41M. I messed up my esophagus a few months ago and it’s taking a long time to heal. Is this normal?
Background: About 5 months ago I came down with a bad ear infection that didn’t go away quickly and caused really severe vertigo. My provider told me to take Flonase to clear out the ear infection. In hindsight I realize I didn’t follow the right technique - it dripped down my throat and I ended up swallowing some of it. After 2-3 weeks of this, I started getting a burning sensation in my esophagus and stomach which radiated out as chest pain. To stop the pain, I foolishly took Aleve (NSAID) for about a week until I realized that wasn’t helping the situation and was actually making it even worse. My stomach would hurt really bad after eating anything other than mixed greens. I then realized I might have ulcers in the stomach and esophagus. I had a very bad globus feeling as well that was there 90% of the day. My stomach was very upset, I ended up throwing up excessively one day and I wound up in the ER. They ran a bunch of tests, said I was fine overall, and sent me home with an explanation that I was having some sort of gastro issue. They referred me to a gastroenterologist but it was a 5 month wait for an appointment and I am still 2 months away from that.
From that point forward I have been eating very healthy and avoiding all of the known trigger foods like spicy food, coffee, alcohol, citrus, red meat, etc. I only eat greens, vegetables, bananas, yogurt, chicken, or anything smooth/bland. I have consistently been feeling better but it has been an extremely slow process. At my worst, I couldn’t talk much, couldn’t sing, had bad Globus, and constantly needed gum or lozenges to keep my throat coated. Slippery elm lozenges and 100% aloe juice helped a lot. After 1-2 months my stomach drastically improved and might even be back to normal now. But it’s my esophagus which has been a very slow process. After a few weeks, I could talk better, then 1-2 weeks later I could talk loudly, another 1-2 weeks before I could sing, and another 1-2 weeks before I could decrease the gum/lozenges. The globus has slowly improved and is almost gone completely but it’s taken 3 months. I have a slight soreness/tenderness sometimes in my middle/lower esophagus which is like a 3 out of 10 on discomfort scale.
My question is - is this normal? I have never had problems with my esophagus before but this has taken a really long time to recover from. If I keep with the positive lifestyle changes I made, should I expect this to resolve on its own without any long term repercussions?