Brief Answer:
Need management

Detailed Answer:
Thank you for asking!
GERD / Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease is 80 % corrected by simple diet and lifestyle modifications. Here are some mentioned
1-Lose your weight. If your BMI is 25 or above you need to lose weight. Calculate you BMI Here http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/guidelines/obesity/BMI/bmi-m.htm
Alcohol ? say no to it. Now is the time. Get sign up to Alcohol Anonymous and seek help to gradually resolve this addiction. Booze will ooze the health out of you.
Coffee,Chocolates, citrus juices, tomato based products like ketchups, sauces, pastes etc, Peppermints, all the onion family, beans are some of the diet you need to avoid to relieve symptoms.
If you are fond of eating, time to stop it. reduce diet intake, instead of increasing the quantity, increase the frequency, 5 times short meals instead of 3 bigger ones will be better.
If you sleep just after or within 3 hours of meal intake, this habit needs to be stopped. Increase the interval.
When you sleep, elevating the head side of the bed at least 8 inches would be a good addition to the plan to combat GERD.
Bending and stooping and upside down hangings with all other unnatural postures need to be avoided.
If the above mentioned precautions are not enough to get you out of the trouble then you need to opt for medicines. Never try to self medicate yourself. Remember every drug is a poison and every poison is a drug. SO seek the gastroenterologist or primary care provider for this and let it be there business. Proton Pump Inhibitors, Histamine receptors type 2 blockers, Prokinetic agents like aluminium hydroxide and antacids would be the list of medicines to opt from.

If the medicines are not good enough? If the age is too young to be that resilient for response then there might be a possibility of some correction able anatomy the place where surgeon’s role comes in to play.

Different surgical options like fundoplication are used. Young age, compliance issues with intake of medicines and postmenopausal age with osteoporosis, Heart diseases and any other gusto intestinal issue like garret’s oesophagus or hiatal hernia makes the odds for surgical intervention more likely.
I want you to know that 20 % of people having GERD need medicine only. Rest 80 % are corrected by Modifications we discussed above. Only 2 % need surgical correction for some anatomical abnormality or surgical correction.
Get your gastroenterologist decide what is best for you.
Next thing of frequent diarrhoea with colitis needs to consider the etiology first, the causative agent for the inflammation of the colon.My guess is on Microscopic Colitis — A Common Cause of Diarrhoea in Older Adults.Also the associated abnormality also needs to be sorted out like INflammatory bowel diseases, thyroid issues etc, histopathological evaluation of the colon epithelium , autoimmune conditions and many medicines intake like associated with the use of several medications including NSAIDs, SSRIs, beta-blockers, statins, bisphosphonates, ticlopidine, flutamide and PPIs. I hope you see the diversity of the possibilities here.They need to be narrowed down with some work up under monitoring of a gastroenterologist.
Symptomatic anti diarrheals like loperamide to immunomodulators like steroids , prednisone, immunosuppression etc will be needed to work that inflammation out. But i want you to seek a gastroenterologist for sorting out the exact cause of this recurrent diarrhea. Meanwhile dietary precautions like increased fiber intake and soft diet will help. BRAT Diet Bananas, RIce , Applesauce and Toast Diet will help too.Take close eye on electrolytes and renal functions and hydration status to stay out of troubles.
I hope it helps to some extent.Seek a gastroenterologist and Dont forget to close the discussion please.
May the odds be ever in your favour.
Regards
S Khan

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Brief Answer:
Needs A lot of work up & care

Detailed Answer:
Thank you for asking!
Prednisone is a very good anti inflammatory medicines and its pros and cons need to be balanced before it use and no way its use is advised for more than a few months with alternate day regimen as the best priority.
Also it needs to be stopped slowly and weaned off at tapering it instead of slowing it abruptly. Your another GP made a wild guess and you know how much can the odds be for a wild guesses. Stick to the rheumatologist's opinion.
Yes prednisone seriously affects bone mineral density and has many other adverse effects and thus should not be used for longer periods. Also age related Osteo Arthralgias also do that to the bones mineral density and it needs to be differentiated for the cause of origin.
If blood work up showed inflammation, then that needs to be pursued with more specific autoimmune work up for rheumatoids and ANA Anti double Stranded DNA , anti mitochondrial antibodies etc.
Autoimmune disorders are mostly genetic and acquired when there are tampering to the immune systems.Now what kind of toxins they are may change the genetics and thus resulting in An autoimmune etiology so yes possible but needs to be correlated clinically with detailed workup.
A sorting of the diagnosis with some work up followed by an according treatment plan will help the inflammation.
Yes you need a very good rheumatologist for the diagnosis and then they will decide the future plan to keep you or hand you over to the pain management specialist.
Stem cell therapies are over rated. It can't help every issue, these are novel managements and not yet approved by FDA for these rheumatological conditions. These issues usually don't get cured but rather managed with a constant compliance to the medicines and modification in diet and lifestyle which a rheumatologist will guide you through.
And yes 2014 is a great era for the advancing medicines and i believe there should not be any nepotism and favouritism when it comes to the patient. No size of island or bank balance matters except the fact of charges and fee structure a person has to fulfil and work through, which is how it is. Thats the way healthcare system works.
STick to your rheumatologist and let him decide what is best for you.
Take care

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