Bat Girl Leaves Her Cave for Fruit

I seem to learn some lessons in a cave, far away from anyone else. I know, it's not a good thing to isolate, but I only have so much energy, and some lessons are very hard and require all my attention. I thought that today, I'd post the end results of some of those lessons.

Apparently, the stress test in the hospital has triggered a brutal acid reflux attack. I've never really had what I would call acid reflux before, so I didn't know what it felt like until this week. It feels like a burning golf ball in my throat. I have spent the better part of this week trying to find the magic combination to make it stop. On "good" days, the burning spreads across my chest and intensifies just under the top of the sternum. On "bad" days, the nausea, dizziness, sweating, burning, and difficulty swallowing are only manageable if I sit very, very still with ice on my chest.

I asked my chiropractor if he saw any correlation between a chemical stress test and acid reflux. Hell, yes! was his response. The nuts and bolts of a chemical stress test can be found here. To paraphrase Dr. Mike's explanation (and someone please correct me if this needs editing), the chemicals used to provoke a response in the heart affect primarily the parasympathetic nervous system, which also controls includes the esophageal sphincter. The resting state of this muscle is closed, but my my case, it seems to be stuck open as a result of the chemical used in the test. That's the theory, anyway.

In my searching for options and relief, I came across EarthClinic.com. I couldn't swallow either the aloe vera gel or apple cider vinegar remedies. My husband, Jim, came across this article which contained palatable substitutes. In summary, I have been consuming banana, pineapple, honey, and lots of chamomile tea. I am not pain free today, but I can move around a bit, and that's a start.

Back to my cave...