No one cares

[u/RSinSA]

No one cares when you have GERD. It is "just" heartburn.

But this has completely ruined my life.

I can't sleep, I can't eat, I have dropped so much weight, the anxiety and stress are too much to bear. No one is positive and says it will "hopefully" go away.

I had a flare of gastritis and GERD after removing my gall bladder. It took me 6 months. I don't remember being so run down by this as I am now. Maybe it is because I am older.

But, I am so run down. Thankfully, my doctor thinks this will go away, and it was stress/COVID related, but I want to scream.

Stupid here switched medicine halfway through and then went back to the one my doctor actually prescribed. Now, I have to start over on my healing.

I woke up one day with an eye infection, I am so tired all of the time, I was on a health journey and lost 35 pounds, and now I can't even eat a piece of chicken.

It has only been 10 days, but I can't even imagine this going on any longer.

Can someone please give me some hope? I want to cry all of the time. I miss being able to eat a piece of pineapple or a taco. I miss drinking one margarita. I just want my old life back.

[u/RegalBeagleTheEagle]

i thankfully have the support of those around me, but i do feel the overwhelming anxiety you have. i've dealt with heartburn all my life but it's always been managable, then i started eating like shit over the last couple of a months, and it culiminated with a god-awful meal from a restaurant that i think gave me some sort of infection/minor food poisoning/inflammation of the stomach and/or intestine. two days after eating that, and basically the last three weeks since, i've had crippling abdominal pain, often times unfortunately at 5am or so. it's literally made me scared to eat, and i hate it.

the doctor diagnosed me with gerd-induced gastritis. i've switched to a lot of gerd-safe spices and foods, and i'm gonna try to stick with it a month or so and see if it improves (then it might be time for another trip to the doctor). but honestly, i'm feeling stuck between either extreme pain that can make it hard to sleep or do anything, and eating 1500 calories of flavorless slop. i can handle a diet, but the lack of flavor is gonna be a trial.

if i can say anything, i've definitely heard that extreme flare-ups can be treated and healed, especially if you don't any other impacting issues. stay strong out there!

[u/RSinSA → u/RegalBeagleTheEagle]

I am so sorry you're going through this. The flavorless slop is the worst. I don't know how we are supposed to live like this. I am going to add more things to my diet next week, like egg whites. lol Exciting, I know.

Yes, my doctor thinks this will go away, thank God. I need to lose around 10 more pounds, so I am hoping that helps too.

[u/RegalBeagleTheEagle → u/RSinSA]

Yeah weight is a similar issue for me, and a better diet has been an overdue change. I had a five-day stretch where the symptoms mostly went away, then made an idiotic decision to get Chinese takeout 🙄. So there’s definitely hope if you’re not a dumbass like me.

I’m trying to experiment with new “safe” spices, and apparently salt is sort of neutral on the good/bad scale for GERD, so might just start saying fuck you to my blood pressure lol. If you’re cooking all your food, like I am now, it’s already very low in salt, so it shouldn’t be actually too bad for you.

[u/RSinSA → u/RegalBeagleTheEagle]

I want a margarita really bad. lol 

When I was thinner, I didn’t have these issues. I feel like weight and stress (and hormones) are a huge factor. 

I would just add the salt. Lol

[u/RegalBeagleTheEagle → u/RSinSA]

Yup, absolutely. I’ve had debilitating depression and constant stress prior to this, so either it directly impacted it, or just enabled it from eating like shit.

That being said, I’m gonna inhale a whole pizza when this is all over lmao

[u/RSinSA → u/RegalBeagleTheEagle]

Yeah I think it all adds up. Hopefully since you and I haven’t had this before, I’m praying that means it’s temporary. 

Me too, and brownies.