IBS, gastritis, esophagitis, post nasal drip, bloating,gas,numbness in face/left arm/left neck, neck

I experienced a pain with GERD/Heartburn in September 2012. I was sitting at my desk at work after a small lunch and all of a sudden my ears had a weird ringing, my head and brain seem to be having a stroke and my entire left side of my body went numb. The ambulance came and said my blood pressure had dropped low and I started to feel clamy/cold every 20 minutes. My EKG in the ambulance was normal and by the time we got to the ER, I had no more episodes but was scared and thinking I was dying. I went home after 11 hrs in the ER. I had to walk around the living room all night because every time I lay or sit, the pressure would build up and my chest around my heart would hurt and my brain/head felt like it was having a stroke. I went to a cardiologist the next day and they did an Echo Cardiogram on my heart and it was normal and fine. The cardiologist said it was possibly my heartburn and gave me 2 samples of ACIPHEX. I took it and it seemed to work like instantly! I scheduled an appointment with a Gastro Enterologist doctor and told him my GERD/Heartburn history: (for 20 years I drank hard liquor every weekend but I also ate really good foods, veges and fruit, I ran 2 marathons and lifted very heavy weights in the gym for 20 years and ate very spicy foods all the time and was taking Ibuprophen for 20yrs for muscle aches and an Aspirin/Ibuprophen everytime I knew I was going out drinking so I wouldn't get a hangover. I also took numerous multi vitamins/minerals, bodybuilder protein powders, creatine, nitric oxide tablets and gatorade 3x a week before I worked out in the gym. I would have occasional heartburn from doing all those things and I stressed allot. I was diagnosed with GERD when I was around 25 years old and given samples of NExium 20mg. I would only take it when I ate something very spicy.) In Sept 2012, the first Gastro doctor did an Endoscopy and diagnosed me with Gastritis Non-Acute and gave me a RX of Omeprazole 40mg once a day. It did nothing or very little. I still had chest pain/pressure for the next 3months. I had stopped drinking heavy and eating anything spicy or lifting heavy weights but I started to feel back to normal during the holidays and started drinking again a little and lifting heavy weights. Then in January 2013, I started to get throat or esophagus feeling like it was swelling up after working out or eating dinner, on top of the chest pain and pressure in my chest. I then went to another Gastro Specialist doctor (Dr. Barrientos ParkPlaza) and he decided to do another endoscopy to see if the first doctor missed something. This endoscopy revealed I had Esophagitis and still Gastritis in my stomach. He prescribed me Dexilant 60mg to take once a day. The Dexilant worked great and I started back to eating some greasy foods and having a few beers and would only do 1 exercise of heavy weights per workout. Then 3 weeks ago i felt really good and ran my first 5 miles since 5months ago, but had to do most walking because I kept feeling my stomach acid splashing into my throat. AT night I would keep hearing my ears ringing and experience tinnitus. 2days later I ate a small microwave dinner at work as I was leaving and jumped in traffic to go to the gym. At a traffic light I felt the same stroke/chest pain and my head felt like I was suffocating and need to burp but couldn't. I also felt a rush in my bottom like I need to use the bathroom but could not. I took some GAS-X to try to burp, 1 Dexilant and one ANASPAZ Rx that I was given by the first Gastro Doctor to relax my stomach if I had spasms. I knew it was my GERD acting up again I drove myself to the ER and the did another EKG and blood pressure. Both were fine but my temperature was 99.7, a little bit high and I could hear my heart pounding in my ears. Here we go again! I felt like I was dying again. The ER referred me again to a cardiologist because they said my GERD/Heartburn has no connections with my head feeling a dull pain and pressure in my neck.(Wrong!) I went to my last Gastro doctor and told him what happened and he said maybe my dad's history of a stent in one of his neck veins was happening to me. He also said the pressure pain in my neck and head was not related to my Gastritis/Esophagitis. The cardiologist did an UltraSound on my neck Carotid arteries and a TreadMill stress test. Everything checked out fine and normal. I had him check my Thyroid Gland by hand and asked him if it was my gallbladder or spleen but he said no. I could not eat anything other than fruits and vegetables for 2 weeks because anything else (meat, milk, cereal, yogurt,etc) would make my stomach acid to get agressive and cause tremendous gas pressure and my throat would feel like it was closing up. My head would have these headaches all day and very painful after anything goes in my stomach. I lost all hope. I thought I had a tumor or even cancer and I felt like I was slowly dying. I was scared to sleep everynight. I could not even go out in the field with my coworkers as a law enforcement officer because I would get shortness of breath if we did anything with force. Finally after losing 10pounds and could not eat anything but fruit and veges, I went to a simple General Practice PCP Doctor Demetrus Green. He was the first to use an old stethoscope and and listen to my lungs, heart and chest. He touched my thyroid and glands which all was fine. He said that my HeartBurn/GERD/Gastritis/Esophagitis was soo bad that it was putting pressure on my VAGUS NERVE that runs along your spine. Thats what was causing the headaches, fever chills during those stroke feelings moments. The PCP said the inflammation caused by my stomach acid can cause your throat to feel swollen. He prescribed me NEXIUM 40mg for 2 weeks once a day. After just 2 days of taking it I have been healing up! A simple doctor in a small shabby office is my miracle. I looked it up and found Nexium 40mg is a PPI that turns off the acid in your stomach to allow your stomach lining and throat lining to heal. It also has medicine in Nexium that aids in the healing of inflammation of your esophagus so it doesn't put pressure or inflame your VAGUS NERVE also. After 2 days of Nexium 40mg, I am burping allot but it is allowing the pressure out. I tried meat for the first time and had no problem. I will now have to stick to a bland diet and small meals for a while and no alcohol and no weight lifting until I heal 100%. My doctor also told me to eat foods with probiotics so I bought some KEFIR milk and ordered on AMazon some: Heartburn Free ROH10(with natural orange) that says it can help heal heartburn together with your meds, D-Limonene, 1000mg (with natural orange) and Mastic Gum. I will take these natural stuff together with my NEXIUM and change my diet. Folks , hearburn, GERD, gastritis, esophagitis can make you feel like your life is ending and cause pain in many areas in your body. Nexium 40mg is a great cure! Update April 4, 2013: 2 weeks after just taking Nexium 40mg once a day, I was still having bad rushing headaches after every meal. My doctor told me I possibly was having H Pylori symptoms and gave me : 4X a day Amoxicillin 500mg and 2X a day Clarythromycin 500mg, also still Nexium 40mg. The first three days of taking these antibiotics was great and all of my heartburn, gas bloat and headaches and dull neck pains went away. The 2nd week of antibiotics, seemed like they all stopped working. I went back to the doctor 2 weeks ago again! He no said I may also have problems with food not emptying in my stomach quick enough causing it to sit in my stomach and cause bloat and Vagus Nerve pain (Headaches, neck pain) so he prescribed me Reglan/Metoclopramide 4X a day 30mins before each meal, all together with all the antibiotics and nexium. I was popping 11 pills a day and all they did was ease the heartburn a lil. I stopped taking the antibiotics last week and just did Reglan/Metoclopramide 4x a day and nexium and occasional D-Limonene natural orange pill. The Reglan or something made me feel jittery and nausea. I had severe jaw pain, a burning feeling in my left arm pit and across my heart on left side that scared me. This occurred mostly as I stressed/worked hard as I am taking a motor apart or working hard at work but I try to not lift heavy or stress. This week I started to have bad itching eye lids, arms and hands every so often when I feel gas/bloat and need to belch. I looked all this up and google says the itching is caused by H Pylori. So last night i took sum antibiotics and woke up much better, spo I will get back on my antibiotics and stop the Reglan cause i am afraid of it and continue Nexium 40 mg 1x a day and start this new natural DGL Ultra licorice chew tabs. The Reglan and AntiBiotics combo started causing stomach acid to come into my mouth at night and my front teeth started to crack! I went to the dentist in an emergency to see why my teeth was brittle and crack lines showing and they said acid was eroding my enamel and causing black plaque to form. The Dentist cleaned my teeth and said it only eroded the enamel a little and said it was caused by me grinding my teeth at night. I never grinded my teeth in my life and had to start sleeping with a mouth guard. It had to be that damn Reglan so I stopped taking it and told my doctor and he said stop using it immediately! I been praying allot and taking walks every 3 days which helps me belch and feel better. I read that H Pylori can cause these problems/symptoms (even though i was tested twice negative for H pylori months before). I will go to a random gastro doctor in a week to get tested just for H Pylori to see if this is truly the cause to my misery! End April 28, 2013 I was recommended to go see a 30 year veteran of Gastroentorology named Dr. Gossett in Houston Tx and he was a joke! He sent 3 new students he was teaching in my room and told them to take my notes. I explained for 30mins to an intern all my problems and then Dr. Gossett came in last minute and did not even hear my full diagnosis and just said I have IBS! He then said he had a wonderful pill to take and it would all go away. It was Anaspaz, the same damn medicine another gastro doctor prescribed me in October 2012 that never worked! I never went back to the fool. May, 2013 Update: I was still experiencing problems with gas/bloat after putting anything in my stomach and now my throat would feel like it was swelling up inside everytime after any food or drink. i was surely feeling like i had thyroid issues or cancer issues in my neck, it was that painfull. It seemed worst in traffic as I sat 40mins in my truck every morning going to work and going home. Once every week I would have these "attacks" like my ears popped or filled with air, my neck would get really stiff and then my head would feel like I was having a small seizure, but I know it was my stomach issue because i also would feel like farting at the same time but couldn't. I was beginning to feel depressed again and it took over my personal life like I felt I was slowly dying or had some disease that no gastro doctor could find. I looked up a 5th gastro doctor here in Houston with good qualifications, was well educated in gastro and that was an african-american, because I figured maybe he could relate to my pain/heartburn/gas issues. I found Dr. Daniel Ball, and took a bag full with : amoxicillin, clarithromycin, omeprazole, reglan, dexilant, nexium, orange peel pills, tums, pepto bismol, anaspaz...and several documents from the previous 4 gastro docs. he looked at me and said "please put all that stuff away and lets talk about how i felt now." He said i had IBD and I got upset and told him to not give me that general #### about IBS! he said that all those other doctors were just giving me "placebo' meds because they all only worked 2-3 weeks then stopped. Dr. Ball said, yes I may have had heartburn issues in the past but the nexium was actually keeping acid reduced, he said the swelling "glubus sensation" i was feeling in my neck, the attacks of gas not escaping properly was all caused by two things: 1. irritable bowels 2. my mind/brain not allowing my stomach/bowels to relax and work properly. I thought this man was saying I was causing this in my head and thought this was ######! He said I also had "AeroPhagia" which is when someone swallows too much needed air when they eat, drink or speak. He prescribed me Librax or CHLORDIAZEPOXIDE/CLIDINIUM CAPS. This medicine has antispasmatic meds and also anti-psychotic meds in it to relax a person mind (like taking a Zanax). I have been taking this twice a day, after breakfast and after dinner. I would also take 1 of my old prescribed Nexium 40mg during lunchtime at work to get me through work. AND OH MY GOD, THE LIBRAX OR CHLORDIAZEPOXIDE/CLIDINIUM meds works! I now only take this meds after I eat something and feel like my body is having the gas/bloat/stiff neck/headaches/seizures symptoms and it would go away within 10 mins! However this medicine makes you VERY SLEEPY which I think is what my body needed. I guess years of stress, weightlifting, drinking, and putting my stomach thru months of acid reducers, maybe my inside of my stomach (Gastritis and Esophagitis) has healed and now I just needed meds to control my IBD issue which caused my gas/bloat/stiff neck/headaches and occcassional chest pains during stress. My depression is going away and I am gaining back weight. I was a 187pound sexy buff looking black male but I have lost 15 pounds of muscle/weight and everyone keep asking me why I lost soo much weight in my body and face! Being on Librax, I started to go back to the gym 10-15mins and lift very light weights. I would be light headed after the first 2 times but went home and relaxed and take my Librax. Now I go in the gym and work on mechanic work on my old cars and only feel a little bit to non of dizzyness and chest pain but not life-threatening anymore. As of today June 2, 2013 I only take 1 Librax a day and ocassionally 1 Nexium 40mg. I never prayed soo much over a year in my life feeling like I was dying at 38 yrs old and in good shape. People, stress really does destroy your insides, I am a witness. July 2013: Was doing pretty good since my last update but now allergy season and dry grass has rolled in and my sinus has been acting up. I have been having constant post-nasal drip and the drip has been burning my chest in one spot. Then here we go again, I have had trouble sleeping because the neck pain/stiffness is coming back, flushing or rushing feeling in my head and feeling like a seizure/stroke is about to come on 1-2-3 hrs after I eat! These episodes started to happen like numbness in my hands, neck swelling, shooting pains in my fingers and feet and need to deficate but nothing comes out, once every other day and I am scared to be alone but I press on. I read online that an ENT doctor is good to go see. I went to an ENT doctor in Katy, Tx named Dr. Sycamore and he put a small throat-scope with a camera and light thru my nose and down in my throat. He noticed my voice-box had edema (mucus and a lil inflammation), and he said the inside of my nose was purple and inflammed and said that was chronic rhinitis. He prescribed Veramyst nasal spray. I told him about my GERD and he said that I maybe developing Laryngopharyngeal reflux (LPR) which is when stomach ACID is coming up in my throat and kinda into my nasal areas. He said only a Gastro doctor can test for that or even better a Laryngology doctor can monitor acid coming in the throat. The Veramyst was very expensive so I got generic Fluticasone which I have been using but it burns my throat when I first use it, so I have to drink lots of water to wash it from my chest. I went online and found the connection to sinus/drip and GERD in a website from a doctor Kurt Barrett in Michigan. He is very good and says the ACID silently comes up in GERD patience called atypical GERD or SNERD. Dr. Kurt Barrett recommends increasing your PPI intake to keep acid down in the stomach. He says its the acid that is causing numerous heart palpitations, sinus, post nasal drip, vagus nerve response and many more. I have started taking Nexium 40mg morning and night and 1 Omeprazole 40mg at lunch. I have been a little better but now I also have been trying a ADVIL SINUS ALLERGY pill that helps with 'nasal swelling' and it works but is also kinda hard on my stomach. So now I will be taking more PPI's and allergy/sinus pills. I will also contact Dr Kurt Barrett in Michigan and I think you can pay online to have a personal consultation. I will also be going to my Gastro Doctor, Dr. Ball of Houston tomorrow show him my new ENT info and see if he says 'my new connection of sinus/post-nasal drip and GERD' is bullcrap. Lol. If he does, then I will be dropping him also! Lets see. Update July 15, 2013: I told my current doctor about my ENT discovery and he totally disregarded that notion about Post-Nasal Drip bothering my IBS or inflamming my throat. I am still having symptoms of bloating, a permanent burn sensation around my heart area, numbness in my left hand, and shooting pains in my gut and neck. Gastro Dr. Ball now prescribed me Amitriptyline 50mg because he keeps reinterating that it is IBS and stress causing all my symptoms. I asked him about also doing something about keeping the ACID from coming up in my throat area and he didnt seem too concerned about that but I begged him to at least give me a RX for Dexilant 60mg which he reluctantly did. I tried the Amitriptyline 50mg that night and I was soo sleepy in the morning I missed work! The second night I took it, I woke up at 2am shivering cold and shivering soo bad I thought I was going to have a SEIZURE! My blood pressure was either very high or very low and I had to simply calm down in bed and sit up and watch TV until I fell asleep. I vowed never to take that meds again, so now I just take 1 Librax (anti-spasm/ anti-anxiety) in the morning to keep me calm, 1 dexilant 60mg for lunch and 1 Librax at night to help me sleep. Now I have noticed my speech is becoming slurred and my left side face is numb like a stroke but I dont think it is that. Update July 18, 2013: I was still feeling these weird IBS discomforts, my jaw and side of face started to feel numb and have some night chills. I took my blood pressure one night when it happened and noticed my blood pressure was 150/100 (medium high) then I calmed downed and checked it again, 142/83 medium high. I went to my basic Primary doctor and he said YES IBS causes all those symtoms and because I was having allot of stress in my life (spousal problems, selling my home, I maybe loosing my job and looking for another one, and a court case I am fighting), he explained to me that my internals are HIGHLY stressed even though I appeared fine in the face because I am a STOIC/military like person. He demanded I go on vacation so I took 4 days off and drove out of town. He also prescribed me a mild High Blood Pressure/Anti-Anxiety RX but I never got it filled because I am taking way too many meds now. I went on vacation and did fine until the 3hr drive home. I had soo much discomfort and chest pain/heartburn around the heart area and neck shooting pains, my wife had to do all the driving as I took a Librax to calm my stomach and anxiety and 1 Dexilant to keep the acid down. I was miserable the whole way. Now I am also using Gaviscon liquid heartburn medicine after breakfast or lunch and a sip going to bed. I read it coats the whole esopahgus and stomach and calms the inflammation/soreness in those areas. It actually have been helping allot! I also tried 1 session of yoga and 1 session of Accupuncture because I am at my WITS END with getting rid of this problem. I have been calming myself down, not stressing for anything and reading the bible often to keep destressed. It all have been helping a little bit. The Accupunturist also told me to try Enzymes (Beano) and it has helped me burp really good to relieve pressure. But all the IBS pains comes back after it dissolves. Also they told me to eat only fish and chicken, no red meat and cooked vegetables and now heavy food. My bloats have become soo bad, i have to eat my food only 1 spoonful every 2-3 minutes to not put too much inside my stomach. Regardless, 2-3 hours later after anything in my stomach begin digest, I have blood rush in my neck, arms, hands, feet, numbness in the side of my face like a stroke and feeling to use the toilet/deficate but really dont have too. I feel my head get dizzy, brain gets foggy and blood pressure rise, so I have to drink tons of water and try to keep calm. I dont understand within 1 year how I went from benchpressing 315lbs, ran a marathon years ago, worked on numerous home projects, built classic cars, drank hard liquor/beer, ate good food, to almost feeling like I am slowing dying or becoming a sickly person!? Someone Please help. Update August 1, 2013 I did my research and went to see the Chief Gastro Doctor with Kelsey Seybold with 43 yrs experience name Dr. Ned Snyder. I sent him this entire post to read and all my EGD and meds and results in advance and he actually read them and thanked me. This is the first of 5 Gastro doctors that have done that. He is going to look at 2 different areas: 1.Angio Neurological Oedema testing (blood test) 2. Migraine issues. He thinks that I may have a neurological issue and they did a blood test for the Angio Oedema. if that comes back negative, then he will be sending me to a Neurologist. My issues have subsided...I only feel shooting pain in my neck or chest when I have to poop or when I get hungry. In the middle of the night, my stomach grumbles and I start to get bad heartburn right over my heart, I get dull headaches and neck dull pains and my throat feels like it is closing up a lil, so I get up and drink water and sit up in the bed and watch tv until it all calms down and I fall back asleep.