Good News...and The Plan

Jas and I received great news at the cardiologist appointment today: the EKG and Nuclear Stress Test both came back fine.

To quote my sweet friend Melissa, "Whew!" We were extremely thankful for the wonderful results.

Soooooo.......now what? I most definitely had three separate and very uncomfortable/scary episodes. Now what?

Dr. M gave me a prescription for Protonix.

Dr. M said that once cardiac problems have been ruled out, chest pains like the ones I was having are usually due to stomach problems. And he said we could run "thousands of dollars worth of tests" to try to figure out exactly what is going on (reflux, ulcer, ???)...or I could take the medicine and see if I feel better.

Thankfully, I have not had any more acute episodes like I did those three times on Friday and Saturday a week ago...but as I mentioned here, I have continued to feel funny. Funny? I know that is real helpful and specific...but I really can't do much better.

But, being me, I came home from the appt and did research during the children's nap. If a pharmaceutical medicine is needed and the only way to deal with an issue...by all means I am for it. (For example, when I was diagnosed with hypothyroid 8 years ago, I tried to deal with it using natural means. Through diet changes and a supplement my TSH improved greatly (from 14 to 7)...but after trying that for a year, I could see that I wasn't going to be able to get it where it needed to be (under 3) naturally, so I now take Levothyroxine daily and will for the rest of my life).

But...

But...

After doing some research, I'm not going to use that Protonix. I don't rule it out ever...but there are definitely some things I can and should try first.

First, I grabbed my newest favorite book The Handbook of Vintage Remedies by Jessie Hawkins. I mentioned it here when I first received it. It didn't take me long to devour the whole thing. Love. it!

So I looked up GERD and ulcer in the book. And I googled something like "Natural Remedies for Acid Reflux". Between those two sources, I came up with good info and ideas.

These are all things that I read about today that I am going to try:

Drink more water - I read this today and thought "Yep, I just mentioned to Jas two days ago that I really need to do better about drinking more water!"

Take Probiotic - I bought some when I was given the antibiotic prescriptions over the past few months...these are just always a good idea, really

Stop drinking Peppermint tea like it is going out of style - I just started brewing and drinking it over the past few weeks, since a friend who is moving gave me the last of her loose Peppermint leaves (I read this afternoon that Peppermint relaxes your LES (Lower Esophageal Sphincter) which can lead to acid problems...who knew?!?)

Apple Cider Vinegar - Put 1 tsp Bragg's Apple Cider Vinegar in 1/2 cup of water. I could take it straight, but this is much more do-able. I've tried downing it straight before, I thought I was going to start seeing flames shoot out my mouth!

Fennel - Chew 1/2 tsp fennel seed after every meal (I just bought some through the co-op last month, because I'd read how good it is for you!)

Ginger - I could brew some ginger tea with the dried/cut ginger I have....or I have candied ginger I could chew

As I sat at the computer this afternoon (drinking some peppermint tea, of course) and I read all the ideas, I was encouraged that I can begin to tackle this here. Like I said, I can't say I would never take that prescription, but I was definitely encouraged. So, I hopped up, threw out the rest of that cup of peppermint tea...and downed two capsules of probiotics with some Apple Cider Vinegar- laced water!

Funny feeling...be gone!