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Long Term GERD Worried

Posted , 4 users are following.

mat42380
mat42380

Hi, Im 32 male overweight and have had reflux symptoms for years. 

I have been on a few different PPI's over the years and I have been on Nexium 40mg for a few years now. 

I had a scope done in 2012 at age 27 which revealed I had "probable reflux oesophagitis". 

I didn't really pay too much attention to it and continued to eat what i wanted, consume a ridiculous amount of caffienated diet soft drink daily and smoke. 

I have quit both drinking the soft drink and smoking within the past 12 months, the soft drink being the most recent. 

Being a worrier, I am worried that I may have more damage done or even Barretts. I still do get symptoms (drinking too much water will trigger it) which I tend to inflect on myself on a daily basis. 

Should I be worried or should I just continue on my path and to loose weight? 

1 like, 9 replies

9 Replies

  • mat42380
    mat42380

    Posted

    By water tiggering it, I mean nausea rather than actual reflux. 
  • jennifer81386
    jennifer81386 mat42380

    Posted

    It is like having an ulcer and I follow the diet that goes along with that.  No fizzy drinks, no coffee, no alcohol, no chocolate, no spicy food, no fried food and lots of other no nos.   Luckily I had given up smoking 9 years algo.  I had also already given up coffee and soda pop.  I did drink alot of vodka and so that along with being overweight is probably why this happened to me, plus being over 50 is a big factor too.  I just eat small amounts of food every two hours or so and have to eat slow and chew the food really good.  Also not drinking a lot of water while I am eating helps alot because you are getting full from the food and so if you drink water then you get even fuller and feel uncomfortable. The gastroenology doctor said yes that is a good thihg to watch.   So I will try and not drink water an hour before and an hour after any bigger meal I might have.  I would say to keep on the path to lose weight because that is always good for you and that is what I am trying to do.  Not sure when I wlll be having my surgery becuase I have a large hitial hernia so my issues are pretty extreme. 
  • DMP1391
    DMP1391 mat42380

    Posted

    You sound like your on the fence about whether your health is worth taking care of or not. Let me tell you first hand, as others will testify as well, it's all too easy to carry on not caring and 'taking the risk' that you'll get sick again. This is the worst thing you can do. There is a saying where I'm from. A healthy man has a thousand wishes, a sick man only has one!

    Please take care of yourself while you still can. If you're getting reflux symptoms then you shouldnt just ignore them or rely on meds. The meds are troublesome long term and don't even work that well. You need to clean up your diet. Strictly avoid having any coffee or alcohol, as well as heavily processed foods that have a lot of artificial stuff in them (soft drinks and fast food are just about the worst things you can put in your body, right after battery acid and nail polish remover).

    I was suspected of having Barrets a few months back and I'm only 25. All this happened before I even knew I had reflux symptoms. It can come very quickly. Your doctor should reccomend an endoscopy to check on your oesophagus.

    I had amazing success getting rid of my oesophageal symptoms and GERD within about a year of eating very clean. Eat more fruits and vegetables (like I mean make complete meals out of them, not just a few servings on the side). Avoiding carbs helps a lot too. Stick to a low carb diet as carbs aggravate your gut and cause reflux. After about a year of clean eating my GERD basically stopped.

    • jennifer81386
      jennifer81386 DMP1391

      Posted

      I am not on the fence.  I just started getting systems in  February. I have already had an endoscopy which found the hitial hernia and then a week later I had an upper GI which found that the hernia is rather large and near my heart.  My symptoms are not just GERD and no amount of cleaning my act will make it go away.  I already have an appointment for surgery consultation since my hitial hernia is so large I do have some other risks. .  I have radically changed my diet and am feeling better and once I have surgery I will not be going back to the way things were.  I will be still have to keep an eye on what I eat.  So in 4 months since my sympoms started I have already gotten to the bottom of my issue so that is not sitting on the fence.
    • Mo_12776
      Mo_12776 DMP1391

      Posted

      Hi DMP

      I was trying to figure out which foods are aggravating my esophagitis. I stopped eating every thing other than rice, bread, lean meat, banana, lactosefree milk and yoghurt, but it was still happening, then for the last two days I stopped most of the carbs bread rice milk yoghurt, and it looks like it's working in only two days. I wish it will work more better. but most of fruits and vegetables aggravate my symptoms, I don't know why, which fruits and vegs you used to eat ?

    • jennifer81386
      jennifer81386 Mo_12776

      Posted

      I got a list of foods suitable and food to eliminate from my gastrologist and it sounds like you are eating the right stuff.  But you need to watch the carbs.  I eat lots of fruit and there are some to avoid. You should eat lots of vegetable too.  Everybody is different and so some things I can eat you may not be able to eat.  You should keep a food diary of what you eat and how you feel so you can determine what works best for you.  I am going to be having surgery later in the year after I lose some more weight becuase I have a large hitial hernia that is not going to go away on it's own.  Meanwhile I will keep on watching what I eat and get some weight off.

    • Mo_12776
      Mo_12776 jennifer81386

      Posted

      Hi Jennifer

      I totally eat no vegetables or fruits other than carrots, peas and bananas, is that enough to stay healthy ?

      because I tried most of them and they aggravate my symptoms, will stay on this current diet for some time to eliminate most of my scary symptoms.

      I Wish you all the best.

    • DMP1391
      DMP1391 Mo_12776

      Posted

      Hi Mo, sorry for the delayed response. I'm so glad you took my advice and it worked! I made a thread a few months back urging reflux sufferers to do the same thing. Limit your carbs. It seems to be very effective at stopping bloating and indigestion which contribute to reflux.

      It may take a while, so be mindful of your carb intake still. Especially avoid refined carbs like white bread or white rice. Only have a maximum 1 serving of carbs (rice, bread, potatoes etc) per day, or cut them out all together if you can. Same goes for fruit.

      Veggies are a great option for anyone. They're generally low carb and are packed with healing nutrients. Potatoes are full of carbs so cut them out, but other starchy veggies like peas, carrots, pumpkin etc are still pretty low in carbs. Brocolli, asparagus, eggplant, zuchinni etc are extremely low in carbs so you can eat them in abundance.

    • DMP1391
      DMP1391

      Posted

      Try keeping your carb intake around 100 grams a day max. If you still see symptoms cut them out even further. After a while you can reintroduce carbs slowly once your body adjusts.

      You don't have to do this long term tho. I find that eating low carb 3 days a week is very effective at keeping reflux under control. The remaining days of the week I will consume carbs a little more freely (although still don't go overboard, be sensible).

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