How long for esophagus to heal?
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Hello again,
I posted about a week ago about my reflux. I took a drug which relaxed my LES and caused me to have pretty bad reflux. I have been off the drug now for about 2 weeks.
I was taking Zantac twice daily up until a few days ago. The reason I stopped was because I was waking up with raging headaches in the middle of the night and I have read that Zantac can cause them. Despite stopping the zantac, I was starting to feel better for the last 3 days. The key to this was probably my diet...very bland, low acid.
Well tonight, I ate hamburger with a few spices on it (onion powder) and I am in pain all over again. So, I took a Tagamet (hoping it won't cause a headache like zantac seemed to be). No relief.
So, I guess my question is how long might I have to eat this very bland diet for? I know it has only been 2 weeks, but I was feeling quite a bit better. Could I have set myself back by eating what I did?
I am also taking DGL licorice and slippery elm, as well as Rolaids, Mylanta and Gaviscon.
I am pretty bummed that I'm feeling so bad again.
Thanks,
Jane
2 likes, 17 replies
ella98679 Guest
Edited
Hi, sorry for my long message! I'm going through an esophageal flare from rushing healing for esophagitis but in my case it's not from reflux so I hope you are okay that I'm responding here. My symptoms are milder but I'm also healing slowly. I've been going through the flare for 2 weeks now but it's been gradually getting better. I was encouraged to see that you recovered from yours (even though you had worse symptoms and a greater reason) in a month. I feel mine might take that long too for the flare.
Ive been having an intolerance reaction to chlorhexidine in a mouthwash (I only swallowed a tiny drop but at bedtime and lay down almost right away; woke up with irritated esophagus). My mistake was that I'm studying abroad and received some wrong advice, and I also would try to rush healing by trying bits of acidic things (like citrus) whenever it would start to get better. Anyway by 2 months it was nearly better with mild symptoms of roughness so I once again had a bit of acid (made a double mistake then; there was also some stress at the time and I'm alone living abroad) and caused the flare I've been having the last 2 weeks.
For me, no pain, mild occasional dysphagia, feelings of inflammation in the throat and gassy chest pains centre of chest (not severe but still scary), and gas in the esophagus. And early satiety: I feel full early. The first 2 days I could only drink water. After that the doctor has had me having very tiny amounts of soft, mashed, bland, cold food, mixed with a lot of milk and yoghurt (I'm not lactose intollerant) every hour to two hours and then carefully and gradually increasing the "food dose" each day. So I find I'm recovering but slowly. Chest pains much better now (almost gone last couple of days), and I'm eating a bit more but I found a few days ago that when I ate too much and it felt okay at the time I then woke up with worse chest pains again and set it back a couple of days.
Since Ive had depleted gut flora from an antibiotic, I'm not able to take any medicines or supplements (or herb teas at the moment) and my body has become more sensitive. So I can only heal with water and food. I also avoid eating or even drinking milk for 3 hours before bed.
Anyway just wanted to say it was encouraging to see that others have gone through this and recovered with the right foods (with not irritating the esophagus more). I'd be happy with any feedback too!
(Btw I'm having mashed banana and avocado, bit of wheatgerm (tiny bit to not irritate), yoghurt, milk, coconut milk, soft boiled egg, and I'll try again with mashed potato (I think with its heaviness it was rushing it a bit a few days ago which caused that mini-relapse; I was also having grated parmesan then; will try again but carefully), and I'm just beginning to add in bit of mashed tinned sardines. Also had a tiny bit of bone broth yesterday since it heals the GI tube. I hope this time I can be more cautious and slow with things and watch my reactions more carefully. So frustrating and scary. It's like any wound I suppose. I lost about 5 kilos and I'm already slim so it's not great 😦 . Wish I could have slippery elm but I can't have any supplement atm).