Q: Following up with sensitive patient with GERD

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I had posted previously and had some wonderful suggestions regarding patient with a lot of GERD. She was reacting to global drainage, this month we decided to switch gears and focus on the GI/NS more. I prescribed undas #4, #24 and #210. She immediately started reacting to them, she gets this squeezing sensation in her chest and she can't breathe. Sounds like a bad case of GERD. She called back to tell me she had to stop the undas. She even tried diluting all the remedies in half a glass of water but she still got the same sensation. She said it feels like her esophagus constricts when she takes the undas. Hmm...now I'm contemplating if I should just switch systems all together and focus mainly on the NS and adrenals. She is a very stressed lady, very worried and anxious. She feels well when she takes DGL so she is still taking that at the moment, doing her BTGs, Estrium, she just started to eliminate wheat. Any suggestions anyone?

Previous email:

Hello everyone,

I have a patient who is 58, female. She presents with a lot of GI symptoms (GERD, indigestion, gas), endometriosis, fibroids, acne, some heart valvular degeneration, a lot of dizziness, osteopenia, occasional insomnia, seborrheic dermatitis, and more. I've been treating her for a few months now, first working on the gut and digestion. I started off with cleaning up her diet, COPs, probiotics, BTGs, chewable DGL, slippery elm powder, liquid vitamins and minerals and she has improved a bit overall. Then I placed her on Estrium to help improve her estrogen metabolism. Recently we started UNDAs, #1, #2, #20 and #243.

It has been a big struggle with this patient, she seems to present with many symptoms at the same time and when one symptom seems to go away, she complains of something else. There seems to be a great sensitivity to everything I have given her, and she rarely feels 'well'. I usually have to start everything with half dose, or diluted but she still seems to suffer from a lot of GI symptoms. She constantly complains of a pressure in her chest, like something is 'there', with associated GERD. There is a lot of stress in her life, I gave her Arsenicum because she also has a 'controlling' nature. She calls my clinic on a weekly basis and keeps me on the phone for at least 15 minutes because I have to constantly reassure her despite very clear instructions already provided. After the first dose of Arsenicum, she seemed less irritable and more easy-going. She had a redose a month ago and shortly after she developed Raynaud's phenomenon but I reassured her it wasn't the Arsenicum. She called in again this week and says her dizziness has worsened since starting the unda numbers, she is already diluting the drops in water. I told her to decrease the dose further. The etiology of the dizziness is still unknown but she always feels dizzy. She can be quite irritable, and there is a lot of stress in her life. I think most of her symptoms arise from stress, so I am rethinking that I should work on the NS before the GI tract as I have done so.

Any ideas anyone? -- S.M. ChanB.Sc, NDNaturopathic DoctorDoncrest Medical CentreUnit 101-420 Hwy 7 East,Richmond Hill, ON, L4B 3K2Tel:

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