alphaomega

What a bonus !

I had this cough, this constant (and I mean relentless) throat clearing that would occur periodically throughout the day. Especially after I ate. I would ahem, and AHEM and A.H.E.M. !!!!! all freaking day long. It was irritating as all get out for me and drove my DH up the wall. Had a scope done 9 months ago and sure enough, there was acid erosion in my esophagus.

Was given the purple pill, didn't help. Xantec, nope nothing. Stopped everything and just suffered with it.

I just realized I don't do that anymore. At all. It's gone. Poof. Like magic. like it never existed.

Another alcohol induced ailment bites the dust.

doggonecarl

Yeah, before I quit I was waking myself up at night with a mouthful of stomach secretions. Yuck.

No more.

And I had that constant cough too. Never made the connection to Acid Reflux, but like you, that's gone too.

hypochondriac

I am not sure if it was acid reflux but I had a lot of stomach pain and these weird burps that got stuck in my throat and chest pains... I can't tell you how many niggling health problems I got rid of when I quit drinking

least

I feel better overall than I ever did while drinking. No more feeling like death warmed over, no more shaking in the morning. Yep, I'm a lot healthier sober.

sugarbear1

I can eat spicy food today!!!

Opens up a whole new world....

kadidee

AO, your post just reminded me of my 'acid reflux' fallback. Whenever I was 'out sick' for work, it was because I had 'acid reflux' issues. It wasn't too far from the truth, of course, and after awhile, I had pretty much convinced myself that at no fault of my own, I suffered from this strange condition...not my proudest moment.

SkyeSea

I used to get this too - only way I could get rid of the pain was to get in a really hot shower. Horrendous times that I never want to go back to x

Johnston

Amazing how the nagging disorders go away when alcohol is out of the picture.

DoubleBarrel

It took me TEN MONTHS for my stomach to heal. Probably the longest lasting physical issue, and the cause of much anxiety.

I cannot imagine going back to burning out my stomach lining nightly.

wakko

It is amazing how many things clear up when we stop poisoning ourselves

ddrayer

I hadn't even thought about this but my stomach pains have completely gone away. The obviously no shakes and hangovers was noticable but I have a lot really minor nagging things clear up! Quite the blessing sobriety is.

SnowDawg

The only thing that ever 'fixed' my digestive issues was a beer or two. Or so I thought. Another part of the vicious cycle! Now an occasional hit of baking soda does the trick after a greasy meal.

WhitePawn

I'm glad to hear about everyone's acid reflux (also known as GERD) clearing up after abstaining from alcohol. My brother died in April from squamous cell carcinoma that began in his esophagus and was a direct result of his heavy alcohol use causing acid reflux, which caused his cancer. My first cousin also died from cancer of the esophagus a month later. This is obviously one of my primary motivational factors to maintain long term sobiety.
The one caveat for everyone that has had a fairly long term history of GERD's is that current epidemiological evidence indicates that having quit drinking will not reduce your risk of getting this type of cancer in the same way as quitting smoking will reduce your risk of lung cancer. For this reason I would strongly recommend that you explain your history to your doctor and even though the symptoms may no longer be present--have your stomach and esophagus scoped as often as your GI doctor recommends.

Ptcapote

I had that too, it's freakin' awful.

I still have some issues with it but they are resolving. I was hospitalized in November for pancreatitis and they found that I was working on a nice hole in my esophagus from all that lovely acid. I remember that I fooled everyone but one doctor as to what the "real" cause of that particular malady was and he said, "Keep drinking and you will be in a constant state of agony for the rest of your life from this...not just once in awhile but always."

At the time I thought, "Pfftt..." and went home and re-stocked the Maalox (my wine chaser).

Now that it's healed and almost gone though? Woo-hoo! Like Sugarbear, I can eat spicy foods again and sleep through the night without waking up with that horrible burning sensation.

Sobriety's gifts are truly endless.

Thanks for the post and reminder, sister.

xoxo

pattyj

I agree that even though all these things are gone due to quitting alcohol we still need regular visits to the doctor.
Along with the horrible side effects to drinking, the symptoms from my endometriosis and irritable bowel syndrome are not debilitating anymore. I still have my days of pain but not nearly like it was. I would drown myself in alcohol and Vicodin to cope with the pain. Now it's Advil and a heating pad. It's so fascinating to see how your body changes and improves without all that poison.