Leaving no body part untouched! (warning: rant)

Sometimes I like to write notes to my body, proclaiming my hatred for it, but it never writes back. Seriously though, I think my body is out to see if it can systematically take out every inch one at a time and, when one gets better, take out another. Okay, I'm exaggerating a bit, but still, a girl needs to rant once in awhile.

My chest has been hurting non-stop now for five weeks. Tomorrow I finally make the switch from Zantac to Nexium and hope I don't have a bad reaction like I did the last time I tried a PPI. When the standard dose of Zantac wasn't working, my gastro doubled it to 300mg twice a day and ever since then (9 days now), I have having this incredibly strange experience of being super constipated yet having 8-10 (tiny) BMs per day. I have tremendous upper back pain to accompany my chest pain now (I'm assuming because of the constipation). I've also developed the joys of the perma-acidic taste in my mouth that nothing can quench (can something quench this that I don't know about? Please do share!)

Then today, I had a bronchial challenge test because I've been dealing with some shortness of breath issues over the past six months and was told I have reactive airways. Not that I have anything to do with that information, since it may or may not mean I have asthma, or one of a number of other things. Argh!

At least my Remicade rash has finally gone away and I'm nearly off the steroids I've been taking the last three weeks for that!

Okay, enough pity party for me today. Sorry for the rant. This GERD stuff just has me scared and upset. I'm a fitness buff and haven't been able to do so much as jog down my block without my chest feeling like it's going to explode during the last month (last time I went running I ended up in urgent care). With the Crohn's I feel like I have something of a handle on what's going on even if it can be unpredictable as all hell, but this chest pain has really gotten the better of me. Here's hoping the meds work and I can get back to my tri training ASAP.

Go ahead and shout! I had the chest pain - and still do some. Other things to check are Magnesium and Potassium levels as I found out being low on those can add/cause chest pains. Gettting my GERD under control is helping. Sleeping sitting up is helping too. I also noticed that low B12 doesn't help the chest pain. The last thing I am looking into is that I heard peri-menopause&menopause can cause chest pain. Yep...I am trying everything to fix this once they found no heart issues.
I think Gumby is right that a flare helps push this to the forefront...my chest pain was occasional and grew more often and stronger over a year...then I had a hospital stay flare up. Think this was all building so take care of your guts and eat kindly, rest and try to stress less (easier said than done!).
Take care and shout from the keyboard any time.

ps...the taste I am not so sure about...I thought it was thrush on mine from the pred...but dentist confirmed no...I am using biotene to keep it hydrated, but no real results yet.

It's OK to rant - you shouldn't keep all that inside - we have enough to deal with already! After 7 surgeries for my CD my gallbladder decided it was jealous and needed to come out. I tried to get the doctor to just take out anything I didn't need while he had me open - why keep it so it will give problems later if I can live without it now was my thinking. The acid reflux is a constant issue for me, being tired all the time, and I usually have a headache about every day. When it's cold my bones hurt and it it's hot I get nauseated. Very few days is there a happy medium of things, but I just keep on going.

Hi Carmen, I started back up on Pentasa in August/September and just stopped taking it last Friday, so we'll see if I notice anything.

Interestingly enough, I have not been taking anything for my GERD (except for the occasional slippery elm bark when I can remember) since I had an allergic reaction to Nexium last Tuesday and my chest pain has gone from near constant and 7-8/10 down to daily but much more occasional and more like 3-4/10. So great news, but hard to explain (unless the Zantac was somehow exacerbating the chest pain...which wouldn't explain what made my chest start hurting in the first place or why it has stopped). Oh body, why must you confuse me so!