Issues with GERD

Posted by jimaddessi @jimaddessi, Feb 28, 2023

I am a relatively healthy 69 year old male who has had bouts of gerd (acid reflex) in my life. I've had several endoscopy"s done, most recently January of 2022 diagnosis of Gastritis. I don't smoke and drink in moderation socially (not a lot). Recently I developed my worst symptoms ever, not sleeping very good ( I have elevated bed),very bad pressure in chest which creates tremendous anxiety making it had to breathe and catch my breath, floor pacing...terrible stress on body. Oddly enough it's been worse every other morning when I wake up. I take Protonix and Pepcid, Mylanta and I just got some new stuff called Nutrasec, a tablet like Tums only better that you take after eating that helps a little. I was cruising right along until 10 days ago the it hit me like a tank. I gave up coffee and changed my diet drastically and am trying to schedule another endoscopy. I'm hoping maybe my esophagus needs stretched or I'm a candidate for esophagus sphincter surgery. I feel beat and it sucks trying to sleep on my left side all night. Anybody out there having similar problems?

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rashida | @rashida | Aug 21, 2023

In reply to @brittis "I bought mine at Amazon!" + (show)

@brittis how does it taste? Is it sweet?

brittis | @brittis | Aug 21, 2023

In reply to @rashida "@brittis how does it taste? Is it sweet?" + (show)

I bought the caramel taste and it is like caramel sauce. Yes, definitely sweet.

marjoriem | @marjoriem | Aug 21, 2023

Can you provide more information on digestive bitters and Betain HCL Pepsin? I did a google search and there are many different ones, some have both digestive bitters and Betain HCL Pepsin or do they all? What works for you, strength and dosage? Thank you!

marjoriem | @marjoriem | Aug 22, 2023

In reply to @ese "Oh to protect your esophagus take black raspberry powder from BerriBerri. I even have Barett's Esophagus,..." + (show)

Curious, did you start taking black raspberry powder from your own research or did a doctor recommend it? And yes, one of my possible diagnoses is Barett's Esophagus.

marjoriem | @marjoriem | Aug 22, 2023

In reply to @dragnwc19 "Hello, Much of what you say has a solid ring to it. Leaning toward trying some...." + (show)

I'm not sure about the functionality of my lower esophageal sphincter per se, just know from tests that I have esophagus motility issues.

ese | @ese | Aug 22, 2023

In reply to @marjoriem "Curious, did you start taking black raspberry powder from your own research or did a doctor..." + (show)

William Liu's book on healing yourself with diet. I have no idea if it has become better but the last time I had an endoscopy done because of bad anemia (looking for a silent bleed when the problem in fact was failure to absorb nutrients because of too long treatment (on doctor's orders!) with PPIs, the Barrett's esophagus had gotten no worse.

susanfalcon52 | @susanfalcon52 | Jul 8 6:50am

ese,
Yes, I too am having the worst GERD attack ever. I am scheduled for an endoscopy tomorrow. I’m had them before and the gastro stretched the ring at top of esophagus each time which helped. This problem has been going on for many years, so I’m worried about having Barrett’s Esophagus. Also, worried that I might not be able to get symptoms under control.
I’m on Protonix and prescription Pepcid. Sometimes, I have to take a Gaviscon. That actually seems to help.

susanfalcon52 | @susanfalcon52 | Jul 8 6:53am

In reply to @ese "William Liu's book on healing yourself with diet. I have no idea if it has become..." + (show)

ese,
Are you able to manage your symptoms of Barrett’s esophagus?

ese | @ese | Jul 8 11:26am

In reply to @susanfalcon52 "ese, Are you able to manage your symptoms of Barrett’s esophagus?" + (show)

I have no symptoms..never have had. Discovered on Endoscopy. I have managed to totally heal my GERD without any continuing use of ProtonPump Inhibitors which wreck havoc with your body and its ability to use nutrients with long term use.

Most people with GERD suffer from acid insufficiency not excess. Therefore the mass use of Proton inhibitors is exactly what is NOT an effective treatment with awful long term consequences.

ese | @ese | Jul 8 11:29am

In reply to @ese "I have no symptoms..never have had. Discovered on Endoscopy. I have managed to totally heal my..." + (show)

If you would like I can save with you what I did. I now only very rarely get GERD if I eat in Chinese restaurants that use dreadful seed oils. But generally no GERD symptoms whatsoever, even without use of supplements I used to cure the GERD.