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My GERD Story
Reading people's journeys helped me sort this out, so I thought I'd share my unique story. Started in 2020, I developed strange tight pain in my breastbone and would constantly have blood in my spit. I've had a history of heart burn, nothing that a tums or two didn't fix. As it progressed, lots of blood, lots of pain, so did my fears. DR Google diagnosed me with 20 cancers ugh. Lots of testing with no help, some pink drink at ER, as well as CT scans nothing found. Finally to a scope where I was diagnosed with esaughitis, caused the blood in spit. Deemed mild and treated with a PPI med. I made healthy lifestyle choices for the next several months also, both in turn fixed me.... so I thought.
About a year off the PPi meds, I started getting strange pain between my shoulder blade, my back trapezoid muscles felt like a screw being put through it, like a massive knot. Off to the chiro I went.....0 affect. Then came the blood and chest pain. Back on PPi I went. For the first month they worked great.... then they didn't. I tried Everything, sleeping up, no food several hrs before bed, different variations of PPI, into about the 9 month mark, I started getting upper reflux, causing classic symptoms, nail drip, even found it difficult to take pills and food because of the swelling. In my third scope, they found the upper reflux causing swelling, therefore the expanded the opening, like a balloon being inflated in my throat. ..... kept on coming, no matter what I did . Finally I watched a you tube video of a person suggesting baling soda to neutralize the acid. Wormed amazing until it didn't. After about a month, i stared getting IBS symptoms, also pain in my gall bladder, pancreas area, stool issues ....back to the ER, 6th visit. Full CT, ultrasound, blood work, 0 results. I trusted the Dr and accepted my stress and anxiety, in company with the baling soda were doing damage to me. I went off everything.
After a 1.5 year wait, I was sent for a test that measures your bouts of acid reflux, a tube in your nose, worn for a night, then returned to the hospital, shown I had over 40 instances of acid reflux during the night.
THEN I Found out about SIBO. Created when I destroyed my intestinal protection of stomach acid (ppi and baling soda) . I received breath tests which showed a high result, but living in a small town revealed treatment to be difficult. Finally I found a great naturopath who helped me. I lost a ton of bloating (after the treatment) this bloating caused by inflammation in my lower intestines, pushed my stomach up, causing less room in my stomach, almost like pushing the bottom of a milk bag, watch how the top pours our, in my case, acid into my esaugus.
I learned the weird back pain was caused by inflamed esaugus, pushing on my nerves near my spine. Feeling at first exactly like a terrible muscle knot, then more centered in my spine.
With all the PPI and acid reduction, I destroyed my body's ability to protect itself, causing ongoing, non traditional GERD.
Feel like a new person now. I'll be entering into my second SIBO treatment soon to ensure it's controlled and completely off meds. Very seldom I notice any acid reflux, if at all, however I'm very hyper sensitive to any issues, so I use a over the counter pepcid as a precautionary.
A bit long, and likely a few spelling issues from my phone, I wanted ti share my symptoms, and treatment in event anyone has similar issues.
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Glad you found answers. What do you do for Sibo…low fodmap diet?
I’m so glad you were finally able to resolve your issue! That sounds miserable. Those proton pump inhibitors should be illegal! They put my mom on those when she was older after they removed her gallbladder and she had all kinds of infections, plus they break your hip bones! Both of her hips broke, and she didn’t fall first - the bones broke and then she fell! Essentially, the medicine killed her because she had such terrible C. Diff, e. Coli, and was so depressed from being in a wheelchair that they had to put her on meds. It was horrible. I’m so glad you found a good naturopath. I’m having Gerd issues which came on suddenly a few months ago and my doctor wanted to put me on an antacid and I said no. Acid is not my main problem. I feel like my food is doing what yours is doing; sitting in my stomach for hours and hours, and then it pushes up from the gas. Do you mind if I ask what state you’re in? I wonder if your doctor does tele visits. I don’t trust traditional medicine anymore. It’s just drugs, drugs, drugs. They never get to the bottom of anything. Thank you so much for sharing your story. I appreciate it! Good luck to you and I hope you keep feeling better. 💕
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1 ReactionFood sitting in your stomach and then pushing up is one of the symptoms of hiatal hernia. I’m not suggesting you have that, just a possibility. If you do, diaphragmatic breathing and stretching exercises can help.
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1 ReactionI am happy for you finding that you had SIBO. I went through some of what you did. PPI's are NOT GOOD! We need acid in our stomach to digest food. I too had SIBO plus a yeast infection, parasite. For SIBO, I too changed my diet plus prebiotics and probitics. It is critical to change your diet. SIBO - small intestine bacterial overgrowth - which means you need to attack the bacteria. I learned from my doctor these bacteria are in our body but in the lower intestine. These bacteria migrate to the small intestine to feed causing us the symptoms we experience. Sugars need to be eliminated because they love sugars. So if you add white sugar to coffee or tea, a good alternative is an organic stevia. It's best to find a nutritionist that can help who is familiar with SIBO and what kind of foods to eliminate and foods to eat. Look at everything you eat - desserts, fruits and vegetables, pastas, breads, anything in a package or bottle and see how much sugar is in it. For starters, the best fruits are the berries - strawberries, blueberries, blackberries. Omit bananas and oranges (especially orange juice.). Also avoid gluten - in a lot of bread and pasta and flour products and packaged foods. I eat gluten free bread but be cautious and check the sugar content of the brand as well. I buy pasta from Italy because the wheat they grow there is different from the wheat grown in the US and is good for those avoiding gluten. I have been doing this for a couple of years now and it works. Also do what you can to buy organic. Fruits and vegetables in the US are sprayed with glycosphate - very toxic to our bodies. Eat as clean as you can. I read labels constantly but it has paid off. Best to you!
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2 ReactionsThank you! I didn’t know that. I believe my mom had one of those. Thanks again.
Wow !! Hopefully you can get some relief. I have Barrett’s but try to keep it in check. I take a regiment of vitamins, before and while taking them I eat a banana which helps me swallow all them. Try eating a little banana before the pills and see? My daughter is on dialysis and just had a Thyroidectomy and also vomits continually and suffers from Gerd. She’s 36. Wishing you the best 🙏🙏
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1 ReactionHi, @biga282 - that is interesting about the banana helping you get all the vitamins down. Do you know what it is about the banana that helps with vitamin/pill swallowing?
Not really sure but it helps things slide down better.
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