dtwigg

Hi -

I was diagnosed with GERD back in my 20's - I am now 41.

a week after my 40th b-day, I had eaten a piece of pizza, and I thought I was having an allergic reaction...my throat felt like it was closing up - - I took some Benadryl and basically knocked myself out for the night...When I got up the next morning I made some coffee and lit up a cigarette (the last one I ever had btw..) and BANG...my throat was closing up again and my chest was caving in in pain...so I drove myself to the ER.

The doctor there took one look at my throat and said it was blistered up and it must be strept. She ordered me Prednisone...and tried to get me to drink some mylanta mixed with a numbing agent - - but I couldn't drink it.

two days later I went to see my family practitioner, who took me off the Prednisone and did a work up on me...He put me on Protonix twice a day and told me it was GERD, and that we would have to just heal the damage...sent me to get and endoscopy...btw - gastro docs don't look at your throat area - so he sais my endoscopy was fine, when I asked him about my throat, he said he didn't look at it...it wasn;t his specialty - -that I had to see an ENT doc for that....

over 4 months later I had lost 25 pounds and finally got in to see the ENT doc..who took one look and said there was major damage but no cancer...he changed me to Prevacid twice a day and I started to get better within a few months...

about 4 months later I started to take a downturn again, and the ENT doc sent me for a work up by a surgeon to see if "fundoplication" was an option...

The surgeon sent me to Gastro to have more tests to see if I was a candidate for the fundoplication...

Long story short, they found out that I have a swallowing disorder - - that my throat does not push food down correctly anymore..the muscles don't work right...the upper sphincter in my throat is also too tight,,,the lower on the top of my stomach os too loose, causing acid to reflux as well.

In the midst of all of this, my lower digestive tract has gotten into the act as well, and I have constipation most days, which has caused me to get diverticular disease and constant bloody stools from inner hemorriods, etc...even though I am taking stoll softeners and Zelnorm....

What I am wondering is is there a neurological disorder that may be causing all of this?

It has now been over a year and a half of this, and it seems that now my whole digestive tract is out of whack from top to bottom....I just am wondering if anyone else may have some insight to this?

thanks in advance