Colleen’s Personal Story: GERD and Esophageal Ulcers
I have always had periods of having heartburn and would usually turn to tums to deal, but didn’t think it was an issue. But last fall I started noticing that I sometimes had trouble swallowing, sometimes it felt like food was stuck on the way down. And some nights I would wake up with acid spit up and coughing, but thought it was one off events…until it was more frequent and I talked to my doctor.
I was scheduled for an endoscopy but even at that I really didn’t know what to expect, and thought maybe nothing was wrong. But then I got the endoscopy last Wednesday and they found “a section of fairly severe esophageal ulcers” and suddenly everything changed.
I am now on medication and a GERD diet and my attitude to food has changed, like I don’t even want to eat. Today was the first day in a week and a half I felt hungry but still kept to my smaller portion. I did let myself have some popcorn tonight for our girls night in with my daughters. Fingers crossed that I don’t feel it later.
Last weekend I crashed hard and hardly had any energy as I was processing what this all means. But I also did lots of research and found out that Aloe Vera Juice is good for healing and I got some of that. I tried Matcha Tea which has literally saved my working life as it has replaced the caffeine without the acid.
I started walking more, trying for three walks a day, except for the last couple of days that have just been too busy to make it work. I have three months to go until my next endoscopy exam, and I will be doing all that I can to get better.
I joked today that all 2020 has given me is 20lbs and ulcers!
