Heartburn Support - had tests, found ulcer, but still woried

Author

had tests, found ulcer, but still woried

2005-01-15, 4:08 am

Hi All

I am a 36 y/o mail living in the UK. About 6 months ago I was going
through a house buy and relationship problems and was very stressed.
At this time a was smoking like mad. I went to the doc who gave me
some Paroxetine which calmed me down alot.

At this time I had a strange feeling in my throat (below adams apple
but above chest in the indented part, Excuse the description) I put
this down to the smoking and as I had stopped smoking all together
thought it may go.

A month later it had got worse so I went to the docs who said I had a
throat infection and he gave me some antibiotic. At this point my
symptoms where

-Tighness/compression/lump feeling in place mentioned above
-No real pain, just a difficuly/sensation swallowing
-Presure feeling in ears.
-Feeling 'heady'
-Dry cough.

The antibotics did nothing so I went to an ENT who had a look but he
could not get to the place i metion above but said all looked clear.

I then had an endoscopy (Prob spealt wrong), chest xrays and blood
test done.

All this took a month or so and I was so worried that I was wasting
time so I went to the GP about 5 times and made a pest of my self. I
am lucky however to have private health insurance through my job.

The chest x-rays and blood tests come back normal but the endoscopy
found an ulcer in my eosophogus which I have now been on lansoprazole
for about 2 months.

I am going back for a repeat endoscopy in a weeks time to see the
treatment for the ulcer is working.

The reason I went to the doctor in the first place, i.e. the
lump/starange feeling in my thorat is still there, not all the time
but most of it and the cough has got worse if anything so I am still
woried that there is somthing else that has not been found as the
lansoprazole has made differnce to my symptoms.

Guess I am writing this as I feel like i am being a real
pain/hypocontriac and really just looking for some advice.

Thanks for reading this and in advance for any replies.
Ben

John Que

2005-01-15, 7:13 am

I'll suggest two sources of conventional medical information.

The first is available without signing up.
Pubmed, it provides medical abstracts and links to articles
available either for free or for a charge (sometime pretty pricey).
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi

The second you will have to sign up for but it is without charge.
Medscape, nearly all standard medical care and some of the
articles and author have ties to the big drug companies but
is it useful.
http://www.medscape.com

I'll try to find some nonconventional links for you.
Off hand the following comes to mind.

http://www.lef.org

I'll also suggest some of the Yahoo groups are useful and the heartburn/GERD
is more active than this Usenet group.

"Ve" <ben_lindon@yahoo.co.uk> wrote in message
news:2d1e5630.0501100623.303c854@posting.google.com...
> Hi All
>
> I am a 36 y/o mail living in the UK. About 6 months ago I was going
> through a house buy and relationship problems and was very stressed.
> At this time a was smoking like mad. I went to the doc who gave me
> some Paroxetine which calmed me down alot.
>
> At this time I had a strange feeling in my throat (below adams apple
> but above chest in the indented part, Excuse the description) I put
> this down to the smoking and as I had stopped smoking all together
> thought it may go.
>
> A month later it had got worse so I went to the docs who said I had a
> throat infection and he gave me some antibiotic. At this point my
> symptoms where
>
> -Tighness/compression/lump feeling in place mentioned above
> -No real pain, just a difficuly/sensation swallowing
> -Presure feeling in ears.
> -Feeling 'heady'
> -Dry cough.
>
> The antibotics did nothing so I went to an ENT who had a look but he
> could not get to the place i metion above but said all looked clear.
>
> I then had an endoscopy (Prob spealt wrong), chest xrays and blood
> test done.
>
> All this took a month or so and I was so worried that I was wasting
> time so I went to the GP about 5 times and made a pest of my self. I
> am lucky however to have private health insurance through my job.
>
> The chest x-rays and blood tests come back normal but the endoscopy
> found an ulcer in my eosophogus which I have now been on lansoprazole
> for about 2 months.
>
> I am going back for a repeat endoscopy in a weeks time to see the
> treatment for the ulcer is working.
>
> The reason I went to the doctor in the first place, i.e. the
> lump/starange feeling in my thorat is still there, not all the time
> but most of it and the cough has got worse if anything so I am still
> woried that there is somthing else that has not been found as the
> lansoprazole has made differnce to my symptoms.
>
> Guess I am writing this as I feel like i am being a real
> pain/hypocontriac and really just looking for some advice.
>
> Thanks for reading this and in advance for any replies.
> Ben

Howard McCollister

2005-01-15, 7:13 am

"Ve" <ben_lindon@yahoo.co.uk> wrote in message
news:2d1e5630.0501100623.303c854@posting.google.com...
> Hi All
>
> I am a 36 y/o mail living in the UK. About 6 months ago I was going
> through a house buy and relationship problems and was very stressed.
> At this time a was smoking like mad. I went to the doc who gave me
> some Paroxetine which calmed me down alot.
>
> At this time I had a strange feeling in my throat (below adams apple
> but above chest in the indented part, Excuse the description) I put
> this down to the smoking and as I had stopped smoking all together
> thought it may go.
>
> A month later it had got worse so I went to the docs who said I had a
> throat infection and he gave me some antibiotic. At this point my
> symptoms where
>
> -Tighness/compression/lump feeling in place mentioned above
> -No real pain, just a difficuly/sensation swallowing
> -Presure feeling in ears.
> -Feeling 'heady'
> -Dry cough.
>
> The antibotics did nothing so I went to an ENT who had a look but he
> could not get to the place i metion above but said all looked clear.
>
> I then had an endoscopy (Prob spealt wrong), chest xrays and blood
> test done.
>
> All this took a month or so and I was so worried that I was wasting
> time so I went to the GP about 5 times and made a pest of my self. I
> am lucky however to have private health insurance through my job.
>
> The chest x-rays and blood tests come back normal but the endoscopy
> found an ulcer in my eosophogus which I have now been on lansoprazole
> for about 2 months.
>
> I am going back for a repeat endoscopy in a weeks time to see the
> treatment for the ulcer is working.
>
> The reason I went to the doctor in the first place, i.e. the
> lump/starange feeling in my thorat is still there, not all the time
> but most of it and the cough has got worse if anything so I am still
> woried that there is somthing else that has not been found as the
> lansoprazole has made differnce to my symptoms.
>
> Guess I am writing this as I feel like i am being a real
> pain/hypocontriac and really just looking for some advice.

I agree with Vanny's well-written post. The sensation in your upper
esophagus is common. Once reflux is controlled (both alkaline AND acid
reflux) the sensation of "fullness" will likely go away, but this might take
weeks or months. Note that use of PPI's doesn't stop reflux, it only stops
the ACID reflux. You need to make significant changes in you diet, eating
habits, head-of-bed elevation, weight-loss etc to try to prevent all reflux.

HMc

John Que

2005-01-15, 7:13 am

"Vanny" <Vannyss2003antispam@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:cs09fa$gol$2@newsreader2.netcologne.de...
> Ben,
>
> I, like yourself, have little to no heartburn, but ear, nose and throat
> (sometimes laryngitis) and lung (tightness in the chest, coughing) and
> nausea problems. These symptoms are all part of uncontrolled GERD.
>
> Read this internet page and follow it to the letter:
> http://www.gicare.com/pated/ecdgs39.htm The medicine alone will not help
> you, you need to make radical changes to your diet (see above) and you
need
> to sleep with your bed elevated. Finally, leave 2-4 hours between your
> evening meal and going to bed. Do not snack late at night. Go for a walk
> after a meal to aid digestion. Nighttime is a particularly bad time for
GERD
> because the stomach and intestinal peristalsis is reduced, but the acid is
> still secreted. This is all very important because GERD can lead to cancer
> of the oesophagus. The acid can also enter the lungs and cause fibrosis.
> Read all the relevant posts at www.talkaboutsupport.com (heartburn). It
> would be worth signing up for www.medline.com for up to date medical
> information about GERD.
>

Surely you meant to Pubmed not a medical supply company:-)
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi

> This means, no fried food, no fast food (high sugar, spices and
> preservatives), no alcohol,
> no tea or coffee or hot chocolate, absolutely no spices including pepper,
no
> additives/preservatives, no citrus fruits, no tomatoes, no onions, no
> chocolate and no sweets, etc, etc. A vegetarian diet is probably the best
> with a little fish, because high amounts of protein are also said to
> increase the effects of GERD. I also felt significantly better when I
> stopped drinking milk. It takes several months to get used to soya milk
> (with calcium for the bones), but it is possible. If you have a cold, be
> warned do not take cough syrups and citrus drinks.

It has been my experience that once one's GERD is under control
much the mention prohibited foods are acceptable in moderation.
I've never noticed a problem with spices. Otherwise, I agree, more
or less.

>
> Discuss with your doctor raising your medication (in my unqualified
> non-medical opinion, you should be on 40 mg a day or more - for a short
> time) plus possibly metoclopramide. I am on 40 mg pantoprazol (20 mg an
hour
> before breakfast and 20 mg an hour before dinner) plus metoclopramide (5
mg
> half an hour before a meal - the normal dose is 10 mg, but I am small and
> halve the tablets - it can make one drowsy and one should not drive if
that
> is the case). Metoclopramide is said to strengthen the LEV (lower
esophagul
> valve) and makes your stomach empty faster, but it can cause peripheral
> neuropathy probably amongst other things). Prior to that I was on 20-40 mg
> Nexium (esomeprazol) per day for 2 years, but the side-effects where
> increasing (tender stomach, headaches, feeling unwell, etc. see
> www.rxlist.com for side-effects of medicines).

Interesting. Thanks.
>
> All the best,
>
> Vanny
>
>
>
>