Frustrated! Gerd / hiatal hernia

[firepooka]

I am 28 years old and went to the hospital June 09 with what I thought was a heart attack. My symptoms were: radiating back and chest pains mostly on my left side, trouble breathing, knot in my throat, throwing up, severe acid reflux, stomach burning, etc.. They sent me home and said my gallbladder needed to be removed and to follow a low fat diet. I did as they said, but the next night was even worse. I went back and was admitted... saw a GI specialist and he said the gallbladder was fine and that it was most likely a hiatal hernia. They kept me a few days and did multiple tests (none of them was an endoscopy). I was sent home with Protonix and said things should get better within 6 weeks and to follow the Gerd diet. As a side note while in the hospital I was on a liquid only diet through an IV... after 5 or 6 days I was sent home, but the IV arm had become swallon and was very painful. They said this was common due to infultration of the Iv and to go home and put ice on it. I was in alot of pain, but did what they suggested. They next day I was in so much pain from the arm I could not move it, a nurse friend of mine suggested I get it looked at.... I went back to the hospital and have a sonogram done in which they discovered the entire arm had massive amounts of blood clots. This entire time my hernia was also cause great amounts of pain. I was then adimitted to the hospital again for the blood clots and was in this time close to 2 weeks. I have had only one doctor so far admit that the IV being left in too long can cause clots. They say it is rare to even get them in the arm to start with....I have had every test possible done on my entired body with hospital bills / doctors bills closing in around $100k and going.... they checked for lupus, crohons, etc. with nothing showing up.

I am now on a blood thinner to help the clots from forming and waiting on the existing ones to dissolve. I am still on Protonix for the hernia although they were never able to confirm the hernia with an upper GI x-ray  (they say that is common if the hernia is small... also I am short so my torso is short) and they will not do an endoscopy because of fear that I could bleed to death if something were to go wrong due to being on the blood thinners. I have tried all of the suggestions... I eat small meals, I don't eat after 7pm, go to bed around 11, take my medicine at night and supplement with tums or maalox during the day, I sleep almost completely sitting up. I can eat almost nothing - which includes nothing spicy or anything with any kind of sauce, no chocolate, no caffiene, nothing minty, no beef, nothing fried or containing over 10 grams of fat, nothing carbonated, nothing with citrus, no tomato /garlic /onion... in addition to these restrictions I also am on a coumadin diet (blood thinner) meaning nothing green, or anything with oils and certain other things containing vitaming K. This makes what I can have very limiting. Almost everything I eat bothers me, after being able to only eat a small meal I have severe burping/ hiccups which can last hours. I wake up in the night not being able to breathe. I have constant panic attacks or anxiety which I am not sure is from the hernia or the blood thinner. I cannot watch anything with violence or sad as it makes me very nervous and jittery. In addition I get very dizzy and tire easy from the blood thinner changing doses weekly. Additionally I have "passing out" spells where I get so tired I cannot move much or speak normally lasting 5 minutes which I am also attributing to the blood thinner as it started when I started taking it. A friend of mine said this can be caused by anemia. I have also developed pain under my ribcage on the left hand side as the hernia seems to be getting worse.

I was out of work for over a month with these issues and continue to be out often. I am sooooooooooo frustrated at this point. I have lost 26 pounds in 2 months from loss of appetite and diet restrictions. You think it would have helped the hernia as some say it will, but it has not. There is nothing more the doctors will do for my stomach until I am off of the blood thinner which they say could be 4-6 months or more.... I have been looking for any natural remedies that I can do for the hiatal hernia, but have not had much luck. I am tired of waking up in pain, and being a nut all the time about food and what I can eat. There is almost nothing I can eat that doesn't bother me and I am tired of plain grilled chicken. Can anyone help? I have heard surgery doesn't seem all that great either... am I going to live like this forever? What can I do to make this better?  

[selmaS]

Hi and welcome to the GERD forum.

Wow, u have been thru the ringer.....goodness. I wish I could say I am a dr and here is what u need to do, but I can not...I am just like u...just a person with a hiatal hernia.....I have not had issues like urs tho.

I would ask if u were checked for a bacteria called H. Pylori....I say it alot, but it can get overlooked and cause alot of problems.

Keep us posted on ur progress
"selma"

[firepooka]

Thanks for your reply.... they did check me for it and it was negative even with it being negative they put me on a 2 week regiman of antibiotics just in case. It didn't change anything unfortunately. I appreciate the suggestion :)

[selmaS]

...hmmmmm...and they checked ur Gall Bladder?


I am sorry, I have no idea....please keep us posted on ur progress.

"selma"