My my Journey so far - Not Cured but Better.

So my (44M) journey started in late September. I wasn’t living a very healthy at the time. Not a lot of physical activity, drinking a couples glasses of wine a night, more on the weekends, some bourbon here and there. Raging sparkling water addiction, taking 3 ibuprofen on an empty stomach to treat morning headaches fairly often with 3 more after lunch which was usually just a protein bar. Lots of coffee too. Not a solid foundation.

Anyway, I got a bug bite which got infected and was prescribed a 1 week course of 2x100mg doxycycline per day. Got through that no issues, but about 1.5 to 2 weeks later starting having crazy reflux like everything gave me reflux even water. Shortly started burping a bunch, and stools began intermittently loose and mushy and decreased in overall volume. Noticed decreased appetite as well.

Didn’t think much of this at first. Treated off an on with various antacids but didn’t do much to change by bad habbits. Got reflux under control but everything else persisted. By late December I was experiencing crazy chest pressure, bloating in my lower abdomen, Hot Flashes, Heart Palipations, and complete loss of appetite to the point I couldn’t even bring myself to eat, like it felt like my throat would close if I tried to swallow.

First went to urgent care, ran bloods (including pancreatic and liver enzymes), urine and stool tests. Everything was normal. They put me on omeprazole, and told me to follow up with my GI. Omeprazole seemed to help some but I still had off an on loss of appetite.

Got in to see my GI a week later, he suspects Gastris and switched me to Pantoprazole wanted me to take it for 8 weeks and then we’d pursue other testing as needed.

I’m 3 and half weeks on this medicine now, thanks to posts on this sub I‘ve cleaned up my diet and changed all those bad habits I posted about above. Overall my stomach feels much better. I can always eat even if food doesn’t sound amazing when I start eating. Once I swallow the first bite it tastes good and I’m able to finish the meal. Took me about 2.5 weeks of PPI and diet change to get this far. It’s hard not to go back to old habits on days I’m feeling better.

Still dealing with anxiety and depression (This seems worse since on pantoprazole), and something that feels like Nausea but in my throat / chest. Sometimes that feeling just vanishes out of nowhere. Bloating more too I think (Could be PPI). On the upside my stools aren’t mushy anymore, and last week were even completely normal for a whole week. All in all I hope I’m healing. Regardless of how I feel I plan to ask for an endoscopy when I see my GI again in early March.

I’m seeing my PCP on Monday and going to ask about some sort of anti-depressant since I fear some of my linger symptoms may be caused by anxiety.