I am happy to be here and have a plethora of questions! I am a 29 year old male who has had recent GI issues that include frequent urination, low back pain, minor rectal bleeding (determined after a flexible sigmoidoscopy to be a hemorrhoid) minor stomach pain and butterflies and recently, heartburn! All of these have been intermitent. I sawa the doctor in October because I had a GI virus that involved diarrhea and heartburn that was waking me up. He suspected that the heartburn was related to the virus so he gave me a months supply of Protonix. It worked well but three weeks after I went off of it, a minor bout of heartburn came back. I went back to the doctor and he lined me up for a flouroscopy. Those results (after a week or nervous waiting), came back fine. He gave me a liberal amount of Protonix and for two months it hasn't been a problem. However, I don't want to continue to take it if they didn't find GERD. He wants me to have a blood test to rule out H. Pylori. I will do that. I love the Protonix and 12 month clinical trials have proven no long term side effects. However, without a cause, I don't want to keep taking it. Does anyone have similar experiences? The symptoms mentioned above have led to bouts of insomnia, undoubtedly due to worry and anxiety. But thus far it has been managed well.
-Josh