Hi all,
This is my first time posting so please be kind. I wondered if anyone had anything similar and could offer advice. I am 32 and had my first baby (DS) 10 months ago, I had awful acid reflux in the third trimester which I managed to battle through mostly without taking anything and then occasionally took rennies (I found gaviscon didn’t do much). The acid reflux went away initially after birth and then reappeared about 5 weeks postpartum and hasn’t really left since (apart from when on PPI’s). In hindsight I think I may have suffered with acid reflux a little on and off before pregnancy as I used to get sore throats when I otherwise felt well in myself and couldn’t figure out why.
The symptoms have got so much worse over time since giving birth and I am utterly utterly miserable with it and in pain. I just want to cry every single day. I’ve been to the doctors a few times and was initially told take omeprazole for a few months and hopefully it will reset your body as it’s probably from pregnancy and a weakened sphincter from everything moving around in pregnancy and putting pressure on the sphincter. Did this,
and after my 2 month course the symptoms came back within a day or two of stopping the meds. Went to see a doc again since and was prescribed another course of omeprazole and told to do a stool sample to check for H phloryi (not sure if that’s how you spell it). Finished my omeprazole about 4 weeks ago and the symptoms didn’t come back for a few weeks or so after finishing the meds this time but are now back and awful. I only got round to dropping a stool sample in last week but they said the sample was too old so the lab rejected it (I dropped it in an hour after going so no idea how it was too old) but anyway I will collect another sample pot and do it again this week. But my symptoms have progressed so much and what I am suffering with is:
- An extremely sore throat burning acid although I must admit since stopping the omeprazole last I haven’t suffered too much which this symptom but at times it has been horrendous
- nausea/feeling sick and my stomach quite often churns/bubbles and more so recently I almost feel it contracting. My stomach very rarely feels ok.
- excessive burping/flatulence
- TMI - but stools are either on the constipated side or wetter side, never really an in between. I’m not the best with drinking enough water since I’ve had little one as I’m so busy I forget (I always drank loads before him) so need to improve my water intake a bit I think. I have noticed undigested food in stools so don’t know if my acid is actually too low?
- coughing on and off with reflux.
- most recently I bent over and bought up some food (this was first thing in the morning and hadn’t eaten since dinner the night before).
- Really bloating up after eating
- this symptom is almost scaring me the most - I feel a lump or something going on in my throat but it almost feels like the nerves or something you can feel at the front right of your (my) throat are damaged, they hurt and I get a feeling of obstruction when eating and swallowing, it’s a hard to explain but my nerves (I think that’s what it is (You can feel it sticking out the front right of your throat) really doesn’t feel right and hurts and behind that is where I feel a lump/obstruction feeling. I even wondered if I was straining them as I often sit holding my little chunk without anything supporting my neck but even more scarily the last few days or so I’ve also felt a weird feeling on the right hand side of my tongue like it’s swollen or something weird. Either way, something in my neck/throat doesn’t feel right. I have no visible lumps or anything untoward visually or that I can feel. I know you can get something called globus with acid reflux which is a painless feeling of a lump but this is not painless and as mentioned, I feel like my nerves or something in my neck doesn't feel right, and now my tongue feels weird on one side.
I am so so scared what is going on with my body. I feel like my throat has been damaged from the acid and I am utterly miserable from
the daily symptoms. I feel like my maternity leave and enjoyment of my gorgeous little boy has been hindered by feeling so rubbish. He also suffers with reflux and has been on omeprazole since several weeks old after stopping drinking his milk 😟.
I suffer with health anxiety anyway, as my mum and dad have both passed fairly unexpectedly in the last few years and there have been failings with their health. My dad actually passed away when DS was 3 weeks old so watching him die over 2 days in hospital was traumatic at a time that should have been spent in my baby bubble. But thank goodness for my little one getting me through.
I am trying to confide in my partner that I’m suffering and terrified what is going on with my body and also miserable which is why I’m snappy/grumpy and not myself etc at the moment but I feel very alone. He tries to be supportive and is in so many ways (is very hands on with DS and at home when not working etc), but he just says you need to keep going back to doctors. I can’t sleep at night as my mind is running wondering what is wrong with me. When I talk to my partner he just mentions going back to docs but then 2 minutes later he’ll be like what’s for dinner. I am a very negative person who has always fears the worst and lives on the pessimistic side (hate this about myself but my mum was the same so think I’ve got this trait from her growing up). But I am terrified, in pain the majority of the time and just really want someone to help me. I know the NHS are on their knees and have a lot of great staff but I can’t even get a face to face with them half the time, they triage each request for help and have told me to wait 4 weeks at times this year for an appointment as they deemed it to be able to wait until then. I had scabies fairly recently too (which was horrendous) and because they didn’t do a face to face they misdiagnosed the rash and it took over 2 months to be correctly diagnosed and treated). Anyhow, I’m going off on a tangent. My partner never gets sick and doesn’t understand what it’s like to feel so rubbish everyday when being alone with a 10 month old for 12 hour days. I’m just so scared and so fed up of being in pain ☹️
I used to eat such a healthy diet, in pregnancy I ate quite badly as I really struggled with my appetite going from being quite small before pregnancy to me constantly wanting to eat in pregnancy and craving bad food all the time. But since little one my diet has fluctuated a bit being good but then being sleep deprived and ordering a takeaway once a week. Although, in the last 3 weeks we’ve eaten super healthy (raw clean food, avoiding ultra processed etc) and most days I am eating Greek yogurt and fruit, eggs on their own, chicken and veg, sometimes with some sweet potato. I’m 9st 11 at the moment and want to get back to my pre pregnancy 8 and a half stone, or even 9. I do drink 2 cups of coffee a day and a cup of decaf tea before bed so don’t know if cutting out coffee would help? I very rarely drink alcohol and I don’t smoke.
So sorry for the long post. Thanks for reading if you’ve got this far.