Finally Diagnosed.

After many months of frustration and suffering, I have finally been diagnosed with Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease and Gastritis. During my first semester of college, I had the symptoms of GERD but was unaware because I did not have the oppurtunity to get an endoscopy. It's been difficult for me for I've never had a serious health concern, but things have definitely changed. The reason why I have Gastritis is because for the past 6 years, I've taken toooooooooooo many NSAIDS(Ibuprofen, Advil, Motrin,etc) to deal with my cramps. I did not know that they would cause such a problem. That is the number one thing that I wish I could go back in time for, being more aware of side effects of certain medication. But, you can't go back in time. Mentally, this has torn me apart, because of the stomach pains and not being to eat specific foods, and being social. When you feel sick all the time, you shut yourself off and that's what I did in college. I was still able to make good grades but, I had no real friends. Of course I met new people,but there would be days when I would not say a WORD to anybody. The only thing that helped me make it through the roughest days was having faith in God. I kept telling myself that eventually I would get better. I realized that I had to go through this rough experience in order to get closer to God and stop acting like a "bumper-sticker Christian." Of course, I still go through my moments of depression, I've lost 16 pounds unintentionally becuase I no longer have the heart to eat(that's weird for me b/c I love food), I'm extremely emotional, and flip personalities. But I believe I can get a hold of myself. I've tried a lot of medication that was harmful to my body that almost put me in a hospital recently, but fortunately, God showed me medication that won't cause me to kill myself lol.
     Today, I invested in a natural supplement called DGL Licorice that will hopefully help my GERD and Gastritis that won't cause side effects. So far I've done pretty good, hopefully I will continue to take it with results.
   Today was the first time I danced in a long time and genuinely felt happy. I've been sick for the past couple of weeks b/c of the prescribed medication but now that I think I've found my own solution, I felt good. I fortunately have "uncomplicated" GERD so the medication and antacids that my doctors prescibed I believe were too strong for my stomach, so the best route is probably going natural because I'm so young, until my stomach gets worse as I get older. Haha.