esophagitis or gingivitis ?

[anxious09]

good morning everyone.

i was diagnosed with mild esophagitis/erosive gastritis since abt 7 months ago
was on protonix (its's generic zurcazol) for 6 months.
the dr said i should cut it completely for 3 weeks and then see him.

i am VERY careful with what i eat, how i eat, no stress as possible etc... lst small small meal at 19.30hrs.
i don't have much of heartburn only occassionally since which goes away if i chew gum or eat something some of the time.

question is this i am seeing sort of light brown liquid in my mouth in the morning and sorry for this
i spit it out and i also bright red blood not much but still. lalso i get a very sore throat like i have a cold  or something  and see plegm at the back of my throat.

is the blood from my esophagitis because i stopped the treatment (again my dr's orders) or could it be from my teeth ?

please please offer your advice, i am losing my mind with worry.Please note i also have almost every day slight momentarily dizziness.

thanks very much

[anxious09]

thanks to everyone .
well i asked my husband to raise our bed by 15 cm. so he did 2 and i haven't seen blood or brown thick mucus at all. so i guess that it was indeed from my reflux. Since i don't wish to go back to meds so quickly and i don't have heartburn symptoms is it possbile that if my throat doesn't get irritated any more that it may heal on it's own?

how feasible is this ?

thanks again

[Dr. Kokil Mathur]

Hi
Welcome to the MedHelp forum!
You are probably still suffering from esophagitis—and this is in all probability due to GERD or gastric reflux. It could also be hiatal hernia. Treatment is a combination of drugs to reduce the acid and lifestyle changes. You will need to take a combination of medications (under medical supervision) like a proton pump inhibitor such as omeprazole, lansoprazole or pantoprazole empty stomach in the morning and an antacid gel after meals for complete relief. Possibility of H pylori infection too should be looked into by a carbon urea breath test and a combination antibiotic tried. Many a times a persisting H pylori infection can be the cause behind acidity not responding to treatment.
Life style changes that will help include: Avoid heavy meals and eat frequent small meals. Avoid too much of caffeine, tea, smoking, fried food and drinks both alcoholic and non alcoholic fuzzy ones. Avoid heavy exercises within 4 hours of a heavy meal. Raise the head end of the bed by pillows to 30 degrees. Avoid lying down for least 2 hours after food. Maybe these tips will help you.
If these tips do not help, then liver function test, pancreatic enzymes, and HIDA scan for gall bladder should be done. Food intolerance and inflammatory bowel conditions such as IBS, Crohn’s, celiac etc should be considered. Log in what you eat and see if there is a correlation between a certain food type and the symptoms.
You should consult a gastroenterologist (a specialist who looks after the diseases of our digestive system) or a physician for this. Take care!

[ChristineMP]

Dental xrays use a VERY low level of radiation. You should have the xray.

I agree with the previous poster that your symptoms do sound like reflux. I would go see your doctor.

[anxious09]

hi thanks for post.
yes, my gums do bleed when i brush them. also same thing happened 6 months ago and i went for dental cleaning and afterwards it went away. but since i was already in ppi med i don't know if the bleeding was from gastritis/esophagitis and stopped or it stopped because of teeth cleaned.

another dentist said that i could have periodontitis (sorry for spelling) but they would have to do an x-ray to see but because i have done barium xray-mammomagram this year i am afraid to have another xray.

what do y think ?

[sara_eagle]

Well, the light brown liquid could be bile due to reflux and you may have an ulcer.  Reflux will also cause you to have a sore throat.  As far as your teeth, do your gums bleed when you brush?  It would seem strange to me that your gums would bleed at night without anything irritating/agitating them.