Day: October 25, 2021

Categories
Healthy Living

Recovering from stress induced GERD

  • Persian Saffron Gold Rice
  • Grilled fish tacos
  • calamari is a no, no BUT good oil makes a diff.
  • ???
  • BentoSprout bento
  • Love her bento:)
  • persimmons and pomegranate trees bearing fruits … orange and red hues are beautiful:)

What are the symptoms of GERD aka GastroEsophageal Reflux Disease?

(Per Mayo Clinic)

  • A burning sensation in your chest (heartburn), usually after eating.
  • A burniing sensation – PAIN! – at night and morning.
  • nausea and stomach cramps
  • Chest pain
  • Difficulty swallowing
  • Regurgitation of food or sour liquid (acid!)
  • Sensation of a lump in your throat – a sore throat
  • Chronic cough
  • Laryngitis
  • New or worsening asthma
  • Disrupted sleep

If you read the above, you will notice how these symptoms can lead the sufferers further into the rabbit hole … the chest pain will trigger heart disease suspcions, thus EKG and related tests are recommended; Coughs and sore throat might be confused with Covid symptoms; same for asthma; difficulty swallowing means that you will be eating less and less, thus, in my case losing 25lbs at the worst time; neasea and stomach aches and pains will lead to further tests, such as colonoscopy after endoscopy.

Then, the worst of all – Disrupted Sleep – with lack of satisfying sleep, one’s mood suffers; making one vulnearble to stress, furthering the symptoms of GERD until it seems like a tenable predicament one is caught in, stuck and unable to get out of. When one is already stressed, disruptive sleep due to buring sensations in the chest region, can further aggrevate the level of anxieties and shake one’s confidence in one’s belief in her/his own body and mind.

So in the midst of all this suffering, what helps? I will share the roadmap of healing that worked for me in hopes that others suffering with the same and similar condition can gain some insights. I bring up GERD here but it can be for any kind of GI troubles we live with that these tools in my toolkit may help with – it’s been reported that the Pandemic restrictions and changes have brought on unusual rise in GI-related diseases as mentioned by the healthcare professionals. Besides, all these tools can be a preventitive measures – regrettably I did not practice – becasue well, the excuse we all have – “because I was too busy for self-care” causing much distress of late.

Suffering and misery loves company? Anyway, the good news, I think is that …

You are not alone.