Why I left my tech job to work on chronic pain

I’ve been dealing with chronic reflux for about 8 mos now. On PPIs and they don’t seem to do much. But once I get away from my typical routine of work/dadding then all the symptoms vanish, even to the point of being able to eat foods that are not good for reflux: spicy things, tomatoes, a bit of coffee. In my case, this is absolutely a downstream symptom of something mind-body. Already been scoped and got a diagnosis of visceral hypersensitivity, which is medical speak for “nerves in esophagus are too sensitive.”

The question of why is out of scope.

In this case, docs just don’t know why. (I think it kinda pisses them off not know, tbh). And finding out is not really in their wheelhouse.

I’ve made some life changes (new job) to see what happens here. But I also have to be prepared for the possibility that it doesn’t fix it. Been working through The Body Keeps The Score as well.

Looking forward to seeing what the author discusses here.

Just a sidenote: GERD can lead to Barrett's Esophagus (precancerous changes in tissue), and erosive damage to the esophagus can accumulate over time and abruptly become life threatening. After decades of terrible GERD, my father nearly died from exactly such an undetected gastric bleed, losing 11/12 of his blood (which doctors replaced as it coursed out) before an emergency-medicine team finally found and sealed the rupture.

He almost certainly suffered minor brain damage during this episode, and later, after about a decade of taking anti-protonic medications for reflux, developed exactly the abnormally rapidly growing abdominal cancer that patients who take anti-protonics apparently develop at a higher rate than similar GERD patients who don't.

I don't mean to give medical advice. I can only describe what happened in my family (which has a heritable deformation in the esophagus, leading to severe GERD). Take it with a grain of salt (and an antacid) as what it is: an anecdote from some anonymous nonexpert on the internet.

Anyhow, good luck. I'm glad to know you're working actively on the problem, not ignoring it as my father did, and I hope you find some long-term relief and peace.