GERD issues
I am 22 years old. I don't smoke or drink. Growing up I can remember having a slight hoarse voice in the morning if I ate to late at nights. But never anything too miserable. It would go away within a hour after drinking water.
March 2011 on a Wednesday. I woke up with a hoarse voice that never went away. After a few weeks I started to get slightly worried so I went to my family doctor. I went 3 times over a course of 5-6 weeks and they had no idea after giving me multiple steroids and antibiotics that did nothing. I also had no pain in the beginning my throat didn't hurt at all. My only symptom was the voice. So they sent me to a throat specialist. (Audiologist) He did a throat endoscopy and told me I have GERD. He prescribed me omeprazole 20mg once a day. I changed my diet. I stopped eating hours before I went to sleep. I have never been a soda drinker, I am not a fan of fatty foods. The fattiest thing I like to eat sometimes is chocolate.. So I gave that up. I don't eat big meals. I have always been a snacker. But I didn't seem to get that much better so back as planned in 6weeks. He told me to start taking it twice a day. my throat started to hurt and become really sore around this point. I would wake up in severe pain, and it would hurt through out the day. I would take 2- 20mg omeprazole and I would also drink baking soda mixed with water whenever I couldn't handle the constant burn anymore.. I wouldn't drink the baking soda/water at the same time as taking the omeprazole. I made sure I did that hours apart from one another.
So about 10-12 weeks later my symptoms got much worse. It wasn't working. Nothing seemed to work.
So I went back to the doctor. They did another endoscopy and my throat is more swollen than the first. It's starting to swell up even higher around where my thyroid is.
I started having chest pains and it has become hard to swallow anything.
My heart rate gets insanely high in random occasions.
I feel a knock/thump whenever I swallow.
My throat is always hurting.
I am nauseous when I eat.
It's painful to eat or drink anything; I have lost almost 30lbs because of it.
So I have had a endoscopy twice now,
I got a barium swallow done and he told me I have acid reflux. probe test done,.,Blood work....How many more test need to be done?
I haven’t heard my voice in a year now. It's to the point where I am becoming depressed and I ignore talking to people. I ignore hanging out with friends, because if I talk to much my throat becomes incredibly sore to the point where I won't be able to sleep. I can't yell or whisper. I have one tone. If I yell then I’m pretty much out for the rest of the day because my throat hurts so badly.
I am thinking about going to the Mayo Clinic. Has anyone else been through this? Do you think they will be able to help? Could it be something else?
Im desperate.
Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Digestive Health Support Group.
Exactly everything you mentioned did happen to me. Right down to taking paxil for anxiety and ditching coffee for tea. The only difference now is that I stopped taking protonix but I'm still taking pepcid. I have been good for over 2 years but it"s really scary when it happens and it lasts a long time. I felt like I was going to die when it hit me. Good luck
Just wondering if you have had your gallbladder checked for gallstones? I did heavy lifting doing highway maintenance for 20yrs and one day my stomach/abdominal pain got so bad that I could hardly move. I needed my gallbladder out because of gallstones. It felt like a truck hit me sometimes until finally I couldn’t take it anymore. But this wasn’t the cause of my Gerd I don’t believe it was my Barrett’s Esophagus . Best of luck to you!🙏
@biga282 yes, I have had my gallbladder out. In the early 1990s.
Okay 👍 have had an Endoscopy ? Checked for ulcers maybe? Best of luck! 🙏
Yes, and yes.
I would go toner first gi cocktail if it got that bad. It works pretty quickly and really well. I’d also get in to see my gi dr asap. You may need an endoscopy or stronger meds. Hope you feel better!!!
@graceym1 what is a gi cocktail?
It’s three different meds including maalox higher dose, lidocaine and one more medication.
I don’t know what medication is causing MY skin problem . My skin peels constantly and after a shower I go into complete molt. We have tried discontinuing a Drug I was taking for acid reflux . It was fomotidene. ( I can’t spell it I guess). Any way it’s been about 20 days . I still cannot tell if it changed anything . Anyone had experience with this drug ?? BB , Crystalena
Hi, @crystalena - because you mentioned a skin problem you believe is related to your taking famotidene for acid reflux, I moved your post here to this discussion where others are talking about this medication:
- Famotidine for GERD https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/famotidine-for-gerd/
How long did the doctor say you'd have to be off the famotidene to tell if that was the cause of your skin peeling/molting? Are you still peeling constantly?