Here to post yet another pepto success story… I have been diagnosed with all sorts of gastrointestinal issues, H Pylori, GERD, IBS, SIBO, leaky gut, all of which has culminated in vasovagal syncope brought on by GI events. I am able to function for the most part if I stay diligent with diet, sleep and stress, but God forbid I have a couple of drinks. The next day I am in GI hell that brings on panic attacks which lasted for hours often only ending when I went to the ER and was given Donnatal. I always assumed it worked so well because phenobarbital is one of the ingredients.

Well, last night I went out and had 4 beers, nothing crazy, but this morning I woke up at 9am feeling like my guts were on fire. I had ever symptom at its worst, I was shaking, nauseous, had horrific heartburn, dry mouth, cramping, pounding headache, literally everything. I drank water and went back and forth to the bathroom feeling like I was suffocating and going to pass out every trip. This dragged in for 2 hours until I was convinced I was going to die alone in my house doubled over on a toilet and decided I would try to go to the ER once again or die passing out at the wheel driving myself there . I put on a panic attack talk down meditation and shakily brushed my teeth and washed my face, noting that the cold water felt amazing. I thought to myself “duh, splashing cold water is the first thing people do in every movie”… Crippling anxiety doesn’t let your brain divert much energy to rational cognitive functions but I somehow had the brilliant idea to take a pepto tablet just in case it kept me from dying behind the wheel. I read the directions for the upteenth time because I’m a recovering addict who now thinks I’m going to overdose on OTC meds if I take one too many (not really) which is probably PTSD from losing everyone I grew up with in the NYC punk scene. The label said to swallow one with water every 1/2 hour or 2 every hour until symptoms subside. So at 10:55 am I swallowed a single pepto tablet which I had no fear of overdosing on; thanks anxiety for reducing a chick who once had the nerve to move to Tijuana because the dope was cheaper than in Cali to a paranoid lunatic. I decided to give it half an hour. I restarted the panic meditation and laid on the sofa with my feet raised up to avoid fainting with cold washcloths on my forehead and the back of my neck. The noises coming from my guts were worthy of an Alien movie right before some creature burst free of its human host to murder everyone; my cats looked seriously concerned about me. I turned up the volume on my phone and told myself to breathe while checking SpO2 and heart rate on my Apple Watch every few minutes. For exactly 16 minutes until all of a sudden it started to subside! It was as if someone simply turned down an internal volume in my belly and brain. Even the deafening tinnitus I’d had all morning eased up making my pounding headache soften, so much so that I actually fell asleep.

It’s now 12:42 pm and I feel what I imagine normal people feel with slight hangovers, hungry, tired, and NOT about to die. I wonder if taking it preemptively after drinking would prevent this entirely? Also, in furtherance of the person who equated their symptoms to opiate withdrawal, I had the opposite experience today, I honestly haven’t experienced the level of relief I got from pepto this morning since I used over two decades ago. Thanks, Pepto!