Thanks to everyone in this forum. You’ve all helped me through some of the darkest and hardest days of my life. I truly appreciate the kindness, advice, reassurance, and people who took the time to reply when things felt really scary and isolating.
Wishing healing, good health, peace of mind, and happier days ahead for every single one of you. And most importantly… the ability to eat whatever you want without fear or symptoms again :P
I don’t really know where to start with this, but I’m hoping someone here might relate or have some insight because I feel like I’ve been dealing with a long, ongoing GI problem that just keeps getting worse over time.
Before COVID, I was functioning normally. I was working in a high stress healthcare job, gyms closed during the pandemic, and I basically lost my usual ways of coping. That’s when things started to change.
COVID seemed to be the trigger
My first COVID infection hit me pretty hard with fatigue and weird GI symptoms. My stomach just felt off in a way I had never experienced before, and I developed reflux that I didn’t really struggle with before. I tried supplements like iron and mastic gum but nothing really fixed it.
The second infection was much worse. I had a high fever, lost my sense of smell completely, and everything smelled like chemicals or ammonia. The fatigue was extreme and the reflux and regurgitation came back much worse than before.
After that, I honestly never felt like my system went back to normal.
Things started escalating
I tried a high dose vitamin IV through a naturopath and had a bad reaction during it. My heart rate suddenly spiked, I felt very nauseous, and I ended up vomiting. I went to the ER afterward and they said everything looked normal.
I was then told I had gastritis and was started on pantoprazole. I went on a very strict bland diet thinking I would recover quickly, but instead things slowly started getting worse.
I began noticing things like:
Food sitting in my stomach for hours
Severe bloating even with small meals
Not tolerating proteins well
Constant constipation
Losing weight without trying
I went to the ER multiple times but kept being told my tests were normal.
Eventually I got some answers
After a long GI referral process:
Endoscopy showed mild chronic gastritis, mild esophagitis, and a small hiatal hernia
But my symptoms felt way worse than what they were calling “mild.”
Later on I kept having fat intolerance and right upper abdominal pain. A HIDA scan showed gallstones and low gallbladder function. I eventually developed pancreatitis and needed emergency surgery.
Even after surgery:
Fat intolerance is still there, just less severe
Constipation never really went away
I still get pain in the same area sometimes
Symptoms kept coming back even after treatments like rifaximin for suspected SIBO
Where I am now
After a recent GI infection, everything flared up again.
Now my main issues are:
Trouble swallowing (dysphagia)
Regurgitating food and sometimes even saliva
Feeling like things come back up when I walk or move
Ongoing bloating and constipation
Recent scope findings showed:
Grade 1 esophagitis
Cameron lesions
A 5 cm hiatal hernia
I’m currently on omeprazole. It helps the acid but it does not help the regurgitation at all.
I have a swallowing study coming up but honestly this symptom scares me the most because it feels different. It doesn’t feel like normal reflux anymore. It feels more like things are just not staying down properly.
What I’m struggling with most
The regurgitation is constant and unpredictable. Even small things like swallowing saliva or walking can trigger it. It’s starting to affect my daily life and it’s honestly pretty scary.
It also feels like every time I have a flare, my baseline just gets worse instead of better.
If anyone has experienced anything similar, especially with hiatal hernia and swallowing or regurgitation issues, I would really appreciate hearing what helped or what your experience was like.
Just trying to make sense of all of this and figure out what to do next.