Coffee, I’ll Miss You — What They Discovered During My Recent Endoscopy

By Nancy Johnson Horn, Editor

So, July was a terrible month for me, healthwise.. But let me back up a bit. I got what I thought was the stomach flu on July 8 and 12. Around the same time, my oldest kid got sick with the same symptoms (nausea and vomiting). Around July 20 I felt sick again (nausea). The next day my youngest son got sick (vomiting — he doesn’t really talk, so I’m not sure if he felt sick before that). Then when I was in Chicago, I felt sick on July 24 (nausea and vomiting) and then felt sick on July 27 (nausea). On August 2nd, I felt sick again (nausea and vomiting). In the midst of all this, I went from Lactose Sensitive to Lactose Intolerant and intolerant to other foods and also had another issue (I need to keep some things private!)

I went to see a GI doctor on July 30, but I guess I underplayed the nausea and vomiting. It was decided I needed to get tested for Celiac Disease, eat more fiber, and if I didn’t get better I would get a colonoscopy.

But I didn’t get better. After I got sick on the afternoon and night of August 2nd and the only GI doc in the practice I could reach told me to go to the hospital emergency room to stop the vomiting, I had reached my limit. I knew I would be okay the next day, but something was seriously WRONG.
I called the GI doc’s office on Monday morning and they saw me two hours later. The doc agreed that it was something else and scheduled me for an upper endoscopy the next day. The focus had shifted to my stomach. Luckily I tested negative for Celiac.

I had the procedure and sure enough, they found something. FIVE ULCERS in my stomach and a hiatal hernia.

I’m still waiting for more results– the doctor isn’t sure it it was caused by H.Pylori or from too much acid in my diet (we all know how much I love coffee). By the way, the Endoscopy wasn’t a big deal, I’ll post more about that later. I’ll also be having a Cat Scan next Monday to see if anything else is going on.

Next steps? I’m already dairy free (thank god for almond milk and vegan cheese substitute), I have to cut out coffee and acidic/greasy foods. I was put on a generic version of prilosec and should heal in 6 weeks or so.

Crazy, right?