same way you harm your body over time, to bring it back to health takes time too. I'm usually a patient person, but with this pain, well its taking me some practice.
I totally get what you mean about the late dinners or those midnight munchies people or ourselves get. I used to be the Queen of midnight runs for food or places to dine :( now I'm the queen of "no more food after 8pm". Gotta do what i gotta do. I do wonder if I'll ever be able to eat my Mexican spicy dishes, my sweet n sour wings, go to a Bbq and fully enjoy it etc. I won't be like this the rest of my life, but for the time being, I'll pass on all that. Im not going back to being the person I was before, which is a good thing, this has changed me forever.

I hope you enjoy your weekend. :)
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