# Share thoughts about Acid Reflux / GERD



## livewell (Feb 6, 2014)

I have suffered from acid reflux / GERD for nearly 2 months now. I never had any known symptoms before until recently. It all began in Dec 22, 2013.

We went on a family trip in Malaysia & Singapore mid Dec 2013. We would call this trip a culinary trip. Eating spicy food, seafood, local snacking, and daring to eat the king of fruit (aka durian).

Before returning to our home in Australia, we stopped over in Indonesia (my childhood country) to visit my dad to see how he's coping with his life without mom by his side. FYI, mom passed away in Oct 2013 after a long battle with breast cancer.

During my visit, I heard that one of my aunts suffered from a suspected lung cancer. The bad news really did struck my head. I couldn't sleep the night before Dec 22, 2013. I was curious, furious, devastated, frustrated, and scared.

The next morning, I had a really bad headache (due to lack of sleep) and feeling discomfort around the chest area. At first I ignored the symptoms because I thought it was normal for someone with lack of sleep. However, the bad thoughts that I had that night kept haunting me days & nights but apparently I did not have any trouble sleeping - perhaps my body was too exhausted that I felt asleep easily.

Until one night in Dec 27, 2013 in a hotel room - I had a severe chest pain (sharp, and burning) around the middle part and had a difficulty breathing. I always had the urge to go to the toilet for number 1 and number 2 that night, maybe it was triggered by the panic attack. I was so scared, so I woke my wife up. She became so worried, and accompanied me through the night until I fell asleep.

The next morning, my wife took me to an emergency room in a hospital. They did some standard breathing, and heart examinations. All normal. They were sure that it wasn't a heart attack symptoms. They checked my throat using a flash light, and they said that I might had a bad sore throat. So they gave me antibiotic pills, and some anti-inflammatory pills. But the chest pain didn't stop there, it kept going on and on and on for few days. I couldn't eat or sleep properly or doing much activities. All I could do was watching TV in the bedroom with severe pain around my chest. Sometimes I could feel my heart beating fast. "How could the doctor tell me it wasn't a heart attack? I can feel my heart beating so fast." I said to myself.

Dec 30, 2013 - I could feel that the chest pain had slowly gone in the morning. I had oatmeals for breakfast, and I decided to go for a massage therapy because I felt stiffness around my neck and the upper back. I was surprised that the massage therapy really helped lifting the chest pain. After the massage session, my brother in law took me to a place where they served deep fried meatballs with peanut sauce. Being so hungry and craving for hot food, I added some chilli sauce and lemon juice to the peanut sauce. It didn't take long until my chest pain came back, and it was hurting like crazy ... something I never ever experienced before.

I called my wife and told her that I was in so much pain and felt like I was gonna die. Apparently, she was out shopping with her mother, so my father in law took care of me by taking me to see a GP. I told the GP the whole story, and he looked at me and tried to rub my palm. He said it's not sweating and my forehead wasn't sweating either. So it's not a heart attack, and he confirmed it by measuring my heart beat rate, etc. He said it was just a heartburn. So he prescribed me with a small bottle of syrup (taste like Mylanta) to be taken before a meal, and a tablet to be taken after a meal.

The prescribed medicines worked like magic, and the heartburn was completely gone without a trace until I returned to Australia on Jan 04, 2014. Because the medicines were running out, I tried to save them up by taking it once a day. It only took me 2 days before the chest pain came back again. Therefore I came to see a doctor on Jan 08, 2014. The doctor gave me Rabeprazole Sodium 20mg to be taken once a day. It helped reduce the pain gradually, but not completely. I even had an x-ray done to check the upper back spine and neck bone to see if there were any unusual things - because I also suffered a back pain around neck and the upper back. Good thing, the results were normal.

I was doing well with Rabeprazole along with looking after what I ate and drank until Jan 24, 2013. I probably forgot that I ever had a heartburn before and was craving for a chicken burger & chips. So I went lunch with my work mates and had a chicken burger & chips. After lunch, I felt some discomfort around the upper stomach, but it went away after 2 or 3 hours. The next day (Jan 25), I went out with a mate and had a Vietnamese pork-chop for lunch. It was good, and no heartburn. Sunday, Jan 26, I had a roast duck and a bit of chilli oil for dinner, and sure enough, I felt some tingling sensation around the chest area, but no pain.

The next day on Jan 27, 2013 - we went out with a bunch of friends to have a belated Australian day celebration in a restaurant. We ordered a seafood stack that consisted of beer battered fishes, prawns, crabs, mussels, and oysters plus a cup of hot chocolate for dessert. Soon enough, I felt my chest was crumbling and burning for 2 days straight even with Rabeprazole (PPI) intake.

Being unable to bear the pain, I went to a doctor again on Jan 29. The doctor told me to stop taking Rabeprazole for 2 weeks for the H Pylori Breath Test.

To be honest, days without Rabeprazole were the toughest days of my life. Maybe it was the price that I had to pay for being so naughty with the food I ate. But I reached my climax last Monday (Feb 03), I was in a severe pain after eating a plate of spaghetti with tiny amount of tomato sauce for dinner. I couldn't sleep because my chest was burning like crazy. The next day I skipped work, and went straight to the doctor again, and told the doctor that I couldn't wait for another week or two to have the breath test. So the doctor told me to go back to Rabeprazole and referred me to the endoscopy clinic to have a gastroscopy done. I am scheduled for the gastroscopy next Tue.

I have been watching my diet again ever since. Eating small portion every two or 3 hours, no spicy food, no acidic food, get off from tomatoes for a while, and completely no food before bed. I also take Intestamine containing the turmeric, aloe vera, and slippery elm extract in the morning and night. It tastes horrible, but it helps sooth the pain, because (I believe) it is an anti-inflammatory agent and may help the damaged esophagus to heal faster. At work, I have a ginger tea for my afternoon tea. At night before bed time, I drink a cup of chamomile tea to help me sleep better. I still experience the chest pain, but it is not as bad as "Feb 03". I log everything I eat / drink, and put the food in the red column if they trigger any discomfort.

In my conclusion, I think stress and anxiety could be the primary cause of this. Anyone would like to share their heartburn / GERD with similar experience and how to cope with?


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## thickthighs1 (Apr 12, 2013)

livewell,

I understand just what your saying,when my GERD began I thought i was having a heart attack too.It took me MANY months to get control of it.I was given prilozec and I would drink generic mylanta.Then i weaned myself off prilozec,only chew tums now.Do not eat any spaghetti sauce or acidic foods.


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## Sweetpea80 (Feb 17, 2014)

Live well,

I understand exactly how you feel. I get the bad chest pain, pressure in in my chest, stiff neck and pressure andthe oain in my back. I had to cut eeverything out if my diet to find out what's causing it. So right now I'm just juicing but so far so good. I know I can live on juice lol. The pain is so horrible I'm scared to eat. I been to the hospital so many times and had all kinds of test done but like you everything was fine. I hope we can figure out how to get ride of this completely. I hope we can help each other


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## BattleAxe89 (Mar 3, 2014)

First of all, you have my condolences on the death of your mother. How is your aunt doing?

Tomatoes .... chili sauce ... chips (which I assume are potatoes) ... all are nightshades which, while normally cause inflammation in the joints for sensitive people, can also cause heartburn and GERD.

It's going to be difficult for you to figure out your triggers without going on an elimination diet. Basically, that is a very strict diet that eliminates all known triggers for various digestive stress. You eat the elimination diet for an entire month. You should feel better after two weeks but if you stick with it for the full month, your body should be fairly well healed. There are a lot of different elimination diets out there on the internet, but some of them overlook food groups such as the nightshades. But they can cause gastro problems ... I have a family member who discovered she can not eat anything from the capsicum family (bell peppers, chilis, even paparika) although she has no problem with potatoes or tomatoes. What you do eat is low fat animal protein, lots of leafy green vegetables, rice and some fruits. Fatty meats, all dairy, all nuts, all nightshades, eggs, almost all grains (rice is OK), legumes, alcohol and caffeine are eliminated. Doesn't give you a whole lot of options, but it's just for one month.

Next comes the challenge phase where you add one, and only one item back into your diet for 1 full week. If that ingredient causes you no trouble, you add another for 1 full week ... and so on. That way you will be able to isolate which foods your body cannot handle.

Sometimes it seems we can go for years eating things and then all of a sudden, a particular food will bite us in the tummy. That happened to me with wheat and seafood. I do miss my shrimp and beer!!

BTW ... I'm not a doctor. But I've work with a functional medicine doctor over food sensitivities that can cause all sorts of grief so I have some experience dealing with this issue.

What was the result of the h pylori test? That bacteria is the prime cause of ulcers.

Hope you get to the bottom of your heart pain soon!


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## getridofacid (May 2, 2014)

Could you tell us where we can get an elimination diet from?


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## debbiethompson (Oct 23, 2015)

live well,

It's tough must be tough being in that situation. I also experience acid reflux from time to time, and what I do is take Zantac as soon as possible. When the pain is over, I reflect on what I could have eaten that day that triggered it. Starchy food and soda are always the culprit. So I tend to avoid them these days. I also try not to eat very late at night. Oh well, hope this helps.


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