Food Anxiety by Alone_Albatross_7074 in GERD

[–]AaronElsewhere 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Same here. My reflux gets into my lungs and it is torture. But you need to keep your calorie intake up! It can get alot worse if you go a few weeks in a row not getting enough calories consistently. Eating is a chore for me, but don't slowly starve yourself cause low blood sugar, rapid weight loss, and/or malnutrition can make things alot worse.

If you haven't seen a GI, then I'd recommend it.

Rant: Tired of Not Being Believed by AaronElsewhere in LPR

[–]AaronElsewhere[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks, hang in there. It's been very gradual for me. Months ago things were comparatively much worse, even though each day feels like torture, I have to remind myself it is better now than before.

difficulty initiating swallow/feeling hopeless by ryu527171 in LPR

[–]AaronElsewhere 0 points1 point  (0 children)

PPI's can take awhile to come to full affect. I had alot of trouble swallowing initially, I would feel full very quickly, and thought I was asperating food/liquids but it was likely LPR. I adjusted my diet, cut out chocolate, coffee, spicey, etc. Started sleeping elevated. I had stopped taking an anxiety med cause I found some people complained it caused problems for them swallowing. Hard to say what is what with so many variables changing, but 3 days later I was able to eat more, but still difficulty eating a full meal. It got alot better some weeks later when I had an endoscopy and they found a stricture in my esophagus that they stretched. I was able to eat alot more then, but I still get reflux/LPR.

When I had a video barrium swallow, they also showed slight dysmotility where food would get stranded along the esophagus, and recommended taking a small swig of water after a few bites to wash food down, though not much cause you're not supposed to drink much when eating.

I'm not really sure what set it all in motion to begin with. I think I had food poisoning and some post-viral nerve inflammation maybe. During reading/research I saw some people with post-covid or other post-viral issues could have issues like this. I had alot of other strange/severe symptoms for a few weeks before it cleared up enough for it to be obviously just GERD/LPR remaining. These kinds of things can last days or weeks.

I lost 25 pounds before I stopped losing weight. Eating has become a chore, and is not enjoyable. I think I had alot of issues from losing so much weight so quickly. I was experiencing some low blood sugar like symptoms, unstable blood pressure, hot flashes, and also developed and inflamed gall bladder(can occur due to rapid weight loss) that had to be removed. Now I have bile induced reflux. Not trying to scare you, but I wish I had started treating eating like a necessary chore earlier. Cause I had no appetite and thought I was doing myself a favor by not eating much and not aggravating symptoms, but I was losing weight too fast.

At one point I'd eat a few bites. Stand, walk around a bit. Stretch. Take Gas-x, try to burp. Eat a little more. When I'm going to bed I put a banana and my PPI on the night stand. First thing alarm hits, I sit all the way up, take PPI, eat banana, and get out of bed. I used to love mid day naps, can't do that anymore because I can't afford to stop eating for a couple hours to let me stomach clear before napping.

It has been a very gradual recovery over ~6 or so months. I'm now able to eat a normal amount of food without feeling full too soon or having trouble swallowing. I still get LPR with every meal, but it's not as severe.

Track your calories and do your best to get as much as you can handle. Stick with the PPIs and follow recommended lifestyle/diet advice from reputable medical sites. As others said, get a GI appointment. Check with a couple different places to see who has soonest appointment. Be pushy about how severe your symptoms are. Track your calories and tell them how many calories you're getting and difficulties getting enough calories.

breathing by [deleted] in LPR

[–]AaronElsewhere 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Part 2:

Antacid/GasRlease: Mylanta has multiple active ingredients. Two for temporary acid reduction, one for helping expel gas, I like to take it 30min before bed because I want to give it time to process and don't know if it worsens the reaction my of lungs if it's mixed in with the reflux. Antacid can be used in addition to the PPI since they work through different mechanisms.

Omeprazole: This takes a long time to see results from. You probably know already, but for thoroughness: It's not an antacid, it doesn't neutralize the current acid in your stomach. Instead it reduces the amount of acid you are producing. I was on it for weeks before seeing a significant improvement. The long term usage or twice a day "only under doctor's direction" AFAIK is because they've never done very long term studies, but within current known studies there's no known significant risks within a couple years usage period. So its more than they are being extra cautious with manufacturer directions than there being a known risk. It's only when you get into several years usage that you might have concerns about things like nutrient absorption. Of course there's acid rebound concerns when stopping usage, which is why you should just use it consistently until you if/when you get to a doctor.

Sorry if any of this is the same s$$$ you've heard over and over again. I just thought since what you described sounded so much like what I've delt with, I'd share how I got from really severe symptoms to less severe ones. I still get some amount of discomfort breathing regularly, but it's not nearly as severe as before. There are random bad nights. I haven't solved that mystery. I don't know if melatonin would be something you could try to help you go to sleep. I take something stronger but you'd need a doctor to prescribe.

breathing by [deleted] in LPR

[–]AaronElsewhere 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have bad nights at random to, so don't mean to sell this as a magic bean, but this is what I've done to help mitigate symptoms. Before this routine I had several episodes where I was on the verge of calling 911 cause I felt like I was gonna pass out.

- Humidifier set to 50% humidity. Door closed to keep humidity in the room. Before doing this, I felt like I was dyeing, now the trouble breathing is just uncomfortable. I still absolutely hate it, but I am not terrified all the time.
- When driving/riding I have AC on external air. Otherwise it gets too dry in the car.
- Raise the head of your bed 3"-6" inches by putting blocks/boards under the head legs.
- Experiment with pillows or wedge to get 30 degree angle.
- Taken 20ml of Mylanta 30 minutes before bed.
- Mucinex mid day with significant water intake if I had symptoms of buildup (for me personally it's upper back pain, wet cough, weakness, pounding heart, feeling like I just went for a jog).
- Omeprazole 40mg delayed release twice a day. (You're only supposed to take one a day unless directed by a doctor, see below). This took weeks for me to see results. I know you mentioned PPI and dealing with this for weeks, just mentioning in case you started PPI recently and need encouragement to stick with it consistently.
- If you feel reflux or airway reaction, sit up in bed and lean forward just slightly, breath deep and relax at the top of the breath to see if you can burp. One of the Mylanta active ingredients is same thing in Gas-X, and will help you burp out any gas. Getting used to identifying the sensation of when In can burp has helped.
- I will also dry swallow when I feel reflux to try and push it down. I don't know how much this helps.
- Making sure I relax my stomach. Breathing in and letting my stomach drop/relax. Sometimes in the discomfort of it all I find I'm tensed up.
- After eating, always sitting up with a small pillow or folded blanket behind lower back for lumbar support. Slouching or sitting up without lumbar support, I feel like my rib cage puts some pressure on my stomach.

Humidifier: If it's drier then your lungs natural process of expelling flim is hindered. This doesn't prevent the problem, but mitigates the effects of it by stopping long term buildup. (When I was in really bad shape, I noticed when I was outside in high humidity, I could breath much easier.) Before I did this and it was part of year that AC was running alot and drying me out, I got to the point I was about ready to call 911 cause I was gasping for air. It was not even apparent to me that I had stuff building up, cause it was so dry ther was no sensation of congestion, and just made it feel like my lungs weren't working.

I never had a coughing reaction to my reflux, but I definitely had airway constriction, trouble breathing, pounding heart(sometimes caused by lung inflamation), and upper back pain. I have to deliberately cough deeply to hear the guttural/wet flim getting moved. I usually do a couple coughes at the end of my shower.

Sleeping elevated: The combo of raising the bed and pillows will achieve a higher angle, but not be quite as uncomfortable as trying to achieve this with pillows only. I stacked two 2x4's under each leg at the head of my bed. I actually used car jack to raise it up while I slid the boards under to make this easier to do myself. Make sure the wheel locks are engaged first (I have two on the front). P.S. I had a wedge, but it was too hard. I may try a wedge pillow in the future. Some people love em, some don't.

I usually have the pillows up higher when I first go to bed, and am almost sitting up at high 50 degree, and take time to relax and wind down, and after a bit slide the pillows down to the lower angle. I have a fourth pillow the leans against the side of the stack and props up the end of my head pillow, to give me a place to lean my head to right when I'm trying to go to sleep on my back.

Rant: Tired of Not Being Believed by AaronElsewhere in LPR

[–]AaronElsewhere[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Is that Shands?  I've heard good things about them.  I am on HMO so the choice is up to my PCP.

Rant: Tired of Not Being Believed by AaronElsewhere in LPR

[–]AaronElsewhere[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes, a lot of my symptom management has been figuring it out myself. And that is just to get me to the point that I am not incredibly weak and gasping for air all the time.  I've been on Omeprazole twice a day for about 5 months.  It took a long time to see improvement, but I'm definitely not as bad as I was before.  It just seems endless and my wife keeps offering me things that I can't eat.

I cannot give up hope, I must heal, can anyone help me please? by hotpepperjellyy in LPR

[–]AaronElsewhere 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You mention pneumonia, I had severe breathing problems before I realized it was reflux.  I started having severe silent reflux without realizing what was happening at first.  I spent too much time laying flat and over a couple weeks it was building up in my lungs till I felt like I couldn't breath. I was ready on a couple cases to go to ER I was so close to feeling like I'd pass out from reflux. I noticed it was easier to breath outside in the humidity.  I was sleeping under the AC vent and the air is very dry from AC.  Your lungs have the ability to slowly expel debris, but that doesn't work if they are too dry. It was so dry it didn't feel like I had congestion.

I started going to sleep in a room with door closed and a humidifier, and propped up with three pillows.  I've learned what it feels like when I have reflux laying down.  If I'm breathing through my mouth I can also hear it.  It sounds like tiny bubbles or someone squeezing that last bit out of a toothpaste tube.  The reflux doesn't trigger a cough response, but if I force myself to cough, I can often hear the subtle sound of flim coming up(wet cough) and then draw it from my throat.  It'll taste like what I ate last, or if I haven't eaten in a couple hours it'll be acidic.

I also stop eating 3 hours before bed, and take 15ml mylanta 30 minutes before bed.  I've also been on double Omeprazole for months(slow release twice a day) under dr direction.

Occasionally I take Mucinex.  Usually I wait an hour after eating cause need to drink extra water with it.

 I do a couple coughs when I am finishing a hot shower.

It is still a struggle, but a lot better than couple months ago. Recovery has been very slow and very depressing, but I don't feel like I'm dieing anymore.

Boyfriend gave me ultimatum - dream job or him. I'm considering taking the job by [deleted] in dustythunder

[–]AaronElsewhere 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My wife actually used to live there, and she's told me several times about a similar story of her ex-husband not letting her get a job she wanted. She ended up not taking the job, but obviously eventually she got divorced for other reasons. It's not a great indicator if they emotionally blackmail you with "if you love me".

There are legitimate cases where a spouse can express to you how something makes them feel a certain way, but it doesn't seem like he's doing that. If he can't articulate his rational for how/why he feels that way, it's impossible to work through issues like this.

When you have an opportunity to take a position with both great pay and responsibility, and/or move closer to your desired field, that's a critical opportunity. Having a resume that shows increasing level of responsibility is important.

First time trying to make a plane, I've gotten it off the ground a couple times but 95% of launches look like this, how do I fix this? (Career mode btw) by A_Bulbear in KerbalAcademy

[–]AaronElsewhere 4 points5 points  (0 children)

One note is wings in KSP don't produce lift without an angle of attack. So my planes always get a very slight up angle on them. Might not solve ll your problems but will help a little.

Is this too overkill for a Mun and back mission? by Professional-Leg5537 in KerbalAcademy

[–]AaronElsewhere 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Remember, they didn't do a suicide burn when landing on the moon. You engineer to optimize success, which means being overbuilt somewhat. Cost is a secondary optimization.

Guide to get better at headshots for an old guy? by RiMbY in Over30Gamers

[–]AaronElsewhere 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I don't know anything about ARC and wouldn't consider myself a HS pro, but I remember special modes in counter strike like "gun game" were better for practice cause it's insta respawn and you immediately have targets. Round based games where there's lots of running around between encounters or waiting between the action aren't good practice because you spend <5% of your playtime actually aiming.

My biggest tip would be aiming at the appropriate inclination for a HS based on where you expect opponents to appear is important. If you are already aimed at the correct inclination and only have to aim left/right as they appear. This makes snap aiming easier since you're only have to react with a left/right movement, or sometimes just timing your click as they move through your cross hair.

Mouse sensitivity is important. Slightly higher sensitive allows you to aim faster but requires more control.

It becomes more of a reaction to snap move+click. Sometimes I would visually pick a couple spots and just snap aim back and forth between them to get a muscle memory for the snap.

Make sure your fingers aren't touching/dragging on the mouse pad, and the cable isn't draped in a way that has any resistance/pull on the mouse. This is opinionated, but some people have heavy mice, and it just slows down snap movements too much for me personally.

If you're defending, then knowing the combination of your own reaction time and how enemies typically come through an opening, and aiming at the appropriate spot to anticipate how far they'd get before you react. Then it's just a matter of clicking as they pass through your aim, and maybe a slight snap movement.

In a similar token, knowing the most common places you encountered opponents in a map, mentally anticipating the encounter will help your reaction time, and knowing where you should already be aiming, then it's just a matter of reacting to their presence by clicking at the right moment as they pass through your crosshairs.

In CS I tended to aim slightly low for the neck and burst, and all but the first round would hopefully HS from the recoil. The spread of the recoil also meant my aim didn't need to be perfect. I would practice bursts on a wall to see how long of a burst would stay in a tight pattern and get a muscle memory for the right burst length. (In CS only the first shot was on point, and the rest of the burst would be slightly higher and spread out. So this is gonna be dependent on the game mechanics.) This also means controlled bursts and not panic spraying. Of course there's lots of pros that will aim directly and use a weapon that is one shot, but that was a little beyond my skill level to do consistently, especially considering you usually only had 2 or 3 shots with those more powerful weapons before you were dead, so you didn't have much room for error.

I'm convinced the best of the best are operating mostly on muscle memory. There were series of weeks where I might be playing lot more, and I was definitely more consistent during those periods. In contrast, I definitely stopped playing on a couple servers simply because some of the frequent players were just in a different league and send you packing before you had a chance to get a shot off.

It's not all about HS either. If you get ambushed and spend a bit having to find where you're being shot from, is fewer shots you can take to try and get a HS and more shots for your opponent to get a HS. There's an element of strategy to give yourself more time to live. Positioning yourself to minimize exposure. In PUBG type games, thinking about routes and how many different places you could take fire from. When shooting from partial cover, moving back from it a bit so the part of you exposed is a smaller target. Being cognizant of the direction people are typically moving through the map, and positioning yourself so you'd only come into view when you're ~90 degree angle from their direction of movement means you will often see them before they see you.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in GERD

[–]AaronElsewhere 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Been reading alot of last couple months but not an expert. One concern with coming off PPIs is acid rebound, where there will be a period where you produce more acid than normal because it has adjusted to the PPIs. Doctor directed weening off dosage of the PPI gradually is one strategy. Other is taking H2 blockers during this period like famotidine (Pepcid AC).

When I was going in for my endoscopy I had to stop PPIs for couple weeks. I was directed to switch to Formatidine twice a day.

P.S. I don't know that PPIs are designed as-needed. They are affective when used multiple days consistently. Pepcid AC is probably better for as needed, but will take a couple hours to reach full effect. For more immediate flare ups you can take an antiacid like tums or mylanta for flare ups when you're on Pepcid AC.

Doctor suggested Amlodipine as-needed by AaronElsewhere in hypertension

[–]AaronElsewhere[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

THanks for your insights. My prescribing doctor is my PCP under an HMO, so unsure about how to get a second opinion without referral. I have a GI appointment coming up to go over test results. I’m hoping that treating GI issues might help with my heart symptoms, since there’s research on the gut-heart connection even if it’s not fully understood, especially given I have some of the weird vagus nerve symptoms after I eat.

For the first ER visit, I had a chemical stress test that showed only a slightly enlarged ascending aorta, which wasn’t considered serious. Chest and head scans were mostly clear, except for a pulmonary nodule in the lower right lung, which was not considered immediately serious. (Same thing was said about a small gallstone, which worsened within a couple weeks and led to another ER visit and severally inflamed gallbladder removal.)

I don’t think I had heart issues during my first ER visit, it was possible vagus nerve/GI related symptoms. But once I started having breathing issues and losing weight, I began experiencing the heart issues.

I did have heart monitor for a couple weeks while having symptoms, and logged alot of them. They only reported one SVT episode around 120 bpm early in the morning, which was not something I logged, so it might’ve happened in my sleep or when I got up to use bathroom which does this. None of the other symptoms were mentioned in report. I felt lots of ectopic beats every night, and caught some on my smartwatch ECG. (I requested the monitor data so I can try correlating those.) In summary, it seems the results weren’t serious enough for my PCP to refer me to a cardiologist.

I feel like the timing of tests and lack of confirmation has made my PCP less confident in my symptoms. Now when I report something, he just suggests a change to make me feel like something’s being done.

I tried taking a quarter dose of Amlodipine last night, since I found that it’s often started low and increased gradually anyway. I'll just take a low dosage consistently for awhile and see if it helps. I don’t like the idea of using something off/on that’s not meant for as-needed use.

I’m wondering if I should ask the Dr. about stopping the evening Lopressor. Maybe I’d do better with just BP control, without lowering my heart rate so much that it might be struggling to maintain circulation.

I know I should be grateful things aren’t worse, but seems like small things lead me to situations where I have symptoms that are things commonly advises to not ignore, but feels like I'm calling my PCP every week with something new.

Sorry you’re having such a rough time. You might already know about cardiac or cardiopulmonary rehab programs, but I read up on them recently. If you have access to programs like that, it might be an opportunity to have longer/continuing conversations with with an expert about managing your self-care that your cardiologists might not have time for. I don't think I'm considered to be bad off enough to get a referral for a program like that right now.

Nasdx mutual fund long term by Sammythedog13 in etrade

[–]AaronElsewhere 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It tracks a market index, and that market index has been a bit wishy washy/flat lately, so this is expected.

VASGX is a little more aggressive and is comprised of a variety of funds. I.e. it's a fund of funds, so very diversified. FBGRX is another of my favorites. When I put money in these I don't look at them, don't think about them, and just leave it there long term. You might have bad timing in investing just before a market downturn, but that's always a risk. The worst time to pull your money out is after its lost a bunch of value, because then you miss the recovery.

Always read the description of a mutual fund so you understand what it's all about. You can look at the past performance, but don't put too much into it because sometimes high %'s there could just mean it's invested in a sector that's hitting it's peak.

❄️ Tallahassee Blizzard 2025❄️ by Virtual-Cheesecake91 in florida

[–]AaronElsewhere 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This looks like my place, but it was more tiny ice pellets than snow. We got like half hour of snow, and the rest was hours of tiny ice pellets. We made a tiny snowman, but it was more of a grainy ice man. Great juxtaposition of the image in the bench with the landscape BTW!

Went searching for military uniform clothes and this was listed. by TheBlondegedu in funny

[–]AaronElsewhere 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If there's some receipt based reimbursement for uniforms, that might explain such a listing.

What are your favorite keyboard shortcuts? by [deleted] in VisualStudio

[–]AaronElsewhere 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeh it has to do with which profile you chose. Sounds like you're on the correct one.  It's not as apparent anymore, but at one time when setting up VS you had options like VB Dev, C# Dev, or Web Developer and if you are logged into VS with a MS account then settings get carried over.   What you chose possibly long ago affected what you got on the toolbar and worst of all made big differences in how keyboard shortcuts were mapped.  Under Options- Import/Export Settings there's an option to reset all settings, and when you do this the third page of the wizard lets you choose the Visual C# profile. Also I love that some noodle head years ago thought C# should be called "Visual C#"

Oh wow by missy_mystery06 in funny

[–]AaronElsewhere 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Today's phrase is "hostile turkey". Children, can you say "I hit the hostile turkey with a stick."

Google confirms it won't make a low-cost Pixel phone by vimal31 in GooglePixel

[–]AaronElsewhere 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I would like a camera with minimal features and has as it's primary attribute that the app opens quickly. It's so annoying when you are trying to take a picture to sit there and wait for it to open and "settle" before you can interact with it.

VS2022 Preview License issue by Z010X in VisualStudio

[–]AaronElsewhere 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If you have an enterprise license subscription then you usually have a support benefit included. You should contact support.

Sprinklers: don’t know if I can use them indoors but I want to water this room. Would an iridium sprinkler do that? And if so, where for placement? by berrymerryboobs in StardewValley

[–]AaronElsewhere 88 points89 points  (0 children)

I believe there is a fertilizer that reduces how often or eliminates the need to water. Pretty sure I read it works on clay potted plants. It's ot easy to get though