finally a diagnosis.

I ended up being in so much pain that I had to go to the emergency room today. Once I explained my symptoms and let them know that this has been an ongoing thing that I am seeing a specialist for back in El Paso, they were able to diagnose me in less than 5 minutes. Can you believe that? 5.freaking.minutes. I have been seeing this ENT specialist since February, and he has not been able to do that. I've been through test after test, that apparently was useless. And it turns out my instincts were right, I have GERD.

For the longest time, I thought GERD was only diagnosed in babies. Then one day I got to talking to a friend about my symptoms, and she said she had the same symptoms and was diagnosed with GERD. So I used WedMD.com to see if this was what I had. I had almost every single symptom. 

GERD: Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is a condition in which the stomach contents (food or liquid) leak backwards from the stomach into the esophagus (the tube from the mouth to the stomach). This action can irritate the esophagus, causing heartburn and other symptoms.

You need medication to correct this. The thing is, it can become less severe or completely corrected, and after I get off the medication, it can come right back. So while I am here in Illinois, I have been prescribed 'Magic Mouthwash' to numb my throat enough to where I can at least get liquids down. It doesn't completely numb it, but it numbs it to where it is tolerable to drink and eat soft things. Tomorrow I pick up my Prevacid, which they had to specially prepare as a liquid instead of the pills, since I can't swollen anything right now. Praying so hard that this medicine takes care of the problem so I can go back to El Paso and shove it in the ENT's face.

I have been researching GERD since I got home from the hospital. After reading over the discharge papers, I noticed that there are a lot of things that I can no longer eat/drink. I have to give up pop, which is fine by me, since I was trying to give that up anyway. I can't have spicy food, which is going to suck because I loooove mexican food. I have to cut back a lot on dairy. No meats except for white meat. No tea or coffee (boo, no Starbucks!). No citrus fruits. No acidic juice. No peppermint or spearmint. Pretty much everything that is delicious, I can't have. I can't lay down until 3 hours after I have eaten. I can't lay flat at night, since it makes the pain worse (which sucks because I sleep best when laying flat). Instead of eating 3 regular meals, I have to eat 5-6 small meals. Exercise more (good, now I have no choice to!). 

So much to take in, and this is going to mean a complete lifestyle change. But I am so happy that I finally have a diagnosis. Now I just have to make a follow up appointment for when I get back to El Paso to confirm the diagnosis. I will still need to do the upper GI barium swallow to see if I have ulcers in my esophagus, and if that shows up positive, then I will need to get another tube shoved down in me. Yay for medical procedures, not. So day 1 of diagnosis - almost done. We'll see how this pans out.

Love, Me.