Acid Reflux...Taming the Beast

Of all the demons I thought I would be battling during this journey, I certainly did not count on acid reflux to be a strong contender. After several days of hell, I thought maybe a note or two about it might help someone else who ends up in battle with this bastard.

I have had my bouts of heartburn and dyspepsia...even gall bladder attacks. I never felt this bad before. I can only describe it as having an alien demon residing in your stomach who pokes and twists and pushes you with its spiny elbows and knees. Then it stretches up its bony, spiny claw and scratches down your throat...again and again. Honestly, it felt like something was going to crawl up my throat and out of my mouth.

This is how I envisioned the bastard: (although depicting him as purple is being too nice)


I may have mentioned how steroids make you ravenously hungry...well, how ironic is that....you want to eat...crave food....then feel like your stomach is about to explode when you eat.

I even resorted to MILK...yes...OMG! Al was quite upset that he needed to go buy more as I was dipping into his stash. (I rarely drink milk...and only use almond milk on my cereal or in smoothies.)

Anyway....in the end I got some prescription medication to calm the beast and it seems to be working fairly well.  Wish I hadn't waited to do that, though. You can actually do a lot of damage to your esophagus if you leave this unchecked. Your stomach is conditioned to withstand the acid but your sweet gentle esophagus is not. I still feel the burn when I drink something hot. Just a reminder of how stubborn I can be.