# GERD? Can Someone help me Differentiate? This is a unique situation.



## chrismcd45 (Jan 29, 2016)

Okay you guys,

I am a 20 year old male. My mom has had GERD for about a year and a half now, and she just recently managed to get it under control, and now doesn't deal with as many problems. I never dealt with it until this point, so I was completely caught off guard.

Strep throat has been going around at my college, so I don't know if it's simply a mix of that or what. My body seems to have fought off all symptoms of strep (upper throat/esophageal pain and soreness), but I still have the burning feeling under my sternum that we all know of as heartburn.

It is very uncommon for me not to have heartburn. I use a variety of drugs such as Adderall, Xanax and Caffeine powder. I switched off coffee, because I know that many sites say to avoid coffee as one of the problem foods/drinks. I took another substance that worked similarly to Xanax, and I had to stop taking that as soon as my throat hurt. I'm wondering if the additional stress/anxiety from coming off this substance is part of what is potentiating my GERD as well.

I began feeling a soreness and sensitiveness at the very bottom of my esophagus, around the sphincter, about 3-4 days ago. Eating, and even drinking liquids, was fairly painful. This has been reduced significantly now.

I used to take a large variety of supplements for bodybuilding. None of them were hormonal at all, but it was a wide spectrum of vitamins, minerals, and amino acids, etc. I took about 40-50 capsules per day to hold up this regimen. about a week ago I started taking them again, about 10-12 several times a day. I got used to taking all of them at once, with 1-2 oz water. This could obviously be a reason for my current issue (opening up the sphincter too much or irritating the esophagus), but if that is the case, why didn't I have this problem before when I took supplements at this rate for over 3 months straight last year? That part of this problem is very confusing to me.

I am thinking that whatever infection is going around could be what infected the lower portion of my esophagus, therefore rendering it inflamed, and provoking this chronic heartburn that I'm dealing with now. Sleep sucks. Being awake sucks. Everything sucks, and I have to keep up with school. I have cut back on my food intake, and now only eat spirulina or glutamine mixed in water to keep my body fed, or the sugary yogurt that my dining hall provides. Apparently spirulina and glutamine help recover the body well (I was sore everywhere when this hit me), and also alkalize the body/stomach acid, and help repair any damaged tissue. Seemed like a good duo of powders to sit on until I'm feeling a little better. This seems to soothe my throat and stomach, but then I get these random episodes of heartburn. I also started taking Betaine HCL once daily. I don't know if that's how it's supposed to be done. The first day that the heartburn was noticeably distinguishable, I also had 1tsp of baking soda in water. Symptoms still (obviously) persist.

I recently had to work my rhomboid muscles alot, they're in between the shoulder blades. I dealt with chest pain in the past from this, but not a burning sensation like I feel now, and not as constantly as I do now, so I think that this is a separate issue, and is likely from heartburn.

My biggest fear is that this heartburn is going to interfere with me bodybuilding. I wouldn't be able to eat as much food if I develop GERD like my mom. The day things started getting pretty bad, I ate like 6 chicken breasts, a cup of rice, and a 3-egg sandwich within about 60-75 minutes. This obviously also provoked some sort of acid reflux, and I have been avoiding large, infrequent food intake ever since. I have also not taken any of my capsule supplements since I started feeling pain in my throat. The pain I feel now is DIRECTLY under my sternum... can anyone let me know if this is likely to be acid reflux, the onset of GERD, or just some sort of inflammation of my esophagus from my uneducated consumption of food and supplements? My university nurse seemed to shrug it off as inflammation from the capsules, but I'm concerned now that I've felt this burning type of pain for more than 36 hours. It comes and goes in intensity, but I really can't isolate when it comes and goes the most intensely.

I used to use many other drugs, pretty much excluding just heroin and meth and dissociative drugs. They COULD have potentiated this, but it has been over 6 months since I've used these substances. It seems less than likely in my honest opinion.

Could this just be a very weird type of occurrence, or could I end up having chronic GERD like my mom developed at age 55 because of my early drug and supplement use/genetic predisposition?

The next time I take caffeine powder (later today), I will keep you guys posted on the results.


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## marleyma (Aug 13, 2014)

Hi. Do you have a gi dr or are you limited to the nurse you have at school? I think a good go dr would be able to easily tell you what is bringing these symptoms. If you attack the problem now it could resolve quickly but if not you could be unintentionally making things worse. I hope others that body build can chime in and help.


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## Cherry Esteban (Jan 26, 2016)

Hi.go to a doctor preferably a gastroentorology or internist. I think u have acid reflux that resulted to get tour esophagus inflamed.the acid causes damage to esophagus.yoursphincter is open thats why acid goes up to ur esophagus.change ur lifestyle habit dont eat fast and dont eat large amount of food in just one sitting.take domperidone to strengthen your sphincter..or simply ask the doctor if this is truly the cause of ur acid reflux.i also gone through gerd for a year..but now im relieve because i change my bad eating habit.


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