Giraffe’s Personal Story: GERD, Gastritis, and Esophagitis
When I was 14, in June, I had severe pain in my pelvic area and thought I was dying. I couldn’t stop sobbing and my parents took me to the ER to see what was going on. They found some evidence of a cyst rupturing but later found out that wasn’t what happened. After that day I was constantly nauseous for over a month— couldn’t be in a car, ate very very little and often got dizzy or almost passed out. I was checked for all sorts of allergies, cured an infection, had an MRI, but they couldn’t figure out what was wrong. They finally sent me to a GI just as the nausea was starting to go away, but they brushed me off and told me I was fine. School started shortly after and I didn’t want to miss school to go again; I was having heartburn and other stomach problems but very little nausea. When I did go back when I was 15 I got the endoscopy in November and they found GERD, Gastritis and Esophagitis. I was given medicine to take daily, but after a while it wasn’t working well and they gave me another medication. Every time I went there I only saw a nurse, never a doctor, and every time they started from square one— asking my name, what was wrong, etc. Because they never looked at my records they didn’t ever mention my biopsy results and I didn’t get them until I went to a new GERD specialist in January after I felt that the medicine wasn’t working very well. In the biopsy they found something that suggests a pre-cancerous condition (and again, never told me) and they even knew that I was consistently finding blood in my stool. I’m currently waiting to have the surgery for GERD and for the hospital lab results. My advice is to not settle for a doctor that isn’t helping you and try sleeping on a wedge. Also, sleeping on your left side helps. I currently have a lot of trouble swallowing, severe stomach pain, some nausea and a lot of stomach sickness with blood in my stool but I am hoping that the surgery and lab results will help. I’m glad I found this website because it makes me a feel less alone.