Struggling with gerd

I am so sorry you are feeling this way! know you are not alone. I have been having similar issues lately but i haven't been to see a doctor. I was thinking my issue is an ULCER but I never considered GERD ugh I have had esophageal reflux for a couple months now that just won't go away!! I can't miss any work and I work every second and more that offices are open ugh stress kills and it is seriously giving me an existential crisis about getting older and never being young again!!

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Thank you ever since I have had this I had felt alone with this and I also felt like a pest with my family and friends about what I eat. GERD has been the most stubborn thing I have to deal with. I have been taking Omeprazole 40 mg twice daily for about a month now and I will say it has become milder than it was before but I also had to change my lifestyle a lot. I know the feeling of not missing any work but sometimes you gotta put you first and especially your health we only have one body. I honestly feel the same with the stress and I have tried to find ways to calm myself down because I heard it does make it worse. Def speak to your boss about this ASAP and get checked out. Im so sorry you have this pain of hell fire in your esophagus as well :/

My dad has GERD, he finds that when he wats things that are greasy then it really flares up. He also had his gall bladder removed so there may be a correlation in regards to that. My fiancé has really bad acid reflux like every day has to take omperzole. We ate stupid clean fora month ( no gluten, dairy, soy etc) and he realized that it was dairy that really worsened his acid reflux. I am a veterinarian ( people are different from animals obviously). A lot of dogs get something called bilious vomiting syndrome. It happens more frequently when their meals are spread too far apart or if they have a hiatal hernia. So if you want my 2 cents. I would try smaller more frequent meals. See how things go without certain foods. Ask about the potential of hiatal hernia ( you have to catch it at the right time). I agree you should have the gall bladder evaluated too.

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Yes youre right I should get it looked at. :/ Would you have any advice on how they handle social situations like parties/bachelorette parties, birthdays etc?

I’m so sorry you’re dealing with this! I have GERD as well, and have taken a lot of the same steps as you. I’ve had an endoscopy, gallbladder sonogram, and took omeprazole for years. The thing that has helped me the most has been cutting out gluten and limiting dairy. It has helped so much, I no longer require omeprazole. When I’m having severe symptoms, I follow a FODMAP diet until I’m doing better. You may also want to try a probiotic, that helped me tons. Good luck!

I’m sorry you’re dealing with all this! I had similar issues almost a year back, although none of the symptoms presented as typical heartburn/acid reflux symptoms, but I was truly miserable. I got an endoscopy to see if it was celiac and while it wasn’t that, they just said my esophagus and duodenum were very enflamed so I went on Pantoprazole for 3 months like you which sucked bc I had to take the morning pill 30 minutes before I ate which meant waking up at the buttcrack of dawn since I’m hungry as soon as my eyes open in the morning. Long story short, I did not follow the rules of the medicine (no grease, no alcohol) but it still somehow cured me and I haven’t had any issues since November. It sounds like your issues are more severe than mine, so all I can suggest is fully take control of managing your health. Pester doctors until you feel they are 100% on your side, make no apologies for having to change your lifestyle, and keep hope that your issues will soon be over one day, because they will!

And as far as social situations, you just have to do what is best for you. Don’t give in to peer pressure on drinking if you know the wine or fizzy drinks will cause problems for you later in the night. For the bachelorette, i would advise letting your friends know ahead of time your food restrictions and why. They will be understanding and find restaurants that you all can enjoy. It should be considered the same common courtesy as not taking a vegan friend to a bbq joint or a friend with celiac to a bakery.

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Im sorry too. :/ I am glad you have got it under control. How long have you had it and how long did it take for symptoms to go away for lower? I have cut out dairy too and tried vegan cheese instead, I havent had effects from it. I havent tried cutting gluten yet though.

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Wow. thats amazing im glad you were able to find relief! In my EGD they said everything was fine. No burns or inflammation. I was so confused still confused.

And youre right I should let them know before hand thank you! I have had hard alcohol before like a mixed drink with soda on NYE but for some reason I did not feel pain. When i drank wine sometimes it would calm the acid feeling. But the doc said no so now im like darn it im scared.

View Quoted Comment Yes it’s all pretty confusing, especially since yours sounds more severe than mine was. Luckily 3 months was all it took for my inflammation to heal.
I had my endoscopy literally the day before I left for my dream vacation so I was a little headstrong and did not heed the doctors warnings about greasy food and alcohol (I was in France, how could i *not* drink wine?!) and I definitely paid the price for it a few times but was lucky that it never made the issues worse. Definitely don’t do what I did, i would avoid the alcohol even if you didn’t feel any pain. The longer you give your body to heal and reset, the better I think. But I feel your pain on being young and feeling sick and having FOMO.

Do you think maybe sometimes different types of PPI's work better than others? I noticed you were put on a diff med than I was does it work differently than Omeprazole?

Did you reintroduce things back into your diet and if so when did you do it?

I def have FOMO, I loved my social life before this. I had fun going to eat with friends my fiance and we loved to travel. Now its just -.-

View Quoted Comment I had my endoscopy in October, and have cut out gluten and dairy since then. I started decreasing omeprazole from 40mg to 20, then to nothing. I phased out the omeprazole in about a month. Take your time and be patient! It takes a lot of experimenting to find what works best for you. FODMAP is good for adding things back slowly.

I am assuming that you have been tested for H.pylori during your battery of GI tests?

View Quoted Comment Hi Shannon-

when I had my EGD they did an biopsy for an allergy but it was negative. During the EGD they looked for inflammation.

I went through terrible stomach problems my freshman year of college. They diagnosed me with GERD and a hiatal hernia. I was put on prilosec and zantac at the same time. My doctor said that they work in different ways to help with stomach acid. Maybe try asking your doctor about being on both? I was at a point where I couldn't eat because of the pain and after about a year and losing more weight than I could afford to lose, those two meds helped me. I still take them on occasion when I start feeling bad again. Good luck though! I hope it gets better

So many other lovely people with stomach issues! I have had pretty severe gerd since highschool. The valve between my stomach and esophagus doesn’t work, it hands open all the time, so I end up seeing a lot of food again. I got put on omeprozole(40 mg once a day in the morning, I don’t need much for it to be effective because I am 88lbs) as well. It didn’t work at first, but after it built up it has made a diffeeence. While I still see food again, I don’t get as much of the horrid acid burn, which I count as a victory. After years of trying all the medical options the gi specialists could think of they finally agreed to give me linx surgery! Which is still going to be 5 months out due to insurance mumbojumbo, but after the years I’ve been dealing with it 5 months is nothing.
I wat a diet of primarily bland foods. Nothing overly greasy or overly acidic. No sodas. I tend to eat a lot of things I know it won’t be bad when I see it again like pastas and cheese sauces or things of that nature. I don’t eat meat at all. I have a caffeine addiction so I still drink coffee despite the upset tummy it gives me. I don’t drink near as much as I used to, but it is something I am willing to suffer for.

UPDATE: I had ultrasound/sonogram of my gallbladder, liver, pancreas and everything came back okay. I have a PH level test EGD Next Wednesday to see if there is actually acid coming in to my esophagus .

GERD can come on due to stress and things that you are eating. Starting with a diet and exercise is good. I have Gastroparesis,GERD and a hiatal hernia. I try to watch what I can eat and exercise. Try small meals and water as well and keep your stress levels to a minimum during the planning. You dont have a lower quality life just try to keep the stress down and that medicine may not work for you, you may need something else. Google GERD diet and such on the internet and develop a plan for yourself.

UPDATES: Its def been a roller coaster of events and doctors. I had a ultrasound of my gallbladder, liver, and pancreas. Everything was fine. My DR. scheduled a Bravo study which is a ph level test for 96 hours. before I went and got that placed in my esophagus I went to lake Geneva for a weekend (at the time I had to be off all medicines). I decided what the hell and ate the options I wanted to and I even drank . With all of this I did not feel much but when I did I would take a Rolaids chewy which are very helpful. During the Bravo study I also ate out a bit more just to really test it( of course this was within my diet since im in the process of losing weight). So fast forward to yesterday and The doctor told me I have about 2% of acid going into my esophagus and a normal amount is about 5% since people normally have at least some acid that comes up. He said since this is the case and you feel it a lot you actually have something called Hypersensitive Esophagus. He is prescribing me Amitriptyline which is an anti anxiety and depressant but should help relax the nerves in my esophagus. He said i can take the rolaids and such if I want.. I have yet to get the prescription but hope he sends it today.