This article will tell a short story about a bad case of indigestion I had just 2 weeks ago. Keep in mind I have no formal medical training except I'm certified to administer first aid and cpr.

The Beginnings?

It's Wednesday. I was getting ready to move across town in a few days. I'd just moved into a rental a month previously and I hated it. I guess I was under some stress. OK. Two night before this move I had too many sweets and a pizza. I have a sweet tooth ever since I stopped drinking. That's another story. I didn't sleep very well. My stomach was acting up a little bit, nothing major.

Go on:

I need to run some errands today. It's Thursday. For my first stop I decided to eat at McDonalds. Does anyone else like to stop at McDonalds at the start of a road trip? Well, this another bad habit I need to work on. I love Mickey D's. I worked there as a teenager. I ordered 3 regular hamburgers and a medium coke. That's a healthy breakfast, isn't it? Hmmm. I'm not feeling too well. I'll feel better later surely. I don't sleep too well Thursday night, but I do sleep for 4 or 5 hours.

Interesting:

Today is Friday, I'm definitely feeling worse. My stomach hurts a little. I decide to sleep in even though I have more packing to do. I have what feels like a tightness in my middle chest. I can' relax. I'm nauseous. I have no energy. I manage to finish packing.

The Attack

It's Friday night. I feel terrible. Forget about trying to sleep. My middle chest is tight. If I try to lie down I feel worse. I'm walking around the house just to pass some time. Am I having a heart attack? I remember having symptoms 10 years earlier when I was eating all kinds of weird stuff. I was way overweight at the time. What did I do then? Oh, yea. I took extra strength Mylanta.

I drag myself out the car and drive over to Walgreens. Crap. There is no Mylanta on the shelves. Mylanta is a very popular liquid ant-acid. I ask the pharmacist what to take. She points to some Walgreen's brand ant-acid tablets. They are Gaviscon wannabes. I chew up 5 of these and wash them down with a coke. I found out later even that was a mistake.

I get home and I'm feeling no better. Maybe I'm feeling a little worse. OK, I can't take take this any longer. I'm calling somebody. I go online and find this "ask a nurse service" I'm chatting with someone and finally get to the "please give us $29.95 to help pay for this service". Crap. I'm not paying you for an opinion with no guarantees. Click on the x. That window is gone.

Now What?

Ok, I'm calling the hospital. "Hello. I think I'm having some severe indigestion." Here are my symptoms and here's my information. We talk for a few minutes. The hospital person suggests I talk with a registered nurse. Ok. Great! This is St. Joseph's North in Lutz, Florida by the way. This is a brand new state of the art hospital in North Tampa.

Wow! I'm transferred to talk with a REAL Registered Nurse. And at no charge. We talk for what must be 10 minutes. This is a great service for people like me who don't want to go to the emergency room unless I'm dieing.

What did she say?

The nurse tells me I have GERD. It's bad indigestion. You can look up the medical definition and all the rest. She says I don't want to go the the emergency room for bad heartburn. I agree. Yes. Yes. Yes. The nurse tells me heart attack symptoms and GERD symptoms can be similar.

She says the hospitsl gives patients like me some "red liquid" to drink when I walk in. This liquid will settle the stomach of patients suffering a GERD attack. It will not affect heart attack attack patients. This preliminary diagnostic tool saves time and money for the doctors and the patients.

The nurse tells me greasy food and carbonated drinks are terrible for GERD. Sodium is bad. Caffeine is bad. Beef is bad. Sugar is extremely bad also. So when I went to McDonalds, I was really making it worse. When I drank a coke and chewed up the tablets at Wallgreens, I was making it worse too. I'm such an idiot. We decide I Don't need to go to the hospital. I thank the nurse and hang up.

That's a Relief. What Now?

I'm just going to tough it out. That maybe the worst night I have ever spent. I felt awful. I think i might have finally gotten a half hour's sleep around 8:00 A.M. Well, I finished loading up the car and started moving. It took me a couple trips to move all my stuff. I finally got moved in and immediately went to bed.

I slept on and off for the next 2 days. I drank a little water and ate some salt free crackers. It took almost a week for a return to some kind of normalcy. I suppose if I had gone to the doctor, I could have shortened this recovery time significantly. I'm a cheapskate and I hate spending money on doctors so I self medicated myself with sleep, light eating and water. Well it worked for me.

My Advice:

If this happens to you, go ahead and go the the emergency room if your doctor isn't available or you don't have a regular doctor like me. You really might be having a serious medical issue. What if it is a heart attack? Stay away from greasy fast food if you are under a lot of stress. Cut down on those soft drinks. Well, all of us have stressful lives these days, don't we? Get some exercise. I sound like a commercial, don't I?

Conclusion:

Gerd does not just happen to old people. It can strike anyone. The nurse said nobody dies from indigestion. I felt like dieing, though. Gerd sucks. Maybe you have GERD. I can empathize with you. Otherwise, just go out and enjoy life. It always gets better eventually. I believe it does anyway. Have a great day my friends.