Again, I'd like to thank everyone for commenting in this thread. It's greatly appreciated.
So...talked to my friend. He said he saw a Gastro and they did not find a hiatal hernia. He also had a CT scan w/contrast but they were looking for a pulmonary embolism, which was not found. Lymes Disease is something that was not looked at and he will be looking into it. Celiac & Crohns do run in his family.
My friend now thinks that all of these symptoms were related to the gear he was taking because as he says, "symptoms went from 0-100" without any progression or buildup. He took the same three supplements (30mg/day Tbol, 50mg/day Var, and MK677) 2-3 months prior and had a bad chest cold and developed difficulty breathing while laying down. He stopped the supplements and symptoms subsided pretty fast. A few months later he started up again with the same supplement regimen and the symptoms came right back but this time when he stopped the symptoms continued.
In terms of progressive heart failure, he said that his breathing while laying down has improved and he hasn't taken any diuretics nor has he had any water retention in his ankles. Not sure if that rules that out but that's what he said when I mentioned congestive heart failure.
Because of the timeline of the onset of symptoms in relation to the gear, he believes these symptoms were an adverse reaction to one, some, or all of the gear. This is his opinion, not mine, and not a doctors. Whether or not he shared with any of the doctors his usage, I do not know. I'm no expert on gear and haven't touched any for about 15 years but did dabble back in the day (I educated myself through the boards and was not some newbie blindly using or abusing) and certainly used some questionable bathtub brewed shit myself but I (and him) are at a loss in terms of how these reactions could occur from the gear he used, especially at the low doses. Like what kind of ingredient would cause such severe reactions? Even if the shit was dirty, the sides still don't add up. Systemic infection, Anaphylaxis...that's not what he had.
He's due for a physical soon and he said he'll receive every possible blood screening (his wife has excellent insurance).
Any more input again is greatly appreciated. Thanks guys.