Background - late 2009

When I started regurgitating food more frequently I tried to find some correlation between what I ate and when I regurgitated. Some foods could cause an immediate reaction. I started to eat a cream cheese pumpkin muffin once and my throat immediately seized up. The last time I had a beer (Beck's Dark) my throat seized up on the first gulp. Both times I got that golf-ball-in-throat sensation but this time it didn't include the radiating pain. It seemed like wheat or yeast or hops or fat could be culprits, so I eliminated all that. I saw an allergist who tested many substances in many locations on my arms and back. He concluded I had absolutely no allergies whatsoever. I knew that was wrong because I at least had distinct seasonal allergies.

In July 2009, Dr. S. ordered an esophageal manometry. It was a confusing experience for me. During the test, the two women administering the test marveled at how random and uncoordinated my swallowing was. It was their off-the-record opinion that my swallowing was "really messed up". Dr. S. looked at the results and declared it was "within normal ranges". Last week Dr. K. looked at those 2009 results and, after hedging quiet a bit about how they were done on a different machine and they were hard to read and he wasn't sure he had the complete report, etc... offered that he thought my lower esophageal sphincter was slightly more relaxed then than it is today but my contractions that should push food downward were clearly not happening correctly.

Dr. S. put me on Nexium. At first it seemed to help. However, after a couple weeks I stopped digesting anything. The stuff I was regurgitating was more recognizable and more intact. The stuff I passed through my digestive system was also more recognizable and more intact. I took myself off Nexium and started digesting things again.

By late summer I was regurgitating more frequently, eliminating more foods and losing more weight. I was eating a lot of rice (rice, rice noodles, rice milk) and in an attempt to slow the weight loss I started drinking several bottles of Ensure each day. By October I was sleeping sitting up and still regurgitating overnight, sometimes more than once each night.

I heard from a friend about a doctor who did a test for food sensitivities that found reactions that hadn't shown up on other tests. I saw Dr. W. in December and he ordered an IgG anti-body test. It indicated I had severe reactions to corn, rice, dairy, yeast, cashews, coffee, peppermint, chocolate, sesame and bean sprouts while I had lesser reactions to several other foods. I removed those foods from my diet and immediately stopped regurgitating overnight. Over the next few weeks as I continued to refine my diet the regurgitation would come and go but it was never so intense as it had been before I got the IgG results. After several weeks I was regurgitating a bit more so I went over the list again. There was peppermint in my toothpaste so I changed toothpaste. Again the regurgitation immediately improved. Dr. W. recommended several dietary supplements that would bolster my digestive system, supply needed nutrients and reduce inflammation. Dr. W. suspected that chronic inflammation was the underlying cause of my current problems as well as the ulcerative colitis I had in the 1980s.

Around this time I saw a gastroenterologist, Dr. R., for a second opinion to compare with Dr. S. He heard my story and said I should take Nexium. I immediately said "No" and explained my Nexium experience. I described the food supplements I had just started and he shook his head dismissed the idea that those could help. Since I didn't want to do Nexium, he suggested I try the supplements for a while then come back in a few weeks. I didn't go back.