acid reflux or GERD...

Discussion in 'Survival Medicine' started by dragonfly, Jul 11, 2012.


  1. dragonfly

    dragonfly Monkey+++

    I've had this nasty for awhile now and have tried repetedly since 1980 to get it identified or at least, properly treated...
    Last friday night I got a NEW surprise...I was sitting on the sofa watching the boob tube...
    Not smoking, not eating, and not drinking anything....
    Suddenly, I could not breathe...Like I had choked on something...
    I could not talk, or swallow and it was a bit hairy....I ended up on the floor on my knees...
    It looked bad. My face was red and I could only manage enough air to keep from passing out.
    It finally passed after 10-15 minutes, I wasn't really to keen on keeping track of the time!
    Ok, that was weird...So, I figured it was a fluke.
    It happened again saturday night. Same exact circumstances...
    I managed to get to the kitchen and hang on to the table for dear life, literally...
    Now it's no longer weird, it's become life threatening! (it already was, but I had NO idea)
    I managed to get myself together and I did a real quick internet search....
    I then went to the ER....
    I spent 4 days, and LOT of tests and blood letting ...
    I had CT scans, Xrays, and even Ultrasound tests...
    Head to toes!
    I was put into the cardiac care unit...
    I had every orifice probed and probed again...
    I had an endoscopy, I even had a stress test....
    End result:
    Only the endoscopy showed where stomach acid, spewed up from an esophageal ulceration and one in the stomach, which had been really irritated...
    I take ranitiine/Zantac ( for years now) and eat Gaviscon like candy...
    I have been having bad headaches, so I took Excedrin, and for body aches I took Aleve.
    Both are NSAIDS and almost killed me!
    Evidently, with gastric problems, those are 2 of the WORST things you can do....
    Who Knew?
    The acid reacted like a volcanic eruption and shot up into the esopahgus...they also hit the bronchial areas...They reacted in an autonomous reflexive action and shut off my airway entirely.
    I was lucky, X2!
    The bill will be nearly $70,000!
    But at least they did confirm that I have a hiatal hernia...But it's transitional ( meaning IF I treat it with care and respect, it will disappear!)
    No more ranitidine or zantac anymore now....
    Now I am on a babyfood diet to heal all the damages....
    No salt, little sugar if any ,and they were yelling at me for smoking 2 packs a day, ( I once was a 4+ pack a day smoker), for 41 years now... 2 separate chest x-rays showed I was as clear as a newborn baby...Go figure ( must be in the exhaling?)
    All the tests came back clear and nothing bad happening...I was told I was in better shape (internally anyway) than the 30 year old Asian Dr. and the Dr.'s doing the tests!
    A word to the wise: DON"T do what I did, you may not be so lucky!
     
  2. CATO

    CATO Monkey+++

    Dude...you have some serious bad chi. o_O
     
  3. tacmotusn

    tacmotusn RIP 1/13/21

    Out $70,000 grand but got your health. Not too bad. Send the hospital bill to Lord Obummer along with a thank you note. Tell him to pay for it out of petty cash there at the blackhouse. Glad your okay and on the mend. Take care bud.
     
    Quigley_Sharps likes this.
  4. cdnboy66

    cdnboy66 Monkey++

    Dude, I got scared just reading it. You must have needed a change of shorts.
    Sucks you had to go through all that to get it figured out, but sure glad they figured it out.
    Just when I think I want to emigrate to the USA, I read one of these and realize I love my free health care too much to move anywhere.
    not that I would ever leave the True North Strong and Free, but somedays I tell ya....

    Really glad to hear you are on the mend and taking better care of yourself, that lifestyle change alone is a worthy accomplishment!!

    Keep at it man, you can do this and will look back in a year and really celebrate!!
     
  5. melbo

    melbo Hunter Gatherer Administrator Founding Member

    Welcome to socialized medicine.

    Glad they figured you out!
     
  6. dragonfly

    dragonfly Monkey+++

    Feeling great now...No more soda, cut out 90% of salt, and sugars...
    Now it's back to that dreaded smoking ....sheesh!
    Hospital admin was a bit "tiffed" that I walked out...When I explained what happend, they agreed it was not a good thing for them or me..
    They were quite concerned about the IV buff cap that I still had in my arm...
    I told them it was removed within 1/2 hour of leaving the hospital and I'd had no consequences....
    Onward and upward!
    Never give up and never surrender!
     
  7. Witch Doctor 01

    Witch Doctor 01 Mojo Maker

    Damn...$70,000.00... TSA would have done that for free....
     
    oldawg and STANGF150 like this.
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