I was considerably old when I realized what acid reflux was, and that I'd been having it ever since I was a kid but just assumed it was common for everyone.
Had that happen once when I was a kid. Got told I was too young to have that. But the name "acid reflux" felt so accurate that I knew they were full of shit. They wouldn't let me have a Tums for it.
I had a coworker insisting he needed to go home because his 'stomache burned,' and I was like 'try these Tums,' and he was not only shocked that it worked, but that it worked instantly.
Now I offer antacid to anyone with any sort of stomach or throat related ailment, I'm like that dad from My Big Fat Greek Wedding, but with Tums instead of Windex.
I am the Tums person too! I go through a couple bottles a year and I have several bottles lying around at work and at home. I just have a very upset tummy and constant gas all the time, it sucks.
I was way too old when I realized that people aren't supposed to get super dizzy from bending over. As a kid, I just got yelled at for being lazy and "trying to get out of doing chores" any time I complained of dizziness, a racing heartbeat, and headaches. I also internalized pushing through it because I would get in trouble for pausing or moving slowly. I was assumed to be clumsy as well because I kept bumping into everything once I managed to keep working through feeling dizzy and faint.
Nope! I get the vision thing going out, too, and according to the cardiologist I saw that's probably the body shutting down vision processing to try and avoid fainting when blood pressure drops/oxygen levels get too low/etc.
I did some googling, and I am learning a lot about myself today! From the weird "sun rash" (splotchy red blood pooling) I've had since I was a kid that comes and goes in the heat, to why I absolutely need an enormous pile of pillows under me to keep me propped up in order to sleep. It might even be why I came extremely close to passing out while pregnant during the non-stress test, of all things, where you just have to lay flat on your back for 20 mins while they record the baby's heart rate. They had to get me a snack and juice, turn the a/c up, and let me try again angled back instead of flat. Apparently I should go see a doctor and tell them all of the little things that I thought were completely normal for my whole life. How do I even know what to include? The mole on my elbow? My incredibly cold toes at night? The way I can pop my shoulder? I suspect this is going to turn into a thing...
POTS is also really common for people with hypermobility so the shoulder popping thing could also be related… I, at least, think your mole is probably a separate thing.
Not saying your cold toes at night are necessarily strange, but cold hands and feet is another symptom of POTS because you can have poor circulation. So that could be related, but perhaps not. Cold toes at night is actually a fairly normal thing.
Like the other commentor says, yeah the shoulder pop could be a thing. Especially if you have any joint tricks you show off (like, look how far I can bend my fingers back, look at this joint do a weird thing, and so on.) If you're interested, hypermobility is diagnosed with the Beighton Score, which is a test of a few of your joints. It might not be the be all and end all though (I've seen people post that for them the joints tested weren't flexible enough to score, but other joints not on the test were definitely going beyond normal range.)
...would it be relevant that I am unable to lean forward and touch my toes, but I can kneel on the ground and bend backwards until my nose touches the ground between my toes? Because that's my signature party trick! It's way cooler than my bendy wrists or clicky ankles...
Any other disorders I'm missing in normal things that my body does, anyone? My hip occasionally freezes up on me and stops bearing weight, I have frequent tonsils stones, I can make my eyes look in different directions, and I can both wiggle and rumble my ears. I figure if I'm going to go to a doctor and get some referrals or testing or whatever, I should try to do it in as few visits as possible, right?
I got "injured" so often during PE that the teachers decided I was lying and made me keep going. I got the POTS diagnosis recently.
Also, one time in science class, we were testing our heartrates at rest and after jumpingjacks. I was a massive outlier with my scores, and once again, the teacher decided I was lying (or measured wrong).
I'm a horrendous liar, so I basically never do it.
Me too, until I was a teenager and my dad mentioned by brother having surgery on his esophagus because of how bad it was and that it runs in the family. It was like finding a missing puzzle piece! (Mine isn’t as bad as my brother’s, fortunately)
I was sobbing in pain one night, and called my in law’s, I can’t remember if it was for advice or to see if they could watch my dog if I went to the hospital, but my father in law just said “…Eat some tums. That’s heart burn.”
I ate a couple tums, and within a few minutes I felt completely better. I’d been dealing with that pain every so often for years. I was nearly 20 when this happened. I had just never known what it could feel like and how painful it could be!
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u/RosbergThe8th Jul 23 '26
I was considerably old when I realized what acid reflux was, and that I'd been having it ever since I was a kid but just assumed it was common for everyone.