Posted 10/29/2015 3:35 AM (GMT 0)
Hello, I'm new to this forum.
I've been dealing with GERD since July 1st. I didn't know it was that at the time. I went for a huge hike that day and thought I was fine, but the next day I had Thai soup for lunch and I was in agony for the next month. At the time it felt like sharp needles in my neck and shooting pain up the back of my head. I had heartburn before and this felt nothing like it.
My doctor tested me for thyroid cancer, a spine x-ray, which all came back normal. It took 2 months to see the ENT specialist. He was very abrupt, diagnosed me with GERD, gave me a sheet telling me what foods to avoid and told me to lose 5 pounds. The doctor put me on Tacta, once a day. By that point I wasn't in agony anymore but two hours after I ate (no matter what I ate!) I would have pain in my neck. My doctor tthought I should see a physio or massage therapist since she thought the neck pain was muscular.
The massage therapist just seemed to make it worse.
I was desperate so on my own, researched everything, lost 5 pounds, bought a wedge pillow, and started on Dr. Kaufman's diet. It was so depressing feeling helpless because at that point, I would eat nothing but steamed vegetables and still have pain 2 hours after I ate.
I asked my doctor if I could try twice daily Tacta and she agreed. I have a referral into a gastroentalogist for an endoscope but wait time is 4 months.
Since I started 2 daily doses of a PPI and sleeping with my head elavated, I seem to have mild success. I no longer have pain in my neck every two hours after I eat, only occasionally. I've been able to work in other foods into my diet. I think my sleeping position has helped a lot. Before I would sleep on my right side and strongly believe the pain I experienced on my right was due to acid trickling down my throat and just sitting there over night. It took 2 months to get to this point.
I've had help (now that my neck has healed) with crystallized ginger and chamomile tea. However, I feel absolutely exhausted and drained all the time. Does anyone experience fatigue from high doses of PPIs? Also, although my symptoms have lessened, I still feel acid shooting out occasionally throughout the day (sharp pains) and I wake up with a white film on my tongue at night so I know I'm refluxing at night. Does this mean that I'll never get better and I'll have to be on PPIs forever?
I also have a subscription for badgut and they referenced Iberogast as being something that helped manage GERD symptoms. I haven't seen anyone reference it on the forum though. Has anyone tried this?