GI Nightmare....
Along this whole time…. my gi track has been in bad shape. We are talking to the point of asking yourself ‘What the fuck did I do to deserve this?’ I started seeing Asheville Gastro back around the October time frame. It started with reviewing my previous medical records… then moved on to Upper endo, GI acid test, esophageal study, and then started on Carafate (medication). I started the Carafate, and 4 days later, I was in the hospital for a blockage. That episode went for 2 weeks and covered two different hospitals.
I want to point something out about this moment though:
At Mission Hospital ER , they found that I had a blockage, put an NG Tube in (they used a smaller one as requested). Then they started pumping, and I had some relief. There was a problem that I didn’t realize was happening until months later. I was in SEVERE pain during this…. Turns out, I had esophagitis, and the NG Tube was rubbing my throat all sorts of raw. Back to the stay, I don’t remember much about the thing, except for the last bit…. I remember… Dr’s telling me that I had a choice, take Carafate or leave. I knew I wasn’t going to take the Carafate, so I left. I literally walked out. The doctors and nurses stated that they thought I was addicted to opioids. I could see their point in hindsight. I don’t remember how I got down to the ground floor. I do remember walking out and thinking about how to get home. That’s when I started calling people to come and help me. Dad, Scott, Greg, Michael was the order I think. Scott is my brother. Greg is a good friend that I met in IOP. Michael is my nephew. No one was able to come except Dad. He was a good 30 minutes out. I needed a safe place to stay, so luckily I remembered I was close to IOP. I ended up at IOP, and they helped get me some water, a chair, and a safe environment for me to wait on my dad.
Two days later, I ended up in the Hendersonville Hospital ER. I had asked my dad to take me out there (it was a 45 min drive) before I was feeling horrible. By the time I got there, I was in pretty bad shape. They took me in, got everything in line for treatment. The thing I remember vividly is the doctors coming up, and in 15 minutes, they told me I had esophagitis and was helping treat that and the blockage. The doctor that put the NG Tube in, was AMAZING. I didn’t really feel the NG Tube go in. Not to mention the method he used was … a bit unorthodox, but it worked marvelously. During the whole stay, I was constantly educated by the nurses and doctors. It was a truly great experience in a horrible moment.
After everything was cleared up with the blockage, I started trying to eat with the esophagitis…. and let me tell you, that SUCKED. ANYTHING that has rough edges on the food, hurt extremely bad. I tried… popcorn, pretzels, bread, toast, …. the list goes on. I did finally find a few things I was able to eat without a lot of pain.
During October/November, I ended up in the hospital ER several times. Every time, I was in such bad shape, I wasn’t able to drive. Luckily, one of those times, the medic, from the Lester Volunteer fire department, with me, was asking about symptoms, etc, and then finally asked “Have they checked your gallbladder?” They have several times, but this time, I practically demanded it in the ER. They found that the gallbladder needed to be removed, but it wasn’t in acute status yet. With that information, I called Asheville GI, requesting a referral to a surgeon for gallbladder removal. Much to my surprise, they denied it. So I called my general doctor, they denied it as well. So I called the surgeon, scheduled it, and had the surgery. Two days after the surgery, Asheville GI called to schedule the surgery. Yea, I wasn’t too impressed with this.
Since the gallbladder removal, I have lost 20-30 lbs. To this day, my GI tract isn’t able to handle anything close to normal without having MASSIVE acid. I currently found that two Gaviscon and one Pepcid AC seems to calm my stomach some. This is on top of the Zegerid and Dexilant.
This will be continued when I get some more information that could be helpful.
