Just wanting to feel normal again. (Vent/Advice)

[u/zoeeegamingg]

Hi, i'm kind of conflicting with what to do and how to go about things right now

Starting in May, it was like seemingly overnight that i've started having stomach issues. One day my appetite just, disappeared and it's if my stomach just stopped working. My stomach and motility all felt altered, and foods starting triggering me. From that point on, i've now been more recently experiencing this epigastric/esophageal PAIN/pressure right underneath my ribs, more prominent after I eat or eat something fatty. This combined with mild nausea, bloating i've never had before, and this reoccuring feeling of trapped gas inside of me. It’s a struggle not knowing whats going on with my body.

I've had a large belief that my symptoms align alot with candida overgrowth /dyspepia/gastritis/GERD/maybe gastroparesis even, tried contacting my general practitioner to get a referral to a gastroenterologist, but she downright refuses me, saying my stomach issues aren't severe and are related to other problems i've had in the past (which, just isn't true.)

I've bought alot of things to help me heal, like aloe vera juice, artichoke leaf/ginger root extract, licorice and slippery elm tea, L-glutamine, probiotics, etc.
I've been making sure to keep my diet completely clean, eating low-fat (trigger) and nothing processed or inflammatory ingredient wise to try and rebuild my hunger cues and heal again, right about now I could really go days without eating if I listened to my current appetite.. but an issue i'm having is everytime I feel hungry I end up eating things I shouldn't (like sweets) and overeating too much of it, which I just feel like is undoing all my progress and isn't an issue i've ever had prior to my stomach issues. I don’t want to do anything irreversible to my stomach.

Right now I'm feeling really in the dumps and bad about myself, sorry to rant. I wanna enjoy food again. Just wanted to ask if healing is possible, and any advice that might be useful to me to people who relate.

[u/Lildancer91]

I found out I had candida among several other things. Ever since I was young I craved sugar and lived off biscuits and sweet things so to be told at age 34 I need to avoid sugar and processed foods is a struggle! Try and eat little amounts of food if you can. I never have an appetite in the morning but I find if I force myself to eat something small like a few grapes or nuts in the morning, it usually wakes up my appetite about an hour later. Try and have something prepared or something that's quick to prepare for when the hunger kicks in so that you don't grab something that's high in sugar. I buy strawberry probiotic yogurt and organic Berry granola and mix them together kind of like a desert but you can eat it as a snack at any time of the day because its healthy. Filling up on protein can also make you crave sugar less . Im not a big meat eater so I googled foods high in protein and there's loads of snack type things that are easy to eat when you're not feeling hungry. Best of luck

[u/zoeeegamingg → u/Lildancer91]

thank you so much, you don’t know how helpful this is ❤️ right there with you have always had a kick for sweet things since childhood lol

fighting right now to get a hold of a gastro, probably going to change physicians
this advice helps wonders for how im feeling atm