Strange Symptoms? Stay the course!

When you feel that something is “off” in your body, trust yourself. I’ve found that ignorance isn’t bliss in this case. In early April of 2021, I developed a slight pressure just above my sternum. It wasn’t necessarily painful. It was distracting more than anything. I gave it a day or two to go away and it didn’t. 

My long-term general practitioner was out of town so I made an appointment with one of the covering physicians. She seemed boggled by my complaint of “pressure” in my chest and suggested that it could be acid reflux. I just didn’t agree and was fairly vocal about that. I was on a daily Rx reflux medicine that had been doing it’s job. I wanted to go for an endoscopy but she said that that procedure was overkill. She insisted that there were other steps that would come first. She referred me to an ENT to do a scope of my throat. 

That scope of my throat involved some numbing nasal spray and a small scope going up my nose and into the back of my throat. Nothing abnormal was discovered. The ENT commented that everything looked good. He concurred that my ailment was probably acid reflux related. I STILL didn’t agree and said so. I have experience with reflux. This was not that.  

At my request, my doctors scheduled an endoscopy through the gastroenterology department. This test also came back normal. Knowing what I know now, I am completely incredulous to the fact that they didn’t discover the large mass that had been gripping my esophagus.

By now, my symptoms were piling up and getting worse. I often had no appetite. When I did eat, food wouldn’t go down. It felt like it was getting stuck in my esophagus. Sometimes it would sit there and burn. Liquids were OK. Food was bad. I remember trying to take a vitamin one morning and it got stuck going down. It was scary because it really burned. The only way to get it out of there was to put my finger down my throat to bring it back up. That was the end of my taking my medications or vitamins. 

I went back to the gastroenterologist for a follow-up because I KNEW something larger was going on. He referred me for a test that would study the PH of my stomach. While I knew that this wasn’t going to be helpful, I felt like I needed to prove to the doctors that IT WASN’T ACID. Getting the test would help rule out acid once and for all, I thought. This test would have involved sticking a tube through my nose, down into my stomach for 24 hours. The PH of my stomach would register on a machine in regular intervals. 

Fortunately for me, I never had to go through that test. In the weeks leading up to that scheduled test, I went to Acute Urgent Care for a cough that I figured was unrelated. That is where they discovered the mass that was an incredibly aggressive form of cancer, called Diffuse Large B-Cell (Non-Hodgkins) Lymphoma. 

Bottom line? If you have abnormal symptoms that just don’t feel right, stay with it!! Don’t let your doctors minimize your concern. Document everything. Write down dates and symptoms in a notebook. Carry that notebook along with you for consistency. I HOPE that you find out that your ailment isn’t anything serious. It’s never a waste of time to keep records. Whatever the outcome, you’ll be glad you did!

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2 thoughts on “Strange Symptoms? Stay the course!

  1. Listening to your body and being persistent is sage advice! I’m so glad you finally got answers even though they were scary!

  2. Thank you for pushing. Me to check out my very identical symptoms. I forever will listen to my body. God bless you my friend.

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