The Miracle that is Prilosec

Friends, I've had a chronic cough since my teens, and on-and-off shortness of breath for almost as long. So, we're talking decades. A long time. I chalked it up to allergies, and so did my doctors without so much as a "let's see if this is something else" until I was 24 when I had a REALLY REALLY REALLY bad reaction to peanuts that landed me in the emergency room. It wasn't the throat-closing-omg-I'm-dying reaction - it was sharp pains in my stomach that were so bad I could barely even move enough to get myself to the emergency room. At that point, my PCP at the time ordered an Upper GI, which I did, and it indicated that I "might have some reflux", and nothing more was spoken of it other than "stay away from honey roasted peanuts."

Solid plan, doc.

I had my first colonoscopy a few weeks ago. They also wanted to do an endoscopy to "check for celiac" (spoiler alert: it was positive) because my blood tests a couple of years ago indicated that I had it. Through that endoscopy, they saw inflammation in my esophagus and my stomach. In other words: GERD. The doctor put me on Prilosec (and I promptly switched my gastrointestinal care over to her permanently since I'm going to have to go through this every 1-2 years and I loved her straightforwardness and the having of solid plans immediately that I can stick to. SHE IS AMAZING.).

Within three days, the cough that had plagued me for literally decades was gone. Just...vanished. Like, I didn't know what to do with all that time that was no longer spent coughing and clearing my throat. It was NOTICEABLE. People pointed it out, that kind of noticeable.

I haven't been so compliant with it over the past few days. Part of it was negligence, sure, but I was also curious about what would happen.

Shortness of breath and that cough returning full force is what effing happened. My esophagus is so inflamed that it's keeping me from drawing in a full breath.

I am floored. I took it this morning and the cough that kept me up half the night last night was gone within an hour. UNBELIEVABLE.

I also started seeing a dermatologist to finally get rid of this rosacea that has been plaguing me since, well, my 20s. (This is an ongoing pattern and why I make the sweeping generalization that doctors are human turds in coats.) 

I figure why not, since I'm getting a whole bunch of other medical stuff addressed, why not just go all the way and address it all, right? I reached the point where I'm finally tired of my medical needs not being met and I'm going to speak up for myself, and my goodness, it's working. FINALLY.

ANYWAY.

Again, I brought it up to my PCP at the time that it started happening, she threw me some face gel, and we never spoke of it again even when I tried to bring up that it wasn't working. I now have a special face wash, all of the face creams, and another one coming. My face is already starting to heal and it has only been four days.

Let me tell you, friends. I finally found a good PCP that actually listens. I didn't think that existed, but there she is.

I'm hoping that I'll have all of my medical stuff wrapped up and be on an even keel by June. I have my next thyroid appointment in March, as well as my first appointment with my new gastro, and then I am having the hysterectomy March 15. Even if I have to have thyroid surgery, it's going to be a cakewalk. I'm also choosing to look at the first half of 2021 as "that funny time where I visited doctors 1-3 times a week for a while" and let it be a Comical Thing that Happened on the road to being as healthy as I can be.

And let me tell you, as soon as I have this hysterectomy done, LOOK OUT WORLD. RYAN'S BECOMING AN ATHLETE. It's happening. It is decided.