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Written by Shirley T
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Wednesday, 18 June 2008 19:44 |
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 It was only 2:30am in the morning and I couldn't sleep again! I was burping aloud. Perhaps I shouldn't lie down to continue my sleep as I felt my throat was rather uncomfortable. It was not sore throat but kind of tight and hard to swallow, as if the opening near upper esophagus was getting narrower.
It happened about two and half years ago. At the beginning, I thought it was only a mild sore throat so I went to see a GP (general practitioner). I was given some kind of antibiotics and life went on. In the next 2 weeks, the sore-throat came back so I went to see the same GP again. This GP that I was visiting was run by a group of medical doctors and on each visit I could be seeing a different doctor. On the second visit, I met a lady doctor and she refused to give me antibiotics anymore as she claimed it didn't look like tonsillitis.
Rather she sketched some tiny circles on a white paper to describe what she saw on my throat. Aha..it made me worried. But she gave me something to gargle and asked me to stay away from fried and spicy stuff. Fine, then I started to perform self recovery by treating myself with honey lemon, all kind of soothing stuff for the throat. On the third week, I realized it didn't get any better, in fact getting worst as days went on and I started to cough. The worst happened was I couldn't sleep well at night due to nausea sensation. There was even suspicion that I was pregnant as I ran to washroom instantaneously in a midst of discussion. But nothing came out except plenty of gas that might scare of some folks around me. I also controlled my diet strictly. Even I followed the Chinese traditional myth to abstain from chicken to prevent coughing. Oh dear! This time, on the fourth week, I returned to the same clinic again and my intension was to get a referral to visit an ENT (Ear Nose Throat) specialist.
On the following day, I went to hospital and waited for my turn. It was the longest waiting as my mind was wandering badly. All kinds of 'what if' scenarios came to my mind. What if there is a growth? What if the doctor said I have to be admitted? What if this? What if that? Finally, I got to see the ENT specialist for the first time. He is a friendly chap in mid 40s at least. He asked me to sit on a special chair while he was putting on a pair of hand-gloves. He then asked me to open my mouth and called "Aaah". Then, my tongue was pulled so that he could insert a tool into my mouth to perform the diagnosis. Followed by a series of questionnaires like whether I experienced the nausea sensation, burping, couldn't sleep. He concluded that I was suffering from GastroEsophageal Reflux Disease (GERD). To him, this disease seems to be more common nowadays, reason being our life is more stressful. An anatomical reason to explain this occurrence in lay man is the esophagus muscles near the stomach opening is temporarily or permanently not working well causes the valve at the bottom part of esophagus not closing properly. This resulted acid/gas being released from that little opening and burning chest/throat when the stomach is performing the digestion work. So can I fix or renew the valve? The answer was no! I have to live with it.
What to do next? I was given a long list of do and don't. One of them was to give up caffeine. This was the hardest habit to kick. I used to be a coffee addict. A cup of coffee in the morning was a must otherwise I claimed that my brain would not function intelligently. What a lame excuse? Among other items on the list included say no to acidic/sour food/fruit which also meant I had to abstain from 'Assam Laksa', one of my favorite food. 'Assam Laksa' is one of Penang famous food, made of rice noodles in thick shredded mackerel (ikan kembung) of tamarind soup garnished with slices of big onions, pineapples and cucumber, mint leaves, and also prawn paste (pronounced as 'Hair-Co' in Hokkien dialect) topping. Oh! Another to go, sigh!
I was put with Nexium (Esomeprazole Magnesium), Pariet (Rabeprazole), Gaviscon Advance (Alginic acid and Bicarbonate) and required follow-up visit in two-week time. As I started to follow strictly the new food regime and took the magic pills, the symptoms gradually disappeared in less than a week time. I was happy that I could sleep well again!
Thinking of those moments, I guess I was a bit silly, taking 1 month before soliciting the specialist to find out the real root cause. Perhaps, I was worried to know the invalid truths that were playing in mind. By performing the wrong diagnosis, the inaccurate medicine was prescribed and there was no progress. I learned a lesson here, running away doesn't solve the problem, face it!
Stay tuned as I will share more about GERD and tips to prevent relapse in my next write-up.
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My Experience of Living with GERD (Acid Reflux)
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