Acid Reflux Adventures
Jul. 9th, 2011 10:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
calzephyrWhere to begin with this unusual blog post for me...a week ago I woke up with a pain in my head and a sore throat. Great. Just in time for the Canada Day long weekend. I persevered, but by Monday, the pain had not subsided and I was beginning to get painful spots on the inside of my cheeks. The pain in my head was pretty random and variable, with the back of it being so tender at some points that merely putting on a hat hurt!
The most awful part was losing sleep due to the pain. It was hard to fall asleep because of it. In the mornings I woke up with a horrible, choking feeling that lasted for hours. I treated the sore throat as I would any other with tea and soothing lozenges, but I wondered if I had a swollen gland or something as it was not getting better. Swallowing was very painful.
I waited over 2 hours at a walk-in clinic on Monday evening to see a doctor that was not very good. He was the only one on duty and if I had thought to check Rate My Doctor, I would have walked out. He scores much lower than my family doctor and some of the stories were not heartening. He saw me for all of three minutes and told me to wait a few more days. He prescribed an analgesic mouthwash for the pain, Benzydamine, which did nothing for me. Apparently if you swallow the whole bottle, it will do something for you - a delerious high!
I was able to make an appointment with my family doctor yesterday. On Thursday, just on a whim, I took an Alka Seltzer and started burping like crazy. I followed it up with half a litre of 7-Up and more unladylike noises later, felt a lot better. My family doctor was able to correctly diagnose acid reflux and also took a swab to be sure. He gave me a sample of Prevacid and I expect the acid reflux to be gone in a few days. Sometimes it happens once or all the time. It annoys me that I had to suffer needlessly for three days because the walk-in doctor couldn't diagnose something so simple. If this post saves one person from the sleeplessness, pain and crabbiness I experienced, I'll be glad!
The most awful part was losing sleep due to the pain. It was hard to fall asleep because of it. In the mornings I woke up with a horrible, choking feeling that lasted for hours. I treated the sore throat as I would any other with tea and soothing lozenges, but I wondered if I had a swollen gland or something as it was not getting better. Swallowing was very painful.
I waited over 2 hours at a walk-in clinic on Monday evening to see a doctor that was not very good. He was the only one on duty and if I had thought to check Rate My Doctor, I would have walked out. He scores much lower than my family doctor and some of the stories were not heartening. He saw me for all of three minutes and told me to wait a few more days. He prescribed an analgesic mouthwash for the pain, Benzydamine, which did nothing for me. Apparently if you swallow the whole bottle, it will do something for you - a delerious high!
I was able to make an appointment with my family doctor yesterday. On Thursday, just on a whim, I took an Alka Seltzer and started burping like crazy. I followed it up with half a litre of 7-Up and more unladylike noises later, felt a lot better. My family doctor was able to correctly diagnose acid reflux and also took a swab to be sure. He gave me a sample of Prevacid and I expect the acid reflux to be gone in a few days. Sometimes it happens once or all the time. It annoys me that I had to suffer needlessly for three days because the walk-in doctor couldn't diagnose something so simple. If this post saves one person from the sleeplessness, pain and crabbiness I experienced, I'll be glad!
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no subject
Date: 2011-07-10 05:26 am (UTC)I'm glad you are feeling better though! : )
no subject
Date: 2011-07-10 01:46 pm (UTC)