This will be a lengthy post but one I am willing to share and am currently crying while doing so because I have a flare-up again and have had flare-ups since that dreadful night on May 07, 2018. The flare-up I have right now feels similar to the one I had in 2018 but slightly worse in different aspects now.

So before that dreadful night, I had been experiencing hidden symptoms months prior of which of course my 17-year-old self did not realize or take into account that it could be serious.  

Here are some prior symptoms/causations I had/did before getting Gastritis on May 07, 2018:

• 
  

  Would choke on any food that was labeled as do not eat for gastritis /GERD

  
  
  
  
  • 
    

    Difficulty in swallowing (dysphagia)

    
    
  
  



• excessive belching


• wearing tight clothing daily to school such as tight pants + bras


• My weight was at that time was at an all-time high of 136-138


• 
  

  My stomach would bloat to an enormous size but I just thought I was overweight and fat 

  
  


• Ate frequently throughout the day leaving small gaps in between


• 
  

  Would come home from school and eat then immediately right after I would sleep (with no incline)

  
  


• not intaking enough water most likely 2 cups at most daily


• Going to bed very late 12-1 AM


• Sedentary lifestyle (which still applies to today because of Covid)

What happened that night was embarrassing and traumatizing for me. It was like any other day where I had scheduled to go to my friend's house and hang out. Throughout the day I was feeling uneasy in my stomach area but passed it off as stomachache or random pain. The BIG mistake then and there. I did not want to be the friend that cancels or goes home early which in retrospect I can see was an extremely poor decision on my part. It was then night time and her family decided to go the easy route and buy Pizza. Red flags are everywhere but since I have never really had any other issue with my body other than stomachaches I thought all would be well. All was NOT WELL. As we were watching a movie I noticed I would "choke" on the bites of pizza I took then all of sudden I started to feel an immense pain in my stomach that resembled someone constantly splashing battery acid in my stomach, then I felt immediate heartburn and burning of the esophagus. I was rushed home by my dad and while at home I talked about the situation with my parents all while suffering. I cried so much because the pain was simply unbearable. My parents wanted to go to urgent care but they opened at 9 AM and it was 11 PM. The pain was still very painful and because this was such a new thing to me and my parents my mom couldn't bear to see me in pain so she gave me an Aleve with some water and suggested to sleep it out. NOW not knowing that pain meds and GERD absolutely do NOT MIX because the pain meds really take a toll on one's stomach I ended up throwing up after 45 mins. of laying down grubling in pain. I threw up until I had nothing left in my stomach. At this point, I was fearful of sleeping, eating, or drinking anything so I waited it out the entire night until I could go to urgent care. The professionals at urgent care told me my issue, explained the basic as what not to eat, and because I still had pain/ couldn't eat they gave me a "cocktail" that was given in liquid form (a concoction of multiple medications) that resembled the color, and viscosity of glue also the taste. On top of that, they prescribed me a 30 day supply of Omeprazole which I gladly took as it was the only thing keeping me together and away from that pain. That cocktail was meant for me to sleep peacefully for a few hours as it numbed my mouth, throat, and stomach. After waking up I couldn't look at food the same way again as it just brought back pain so my dear mom gave me a plate of scrambled eggs with no salt and I wept while eating it since I could not get through eating it at the normal pace as others would. It took me 1 1/2 hours to finish that plate of 2 eggs. This trauma went on throughout the week. I had missed a week of school though luckily my HS teachers were understanding of the situation. Because of that night for the next three months, all the way until early September I had followed a strict diet regime where I had not eaten anything that would trigger symptoms or reflux. I immediately stopped eating an array of things but slowly thought I could integrate it back though I have been proven time and time again that the rest of my life's food choices are meant to be bland and restrictive.

In this section, I will show how my weight has and is still fluctuating because of this issue with reflux/GERD. Though I do suspect I have issues with my gut as I have never done well with gluten, bran, wheat, hops, oats, rye, spelt, marjoram. I took an EverlyWell test about a year ago and these all came up as mild/moderate activity. The optimal location for consumption would be at the lowest end of the scale of normal reactivity.

Jan. 2017 - 136 lbs.

May 2018 - 138 lbs.

Feb. 2019 - 134 lbs.

March 2019 - 130 lbs.

Oct. 2019 - 125 lbs.

Nov. 2019 - 122 lbs.

March 2020 - 123 lbs.

April 2021 - 118 lbs.

May 2021 - 116 lbs.

I will put a note here: Because of this night and the week that followed in 2018 I have developed a really unhealthy way of looking at food, constantly have anxiety that I will get it back again, I have tried talking about it with my mother but she can only do so much you know? I, unfortunately, have to limit what I eat anywhere and everywhere. For example, if I was to go out with my friends for KBBQ I would have to eat straight bland food at least 3 days prior to the event to offset the consequences. I have also noticed that constipation makes things a lot worse regarding reflux and GERD. Though I have suffered from constipation ever since I was a child. The symptoms I have right now include lower abdominal pain while eating, lower back pain, sphincter pain, dry throat in the morning, nausea while eating my first meal, bile coming up when I sleep at night leaving a nasty taste in my mouth, throat, throat sometimes feels like it is closing up to avoid swallowing food, I have to eat every 2 hours because I can only eat about 1/4 maybe a 1/3 cup of food every two hours, slight buzzing on top of my head that happens from time to time starting just yesterday, my left toes for some reason clench without me doing it consciously I only unclench when I see that they are clenched. I also have left back pain which is most likely due to my bad posture and looking at my phone with my head hanged low. 

I fear doctors because most just see it as a simple case of GERD and send you off with PPI's which I do not want to take my entire life. Plus I can't talk about my troubles with reflux, gastritis/GERD as I end up crying every single time thinking about the pain I had and have continued to go through. Though the only encounter with a doctor that I had was at urgent care in the day after that night in 2018. These past 3 years I have had to take Nexium 24hr, on and off until I felt it didn't act fast enough, just started to mess around with TUMS this year as I had a bad acid reflux flare up all throughout the month of February 2021 - Mid March 2021.  

I have tried alternative herbal medicinal remedies such as slippery elm, and molasses but both can only work so much ):  

At this point, I feel like I have to come to the realization that in order to live a life in peace with no visitations from these symptoms or anything related to GERD/gut I have to just stop eating all unhealthy foods, acidic foods, citrus, caffeine, and chocolate, gluten, etc. for at least 5 years straight. In hopes of healing my gut and stomach.

If you got this far into reading just know that I appreciate you.