How It Feels To Be A 23-Year-Old Girl With GERD
Oh no. It was happening again. I could feel my chest tighten. My insides were burning. Every time I opened my mouth, I felt sick. It had been a day since my last episode, and I was hoping I would be in the clear for today. I hadn’t eaten much to prepare for working all night, even though I had been somewhat hungry. Sharp, stabbing pains developed quickly. Everything hurt.
The culprit?
A can of Sunkist.
Gastroesophageal reflux disease, commonly referred to as GERD, is basically a fancy term for heartburn. But it’s not just heartburn. There is intense pressure and pain in your chest, and an awful, acidic taste in your mouth. It can be caused by certain foods or drinks, or is triggered by too much acid in your stomach.
I was diagnosed with GERD when I was 19-years-old. It is common for children and teens to experience symptoms of GERD (25 percent, to be exact), but adults are more prone to the disease. My dad has GERD, so it doesn’t quite surprise me that I have it too.
Even though I didn’t get diagnosed until I was in college, I had experienced symptoms starting when I was 11 or 12. I didn’t quite understand why I was getting heartburn. One episode was brought on by eating a red velvet cupcake (I avoided those treats for years after). But these times were rare. It wasn’t until later that I realized it was a problem.
Specifically, my first episode in a while happened at a Taylor Swift concert.
It was 2015 and I was seeing Taylor at Gillette Stadium for the 1989 tour. We had Five Guys beforehand, and I ate fries and drank a chocolate milkshake. Then when the show started, I had a headache and my stomach hurt. Then my chest hurt. And then I felt so sick that I missed half of HAIM’s set and some of Taylor’s set.
Of course, I felt a bit better once we were in the car. I also haven’t eaten at Five Guys since then.
Normally my episodes were spaced out. I didn’t experience them much. But two days later, I had another. And then another the next day. No matter what I ate, my stomach was aggravated by it. I think I lost a good five or 10 pounds in those three weeks because I avoided eating. I had to call out of work because of the pain. Finally, I bought some of the OTC medications and was able to relieve myself from these episodes. I could eat again.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t get an appointment with a GI doctor until November. That meant I had to head back to school with more OTC meds and hope for the best. It sucked, obviously. I went out with friends one night and drank a lot of Coke (there might have been vodka in there too, sorry Mom). I had stabbing heartburn the rest of the night. I kept having to watch what I ate, even when my friends would be sitting next to me eating pizza and other glorious foods I couldn’t have.
When it came time for my appointment, I was put on medication. Except the meds didn’t work. I still had heartburn every day and continued having episodes. My doctor increased my dosage, and when that didn’t work, he had me take two pills a day. I was up to 200 milligrams a day of the medicine (to put it in perspective, my dad takes 20 milligrams a day of his medicine). My doctor mentioned doing an endoscopy or other tests to determine why I was still having issues, and it freaked me out.
Then I changed medications to the one my dad is on. I started at a higher dosage, and it worked. I woke up every day and didn’t experience heartburn after eating normal food. It was a miracle. All it took was different medication! I was in pain for almost a year and might have had multiple tests. Instead, this could have been easily fixed by trying something new, which my doctor didn’t even consider until I suggested it. Isn’t it great?
I’ve been on the same medication for almost three years now. I recently even decreased my dosage, and I feel wonderful. Of course, I still avoid certain foods. I don’t drink pink lemonade. I try not to eat pepperoni (I recently ate a few pieces for the first time in a while and didn’t really react). And as much as I would love to because they’re so delicious, I don’t order rum and Coke at the bar.
I’ll probably have an endoscopy in a few years to make sure everything is okay and check for symptoms of Barrett’s esophagus (which my dad has). But I’m content with that. It means I’m doing okay. It means I’m somewhat normal.
People tend to avoid speaking up about these kinds of problems because it’s deemed as “embarrassing.” But let’s be real. More than 15 million American adults suffer from this kind of thing. It happens. People with GERD experience extreme heartburn on a daily occurrence.
If you have it, just know that I’m a 23-year-old girl dealing with the same kind of problem. I get it. I understand.
