Susan Quaintance .

Complex digestive complaint - acid indigestion/pain/bloating etc.

Shortly after returning from a holiday in Japan in 2001 I started to have extremely bad heartburn at night. My heart would beat rapidly and I had trouble sleeping with pain at the top of my abdomen. I had extreme acidity and was often sick, bringing up what looked to me like acid water. I made an appointment with the doctor and had the following treatment etc over the following six years. There was very little discussion on my complaint.

1. Visit to the doctor and given Gaviscon

2. Returned to the doctor and was sent for a scan on my gall bladder and was told I had 'slurry' deposits in there, but otherwise it was ok, but my symptoms persisted.

3. I had my first endoscopy and it was discovered I had an ulcer, a sliding hernia and possibly reflux disease.

4. I was given antibiotics for the ulcer. On no occasion was I advised what to eat and what to avoid and had to find this information out for myself on the internet. It was a couple of weeks from seeing the consultant at Mayday to going back to my doctor and even then no information was forthcoming on eating habits. The consultant prescribed Nexium, a pump inhibitor, which I am still taking to this day.

5. I had a further endoscopy.

6. I started to have pain on lying down at night, although I raised my pillows, the only relief was sitting up in bed and I frequently walked around at night. I tried self-help, not eating late at night, avoiding alcohol, etc, but although sometimes this worked, often it didn't and I was constantly worrying about what I was eating, when I thought I had it worked out what didn't suit me, something else aggravated me. The doctor prescribed some sleeping tablets to enable me to sleep, which I did not take, as I did not think this was helping my problem.

7. In 2006 I asked if I could go back to the consultant as I was sitting up most nights and was in severe discomfort.

8. The consultant sent me for barium scan, a scan, which involved iodine dye, and a further gall bladder scan. I also had my third endocopy.

9. I went back to see the consultant for the results of these tests. After keeping me waiting one and half-hours with no apology he called me into his office and gave me 3 minutes of his time. He told me he could find nothing wrong with me and suggested anti-depressants. He was extremely rude in his attitude and suggested nothing further for me such as maybe seeing if I had food intolerance.

10. In May 2007 I went to see Deepika Rodrigo at The Ayurvedic Clinic, she gave me a thorough check including pulse and tongue diagnoses and recognised that there was a huge imbalance of the Vata dosha. She recommended that I change my diet immediately gave me a diet sheet of what I could and could not eat and prescribed Ayurvedic herbal supplements. I continued the treatment for five months including panchakarma de-tox treatment. After the Ayurvedic treatment the main digestive complaints of acid indigestion & heartburn subsided and I feel so much better now I sleep at night and have much more energy and I am very grateful to Dr.Deepika for her treatment. I have stopped eating so much salad that was my main diet, although I now have the odd tomato and glass of white wine and sometimes a gin and tonic.