It all started in February. Coffee has been giving me trouble since about the age of 35. Before then, I could drink coffee from the work pot with impunity, black, cup after cup. It would accelerate elimination, that was about it. But then in my mid thirties, acceleration started to feel like diarrhea. It would make me feel sick like I had the flu in those parts of me, so I learned to lay off, though I could still have a morning latte and not have it affect me much.
Fast forward ten years. By then, even the daily latte was too harsh, and I could only indulge periodically. And I also had issues with caffeine, as documented here elsewhere. One morning at work, I had decided I would indulge in a cup since I was feeling especially draggy. After a couple of swigs, a weird pain hit me in the area known as the fundus. It was a sharp pain than would build up, hurt, then recede, in the space of about a minute. Then, two minutes later, it would hit again. This cycle continued for 24 hours straight. It was pretty hard to get to sleep that night, if for no other reason, I was just a tad freaked out by it. When I woke up in the morning, it was still there. It receded finally later in the morning.
Needless to say, that was the last cup of coffee I ever had.
It didn't come about until around Easter, when I had some bacon at my inlaws. We usually eat turkey bacon, but they eat the real thing, thickly sliced and crusted with fat. I couldn't resist having a piece while waiting for breakfast. It happened again, this time lasting a day and a half. So, no more bacon then. The final straw was maybe a month later, when I had a cup of black tea. This time, I had the pulsing pain, and then started to feel a side stitch, with a little back pain, whenever I ate.
That persists more or less to this day. I was diagnosed with GERD (Gastroesophageal reflux disease), and sent off to take Omeprazole once a day and not eat too much saturated fat. I did this, and actually felt like I was managing my symptoms, and wondered if it had passed, so to find out, I stopped taking Omeprazole for a couple of days. That was a big mistake, as the pain in my fundus became worse, turning into sharp pains that came and went, a constant dull ache, and the feeling of fullness at all times.
That scared me into the emergency room, but they just sent me away with a prescription of Carafate, which coats the stomach, making it less susceptible to damaged caused by stomach acid, and an order to double the omeprazole. Keeping on this regimen helps a little. Now, I feel uncomfortably full after eating a small meal (I cam actually feel the fullness coming on while I eat, which is a strange sensation), rather than it feeling full all the time. In order to avoid pain, I have been extremely strict with diet and only eating small amounts at a time, so much so that I have lost an additional 15 lbs since the trip to the ER.
Even stranger and more worrying, an herbal supplement got stuck in my throat, and ever since then, little bits of lettuce, spinach and fruit skin do the same. I have to clear my throat more often and I wake up with a raw feeling in the back of my throat some days. I'm afraid that means my esophagus is restricted, which is one of the symptoms of GERD. Acid splashes up into the esophagus and damages it. If I can't get a handle of this, it will lead to Barrett's Esophagus, and possible to cancer, so healing it has become something of a crusade for me. I'm trying slippery elm and licorice, which are known to coat the esophagus.
I've been interested in other natural remedies, too. I read that both honey and apple cider vinegar can help, so I've been taking a couple spoonfuls of a mix of these before meals. I was surprised that drinking vinegar would have no immediate repercussions, but it's true, it really does help with reflux.
Next week I will be the recipient of an endoscopy, down the hatch and into the stomach. They can dilate the esophagus at that point, which is sometimes needed in tough cases, apparently. It shows only minimal signs of relaxing at this point, so I think I'm a candidate for that procedure.
Needless to say, I am freaking out about this right now.
For years now I have a been a pretty random eater- whatever sounds good, whenever I feel like it. GERD has certainly been changing that. One theory that makes sense to me is when you overeat, your stomach produces more acid to digest the food, so you are in a more or less constantly acidic state. GERD has actually been helpful in that regard: overeating is no longer a problem for me. I approach everything I eat with caution. I know eating too much will lead to physical discomfort.
What remains a mystery, however, is what is really causing this and how to prevent it permanently. Overproduction of acid may not be the culprit. There is a theory that the flora in the small intestine can get so far out of whack that it produces inordinate amount of gas. That explains the bloated feeling of premature fullness I feel, perhaps. That increases pressure in the stomach and forces acidic gas into the esophagus. Perhaps that is the root cause, but correcting it seems elusive. I take a probiotic everyday but it doesn't seem to be doing the trick. Another theory states that the problem is a lack of pepsin, the stomach's main digestive enzyme. So I'm supplementing with enzymes as well.
I'll keep you posted, readers.
No comments:
Post a Comment