"Upper Endo" Time

A close friend who works in a pharmacy has really been on my case about getting into the doctor's office to have my esophagus looked at for any damage due to the affects of acid reflux. I've had GERD (Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease) symptoms for about 2 years now. This may sound bad but I don't remember having any symptoms before I was married. Soon after I was married though, the symptoms really ramped up.

(Clarification #1) Before I am misunderstood any further, I must say being married to my wife is the second most wonderful gift God has ever given me. The first is salvation through his one and only son Jesus Christ. All that said, that doesn't mean that marriage isn't stressful (sorry had to put in the double negative). In fact, I think marriage is much more stressful for me than it is for her. I thought I was easy going until I met her. But, the circumstances surrounding our relationship and marriage, to say the least, were the most stressful I've encountered in my life, bar none. (I know, talk about opening a can of worms.) I'll save all that for perhaps another blog all together. So super-stress is my current theory on why I may have acquired GERD.

(Digression #1) My wife and I were visiting some close relatives this summer and I non-chalantly brought up the fact that I suffer from this strange "disease" common to more than six million Americans. It came up most likely because I had to decline some food item or caffeinated beverage being offered to me. I don't voluntarily like to bring attention to it unless someone asks or it would seem awkward not to mention why I decline. There are enough people in the world who have much worse health problems.

I quickly and caringly received a friendly commercial on the Hallelujah Diet from Hallejuah Acres. All that said we drove away from their house with a hand-me-down juicer from Champion. This is one of those mid-range juicers no less than $200. We were so grateful for their generosity.

(Rabbit trail ahead...) Have you ever juiced anything? Carrots for example, are great for your eyes, nails and I'm sure much more. We decided to throw in spinach and after awhile a chunk of beet or two. Wow what a drink! Let's just say it's an acquired taste. It's a little much to handle at first when everything (and I mean the kitchen sink) is thrown in there. So a common recommendation for newbie juicers is carrots because it is sweet and isn't as hard on the stomach as perhaps tomato juice. With carrots I couldn't believe how fast my nails grew. I'm accustomed to cutting them about every two weeks or so. But juicing about four times a week for month or so straight had me trimming them almost every week.

Again, back to GERD, I finally went in to get an upper endoscopy from my animated and I-absolutely-love-my-job gastroenterologist. He didn't find a bit of damage. Thank you Lord! So I took that to mean... "Start making those wise decisions regarding your overall health that you know you should've long ago." Like exercising regularly, drinking lots of water, getting good rest and relax. The only one I'm really succeeding at right now is drinking lots of water.

So what does juicing have to do with all this? This summer, the Hallelujah Acres site had testimonial after testimonial praising the diet because of how it completely masked their GERD symptoms. Several said that if they got lazy and stopped juicing after about three weeks, symptoms would come back much weaker than before but nevertheless would come back. Still, if I could mask symptoms by eating foods as naturally as possible, by juicing or otherwise and avoid taking meds, then great!

Well I juiced with the help of my lovely wife for almost two months. After we let up a bit, the heartburn returned and I had to see my doctor again. He said to take Omeprisole (generic for Pepcid) twice a day instead of the once-a-day I was currently prescribed. And it was on that visit that I begged to see the gastroenterologist and have an upper endoscopy. What you don't know can hurt you was my philosophy.

Let's just say the results were a relief but the whats next question was proposed by my doctor minutes before he put me under. "Surgery?" he asked? "Uh that's an absolute last resort!" I replied.

So that takes us back to the making wise decisions about my overall health and getting some real discipline going. God is good. Gotta take it a day at a time!