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Angela's Story 9-25-03 I always had a very busy life, maybe some would say.....too busy, but I like to work hard and nothing was too much. I was working full time at United Airlines and I have 2 children, never was I sick and I never took any medication. It was around June of 1999 that I started having a sore throat and it did not seem to go away after about 2 weeks so I decided to see a Doctor. The Doctor looked in the back of my throat and saw that it was red and so she said that I had an upper respiratory infection since I also felt like I had a something in my throat when swallowing. 10 days on antibiotics.....did not work. I went back to my Doctor and from there I went many, many times. I was on 4 different kinds of antibiotics and things only got worse. I did not give up so I visited the Doctors office almost everyday, they started giving me Percocet (for pain)...because in the meantime things had gotten so bad....I called in sick on Sept 13 of 1999. I saw many Doctors and none did more test than X-Rays and Blood test. I asked for an Endoscopy, but because I had HMO health insurance at the time they did not want to send me for an Endoscopy. After a few months the Doctors told me I was DEPRESSED....Me knowing myself well I was NOT DEPRESSED. The Doctor put me on Demerol. I felt like I could not count to 3 anymore. One Doctor told me after he looked in my mouth that due to my wisdom teeth I had an upper respiratory infection and needed to see a dentist to pull my wisdom teeth and then my problems would go away..... he put me on Xanax. I could not believe this man called himself a doctor. 6 months later everything got so bad, I lost my voice, I had pain breathing and everything was inflamed. I had pain in my chest, fluttering in my stomach, headaches, sore throat, and difficulty swallowing. I had lost so much weight and people said;....What happened to Angela?...(I had lost 20 LBS). I was once strong 5'7" and 115 LBS, I had a full time Job 2 children and I was NEVER sick...What happened? I had taken everything...Maalox, Prilosec, Propulsid, Prevacid and I ate lots of Gaviscon. Also I took Reglan for a while, that was so bad, it made me shake and nervous all day long. I tried everything, but no matter what I ate or did not eat, I would burn and have all the symptoms all day all the time. In the mean time I had a chance to change my health insurance from HMO to PPO and that is when I found some REAL Doctors.. I met Doctor McBride in Alexandria Virginia (Gastroenterologist), he took me very serious and did and Endoscopy within 2 days. After the procedure he came up to me and said: Angela...You have GERD and yours is more severe then others...Your sphincter is broken and you have a Hiatal Hernia, my stomach was popped half way above my Diaphragm. I felt happy and sad at the same time.....At least now I knew what was wrong. I had a Bronchoscope done too and found out that the ACID had gone into my Airways and that is way I had so much pain when breathing. Dr McBride was wonderful, he acted very fast, he said: I only know 3 surgeons that can perform this surgery well and that I can trust.....Not all surgeons can do this surgery he said; if it is too tight you can not swallow anymore and if it is too lose then you will still have the acid come up. I met Doctor Sabharwal (a perfectionist)...this is what he does all the time; performing the Nissen Fundoplication. After a few weeks my symptoms came back...not as severe as it was, but still pretty harsh. I went back to the doctor and he could not understand it and he asked to give it some more time. One day I decided to go online and find other people’s stories and how to cope. That is when I came here to HEARTBURN-HELP……. I read other peoples stories…..When I read David’s story I felt I needed to call him because also he had the same symptoms as I had after the surgery…. We talked and he explained why I had this……….STRESS, I did not know I had STRESS, I had been like this my whole life, I learned….My body broke, that’s what it was, I did not know different. So now I knew just like David that I had to change my life once and for all. There was nothing wrong with the surgery, the surgery was done perfectly….It helped….the rest was stress. (I did have one more Endoscopy done after my surgery; it all was nice and tight.) The months ahead were difficult, I had to change my life. First I had to except that which I could not alter…that was not easy, all the stress that was build up in all those years, I could not change that in a short time, David said; it can take about 8 months to a year to get better, I started MEDITATION and a whole food Diet. David would check up on me and see how things were going. The first few weeks were most difficult….MEDITATION what and How? I could not do that, David said……Angela, I was like you, I thought I could not do it, but you know what, I DID IT AND SO CAN YOU he said. I did not give up, I had to get better…..After about 4, 5 weeks, I DID IT, I meditated 3 to 4 times a day and it was wonderful… I had never had this experience before in my whole life, but my symptoms where still there…. David was right. It took me a little over a year and I am completely better, all is well, I do not take ANY more medication or antacids ever again. I am cured. David and I stayed in touch all that time, we became close friends, we decided to meet one day (he was living in NEW HAMPSHIRE and I was living in VIRGINIA) and we were going to meet only once,… we married last year April…. GERD is one of the best things that ever happened to me. It may sound strange but from something “bad” always something good comes from it. Thank you Robert, thank you for your HEARTBURN-HELP….Thank you for this! Through my illness and through YOUR website I met David Harrison my husband. We understand all about GERD and we have helped many other GERD suffers. David and I are both cured. Please, feel free to contact us……GERD is harsh and you do not need to be alone. Love, Angela Harrison anskeje@hotmail.com
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