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Symptoms gone (not a good thing)

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GERD & Acid Reflux
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Posted 5/15/2012 2:32 AM (GMT 0)
Can someone, anyone, give me any ideas as to why my symptoms will literally vanish before medical testing that would potentially show doctors how miserable my day to day life really is?

I have my pH and motility testing today and I haven't felt this normal since pre-GERD. I went off PPI's 2 weeks ago (I'd stopped them before and rebound took approximately 10 days) and the symptoms were so bad after day 3 that I ran back to them.

I stopped them again 7 days ago, as per the testing facility's instructions. I've been feeling fantastic stomach-wise (aside from a little mild burning). I knew last night that I was feeling "too good" so I treated myself to pizza and went to bed 2 hours later... yet here I sit at 5am with a perfectly normal stomach.

In my heart of hearts, as a training medical professional, I DO NOT think that this is psychological. When I am extremely stressed out, my GERD goes away completely. It is normal, everyday day-to-day life that kills me. This all started when I was exuberantly happy with my life for no reason besides that i was physically unhealthy.

I'm despairing that I have waited all this time and been suffering for so long and will have yet another normally-resulting test.
Posted 5/15/2012 3:21 AM (GMT 0)
When I had my PH test I felt no heartburn at all. It felt like it was gone but my ph test showed a lot of episodes of reflex with the numbers showing severe heartburn. I had to stay on the PPIs because I could not take the pain being off of them. Make sure u push the button even with the slightest reflex feeling






.
Posted 5/15/2012 3:37 AM (GMT 0)
Hi Ashley --

Believe me, I know how frustrating this is. I don't know enough about your symptoms to comment, other than the fact that I'm keying in on the fact that you say you have a "perfectly normal stomach," instead of a "perfectly normal throat," for example. Do I remember reading that you were diagnosed with a gall stone? Can't remember. Please mention all this to your doctor.

I can tell you my experience with my last pH test, which was an impedence test. I had to travel 350 miles one-way to have the test administered, and had to stay overnight in a hotel. There was a lot of stress built around this single test, and I had a lot of discomfort with it. I was constantly fighting the wire where it makes the turn from my throat into my esophagus, probably doing a lot of unconscious squeezing with my throat, and lots of swallowing. Anyway, after all this trouble and expense, the results of the test showed no reflux episodes into my throat, when I know full well that I do. So, the long and short of this is I understand exactly where you're at, and my stress most likely prevented an accurate test result. (It still showed the expected amount of reflux into my esophagus.)

The reason I'm sharing this is that it might be the stress you're experiencing that's shutting down the reflux through muscular tension -- not to make you more stressed out! Relax, relax, relax.

I'm sending good thoughts your way, that you will receive the perfect attention and treatment you expect, and that your doctors will discover and diagnose what they need for you to find lasting comfort. Relax, and know that you can not be left in limbo...

Best wishes!

-Bruce
Posted 5/15/2012 4:11 AM (GMT 0)
I had a similar experience as Bruce. It was not a "normal" day, besides the fact that I stayed home from work that day, lounged around which was not "typical" for me. I also had the bad wire feeling in throat.

Any extra swallowing can act to push the reflux down, which can affect the test.

I was not very pleased with the data analysis of my study either -- I tend to have sour taste all day long, and did, but I only pressed the button when it became noticeable after eating. So my results showed "3 occurrences of sour taste", when in reality it was an all-day experience. I got the runaround when I called in trying to explain it, and my GI doctor doesn't seem to care about it either.

Hah, I guess I'm venting a bit. But I know the feeling about lousy timing. There is a psychological component I've noticed too, where when I am very engaged in some activity, I notice the sour taste less. Which makes perfect sense, that goes with almost any pain like a toothache, sore throat etc. But the fact is, most of our lives are not lived in those moments and when we are in more normal activities (like working all day, or sitting down to relax at home) -- those are what count most. It does not mean the symptoms we experience are any less real because we can become distracted from them. They are still indicative of a problem that we would like to fix.
Posted 5/15/2012 4:14 AM (GMT 0)
You guys are all awesome. Iäm reading this before heading out for my test and I feel calmed by your words. Thank you all so much!

Iäm heading out for the test. Talk to you guys on the other side :)
Posted 5/15/2012 4:16 AM (GMT 0)
Another thing, is that it sometimes takes many days or weeks of acid exposure in order to create the environment where you notice symptoms. It could be that being off them 7 days is not long enough for the acid to degrade your stomach/esophagus etc. to that point.
Posted 5/15/2012 5:30 PM (GMT 0)
Hey there,

That was my original plan but I was in literal hell after only three days off, so I figured that 7 days as I was told should be fine, but lo and behold, I've made a miraculous recovery. The really crappy part about this - and you can mark my words - is that I know I'll be burning tomorrow.

I ate like total crap today - coffee, Chinese food, pizza - and I feel fine. This is genuinely starting to make me question my sanity. Am I imagining all of this? I can't believe that it's true, but even I can't see another explanation.

Not just that, but because I've eaten badly for the last two days, I have little to no doubt that I'll start getting some pretty horrible symptoms after I turn the probe in. Ugh. I don't mean to be pessimistic, sorry, I'm just at a very low point.

I really, really appreciate all of your answers. Thank you :)
Posted 5/15/2012 8:41 PM (GMT 0)
I had the opposite whereby I stopped ppi's and felt great even with the tube in at first. I was convinced that I was actually a hypochondriach and then I followed my day as normal and went for a 5 mile run, after 1mile I stopped as the burn was truly worse than anything I had experienced before starting ppi's, it then persisted all day long with me until bed time when I slept like a baby with no issues and was fine all next day. Anyhow I too was absolutely convinced the test would show no issues. I was wrong the test showed that at times my ph level was 0.2 for prolonged periods. You may be surprised, anyhow good luck.
Posted 5/15/2012 10:03 PM (GMT 0)
Hope it goes OK Ashley,

MMM
Posted 5/16/2012 4:00 AM (GMT 0)
Hi guys,

Thanks for the answers and well wishes, I hope you all know how much I appreciate them.

All I can do now is wait for the results, which should come in about a week. I've made the decision that if they are normal, when I get back to Finland in August I will try to get back in the queue (not likely) or pay privately to have another pH monitoring done. This time, however, I'll go off PPI's for a month if I have to. If they still come back normal... I don't know where I'll go from there.

The original plan from the surgeon I saw was that if these tests came back with normal results, she would remove the gallstone. However, in a day and a half of eating extraordinarily fattening foods, I have barely had even the slightest twinges of RUQ pain, so I don't know that it would do anything.

Thanks again guys,
Ashley
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