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| Self help |
| Patient stories |
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Phil Jacques - 50 years old and works as a science teacher.
Phil has suffered from the symptoms of gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GORD) for 20 or 30 years. The predominant symptom is heartburn, which is a painful burning feeling rising from the stomach or lower chest up towards the neck.
'I have had it for years, but I didn't know it as GORD back then. I just thought that it was severe indigestion. But over the years the pain has just got steadily worse.' Until about 10 years ago, Phil tried to relieve his symptoms by taking a variety of over-the-counter medicines. 'To start off with the antacids would help, but then the pain would return. Finally, I got to the stage where I could hardly eat anything without being in pain - and often I would actually vomit after eating.'
Phil found that his GORD symptoms had a huge impact on his life, ''Life was just miserable, I was constantly bloated even after eating just two or three mouthfuls of food. My diet became very restricted; I could only really eat very small amounts of bland carbohydrates, such as potato or rice, without suffering afterwards.'' As his symptoms got worse, Phil found that his sleep was also disturbed, ''I could only get about 2 hours of full sleep a night - the pain and discomfort would keep me awake.'' Phil found that GORD also affected his social life, ''I just didn't want to go out to eat. I know that if I did I would regret it later and that I would be in pain - it really wasn't pleasant. But you get sick of having to make excuses.''
Eventually, Phil discussed his symptoms with his GP. Phil had an endoscopy, which is a fairly common procedure in which a tiny camera attached to a narrow tube is passed through the mouth and down the throat into the stomach. This procedure confirmed that he had GORD and he was prescribed an H2-receptor antagonist, which is a drug that suppresses stomach acid. ''The drug seemed to help but after a few years I started to get the symptoms again.'' In November 1996, Phil''s symptoms became so bad that he was taken into hospital. ''I was convinced that something was very wrong - the pain was so bad'', he said. An endoscopy confirmed that Phil was suffering from oesophagitis (inflammation of the oesophagus), and he was prescribed a proton pump inhibitor, an acid-suppressant tablet that is commonly taken once a day.
Phil was very satisfied with the relief he got from taking the proton pump inhibitor and he has been taking this medication ever since. ''With the proton pump inhibitor, I can lead a normal life again. I still get the symptoms of GORD every so often, probably about two or three times a month, but it doesn't seem to be related to anything I have eaten; it just seems to come out of the blue.''
Phil now leads an active life, he likes to go to the gym a couple of times a week and he doesn't smoke. ''Many people think that GORD is caused by the way you live your life, but in fact it's the exact opposite - GORD affects your life. I want people to know that GORD is a serious disease and that effective treatment is available.''
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