Hello friends... i am visitng this site after long time. I wanted to share my story...
In March 2009 i went to ER when i had chest pain and discomfort. EKG was performance and results were normal so i was sent home. I experienced similar pain 3 times within one week. My PCP put me on BP med & Aspirin and I was sent to Cardio. I also started to take Protonix.
The Cardiologist performed stress test and i was told my heart is ok and sent me home saying i need to look elsewhere. All this time i had minor pain around chest and below my left arm pit.
Next, I went to see the GI... who put the scope down my mouth and found I had Short Segment Barretts Esophagus. I was convinced that i had Acid Reflux... although i had NEVER had any heartburn. Later i learnt from google that you can have silent acid reflux.
In coming months, kept taking Protonix and never felt good. Not to put blame entirely on the medication but i also developed anxiety after i was seeing bunch of best doctors yet not able to confidently determine cause of chest pain.
In month of June i went to see ENT specialist hoping he will find LPR (aka Silent Gerd) inside my throat. But no... he found Post Nasal Drip but nothing on Acid Reflux. More puzzled... i went to different GI this time. He looked at biopsy & endoscopy reports and adviced me to stop taking PPI. Since i have Short Segment Barrets (less than 1cm) he thought the risk of Baretts was much less than getting hit by car on the road. Made sense. It has been 4 weeks now for me since i went off Protonix... i feel much better. I eat pretty much everything... the only GERD rule i am followin now is that i sleep 3 hours AFTER i eat. I eat spices, fried stuff and everything to moderation. Yes, i have reduced my alcohol conumtion by about 90%.
So, i have no clue how i got Short Segment Barrets. But without Protonix... i am happy all my food is getting well digested. While on Protonix, every time i vistied Soup Plantation, i would see the greens in my poop (pardon me).
I really like to trust my doctors... but this time i feel i was let down by someone. Lost my entire summer to this illness. I still get occasional chest pain. This pain has no relation to what i eat. There were months when i ate just BLAND but i still had this pain. Food makes no difference at all. i know it is related to digestion... but i have no clue if it is really acid reflux or gas or something else. I plan to have another endoscope in couple of months to see where is my Short Segment Barrets.
I just wrote everything... thanks for reading.