Newbie recently diagnosed

Hello, everyone.

I guess I could post a little history on myself. I first noticed a feeling like something was stuck in the back of my throat on 10/10/09 after a somewhat stressful day and a meal (fed to me at a conference) of lasagna, garlic bread, and salad. The feeling only lasted a few hours, and I thought it was related to some post-nasal drip from a sinus infection I was pretty sure I had.

I spent a few weeks dealing with some other troublesome health issues (heart palpitations, heart racing, and subsequent anxiety), and the lump in the throat feeling returned permanently on 10/24/09. I really didn't know what was what because I'd been experiencing so much anxiety related to the heart issues (tests showed that my heart was fine). I'd also been on an antibiotic for the sinus infection I'm still not totally sure I ever had (doc didn't have time to see me and just agreed that my symptoms sounded like a sinus infection, so he called in the antibiotic). I was having major digestion problems in the form of terrible chest pain/gas and diarrhea.

Somewhere along the way, my throat symptom was mentioned to my father-in-law, and he said it sounded like I had GERD and needed to get on Nexium. He's had GERD (which also presented with a lump feeling in the throat) for years and has had great success with Nexium. I had to wait several days to get in to see a doctor to get the prescription for Nexium, and I thought I'd go mad from my worsening symptoms in the meantime. I finally got my hands on my first little purple pill on 11/2/09. I was started on 40mg once daily. I did notice some improvement after 4-5 days, but I was not getting the miracle results my father-in-law had promised. I figured I just needed to be bumped up to 40 mg twice daily, so I asked the doc if that was okay. She agreed, so I tried that for a couple of days. I went back to once daily on the recommendation of another doctor, however, after I started having some strange muscle and joint pains. I still don't know if the Nexium caused that or if it was another drug (an antidepressant to help with the crippling anxiety I had developed) I'd started at roughly the same time. All I know is that once I went back to the 40 mg once daily, the muscle stuff went away (until several weeks later, which does lead me to believe it was the other med causing the problem, but who knows?!).

I'm currently on week 9 of Nexium. I'm still only taking the 40 mg. It works pretty well sometimes, but I've had a major recurrence of symptoms in the past week (might have something to do with loosening my eating habits for the holidays ). I am having some issues that I'm assuming are side effects from the Nexium, and I will be posting some questions about that.

If you have any questions, ask away!

Thank for the welcome, Kitt.

I have been to an ENT. He did not tell me that I had LPR. He just agreed that I had GERD and said that I'd have to be on a PPI twice daily to heal. He did put the scope thing up through my nostril and down my throat. He said he didn't see any lesions, but he did see irritation caused by acid reflux. I have a follow up with him later this month. I'll be calling Monday to either change PPIs (see my post about Nexium side effects if you're interested) or to clarify whether he wants me to be on the second dose. I can't keep living exactly the way I am now, so something has to change.

I have also been to a gastroenterologist. He's actually the guy who did a colonoscopy for me almost two years ago. He actually remembered me. I must have a memorable back end. He sort of acted like he wasn't sure why I'd come to see him. In his defense, I'd already been put on Nexium and had already seen the ENT a few days earlier. He didn't see the need to do an endoscopy at this point since the ENT had already seen irritation in my throat. I do think that I will request the endoscopy when I feel ready, though.

I am in the US. My family doctor is extremely difficult to get in to see. I usually have to see his nurse practitioner for sick visits. She happened to be out of town for a funeral at the time that I thought I was having sinus infection issues, so rather than make me wait almost a whole week to get in or have to go to urgent care, he called in the antibiotic. I wish I'd never taken it.