With the assistance of the Internet, I diagnosed my chronic heartburn as a symptom of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) in January. A month of bland food, sleeping at an awkward angle and over-the-counter drugs did not cure me. So I decided to finally see a doctor.
At the hospital, the doctor listened to my symptoms and guessed that I had a bacterial infection, H. Pylori. A test confirmed it. Why hadn’t the information Internet, reliable or otherwise, even hinted at a bacterial infection?
