My Reflux Hell!!

I just wanted to let everyone know about my story and just how ill this reflux can make you feel. I gave birth to my second child and 4 months after began to feel tired and drained, general lack of appetite, shortness of breath, chronic rhinitis and sinus pain and an odd feeling down my upper left!

i began getting pains in my stomach, and my weight began to drop. It was difficult to say what was related to post baby weight loss and what was abnormal. I felt dreadful. Then i started suffering with a lump in my throat and difficulty swallowing. Food was getting stuck in my throat and I felt utterly dreadful.

After many visits to my Gp, who suggested I had post natal depression, followed by anxiety. Then the sickness began. I couldn't eat, felt nausea 24 hours a day! It was hell.

Despite my protests that I was happy it was just the feeling of lousiness everyday that was wearing me down, I ended up been put on diazepam tablets first. They over prescribed the dose, I couldn't get out of bed for weeks! I didn't actually know they were valium, and that they should not just be stopped. I stopped them and ended up in hospital for a week. I was vomitting daily. I had an endoscopy in hospital which I had begged for as I was feeling so ill. It showed nothing! They tried 12 different anti-sickness drugs to stop my vomitting....non of which worked! By this time, I had lost 2 stone in weight and was convinced I had cancer. All the blood works I had done showed nothing, apart from low calcium?

They sent me home from hospital and told me to take some more diazapam, I was horrified! I was so weak I could hardly walk from the weight loss and sickness.

I continued to be sick every day for four months, I laid in bed too weak to move around. I felt so utterly dreadful i cannot explain!

Finally, out of sympathy for me, my GP sent me to an ENT specialist to apparently 'prove' to me that there was nothing wrong with my throat and the difficulty in swallowing i was experiencing was 'all in my head'

I recall his 2 line letter to the ENT specialist. \"this woman is suffering from anxiety please reassure her there is nothing wrong with her throat\" He smirked at me, numbed my throat and shoved a camera down it. As a precaution he sent me for a barium swallow!

This swallow was the key to my diagnosis....the minute they laid me back on the bed...my whole stomach contents came straight back up on their screens. I was diagnosed with Gross Reflux and am now waiting to see the Consultant. I paid privately for the following:-

Ultrasound scan of stomach and pelvis

Colonoscopy

Ultrasound of Throat

Chest X Ray

I was put on diazapam, anti depressents (in the end I volunteered to see a pyschiatric nurse just to prove to them I wasn't suffering from PNDepression, Anxiety and anything else!)

I had a week in hospital where blood tests and endoscopy showed normal..therefore I was sent home suffering from anxiety - because their little minds could not stretch past test normal test results!

I actually began to doubt myself in the end, despite my screams that there was SOMETHING WRONG!

I am on 600mg Ranitidine daily and have Pharmeceutical Gaviscon. It helps but i'm still suffering! I also take Fortisip nutritional drinks daily to ensure vitamins are absorbed more readily. My GP hasn't apologised, but now at least he can't blame PND or Anxiety!

I sleep with my bed head raised 6 inches, and eat small regular meals. I drink copious amounts of bottled water only! I have more of an appetite now, haven't been sick for 3 months. I still get nausea, chest pain and problems with my throat and swallowing. I think back to how bad I felt and I can now manage in comparison.

Don't underestimate how bad this dreadful Reflux can make you feel. I was convinced i was going to die I was so weak and poorly!

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