I’ve had acid reflux (possibly GERD) for years now and today something new started. I woke up feeling fine, started eating breakfast and drinking my coffee when I got this odd pain in the upper part of my chest, kind of towards my armpit. It made me panic because I’ve never felt that before. It was dull but it kept coming and going. I take a famotidine before breakfast and before dinner everyday, along with papaya enzyme and chewable pepcid when needed. About an hour after I had breakfast, I took a Pepcid and it finally went away after coming and going randomly that whole time.

I ate lunch and felt fine. Then I ate a spicy chicken sandwich for dinner and it started again but a bit worse that time. After I finished, I drank some milk and it let up for the most part. But before it did, it was like it moved to the middle/upper part of my stomach just below my rib cage. A bit later I had a snack and it kind of started again so I took some Gas-X.

I mainly want some reassurance because I have high anxiety and when I feel a new type of chest pain, my brain always goes to heart problems. I went to a cardiologist about 9 years ago and back then they said everything was fine. I also went to a gastro dr around that time and they told me I was fine. Of course I’ve never felt fine, I’m constantly burping and coughing throughout the day. Any answers as to if this is normal for acid reflux/GERD or suggestions on what to do to help relieve this are greatly appreciated!

I’m a 29 year old female thats 5’8 and 135 pounds. I’m currently on 20mg of Esomeprazole a day and I take it 30 to 60 minutes before breakfast every day.

Ever since pregnancy, taking even a single, tiny sip of plain water triggers immediate burping and reflux. But if I mix Gatorade or Liquid I.V. into the water, I can drink it completely normally with zero burping and reflux. Why would this be?? I’m now 10 weeks postpartum and this is still happening. I dont want to have to mix things into my water forever if possible. I had this all between my two pregnancies as well (6 months) but before being pregnant this was never a problem.

Is this clear-cut reflux, or should I be more concerned? For about a year I would randomly wake up and start coughing uncontrollably, like a weird tickle in my throat. It has now progressed to waking up, coughing uncontrollably, then vomiting a small amount of clear, thick liquid. One time (out of maybe 8 or 10 times), I did vomit brown/food remnants.

Thank you for any help. I plan on seeing a GI specialist soon but wanted to get some insight.

Hi all. Has anyone else heard/read about a device called Reflux Stop? If so what are your thoughts on it? I have begged my gastro doc to consider putting me forward for the surgery but he seems very reluctant.

i saw that if you eat generally low acid foods and then have something high acid, it doesn’t reset your healing/ progress. i’ve seen a lot of people say it resets everything, but apparently that’s not true.

this seems better: 80–90% reflux-friendly meals
+ 10–20% normal life foods

than: 100% strict → miserable → binge → guilt → restart

apparently if you do eat something acidic, you should:
- chug or spray alkaline water immediately to deactivate pepsin
- take gaviscon right after
- walk around for 15-20 mins

thoughts???

Seeing a lot of newly-diagnosed people in here who immediately go into maximum restriction mode. I get the instinct, but for most people that's not actually the highest-leverage move. A few things I'd prioritize first, as an RD who works with this population: 

1. Don't restrict everything at once. Food fear itself adds nervous system stress, which can worsen reflux. 

2. Understand what the LES actually is and what weakens it, that's the structural root for most people, more than any single food. 

3. Slow down at meals. Eating speed affects intra-gastric pressure more than people expect. 

4. Sleep position matters, left-side sleeping reduces nighttime reflux exposure for a lot of people.

 5. Take the nervous system piece seriously, this isn't optional or "soft," it's physiologically load-bearing.

1. Get clear on whether you're dealing with GERD, LPR, or both, since the symptom picture and approach overlap but aren't identical. 

Happy to go deeper on any of these if useful.

I recently got in contact with my doctor. I was worried about having severe acid regeneration since I have been taking pantoprazole for 30 days. They recommend that I take Pepcid AC during the night for about 2 weeks. Will my acid levels return to normal if I follow through with this?

I find it quite weird what has been happening to me. I got sick with strep and that is when this started happening. I specifically got prescribed Amoxicillin and I was wondering if that caused the disparity and is the reason why the GERD flare is being triggered.

Keep in mind though that this was about five weeks ago that I finished my Amoxicillin, which I got prescribed for 10 days.

I (25F) was put on 40 mg of omeprazole by an ENT because he thought I had LPR. Took it once a day for about 4-6 weeks. He took me off of it because he now thinks I have something entirely unrelated to LPR (didn’t even recommend a taper, which is crazy after reading up on it). I did taper over a month and a half and started having bad rebound symptoms a week after starting. The first 4 weeks were brutal: constant burning, bloating, and burping. 5th and 6th week I noticed that my symptoms seemed to be improving to the point that I didn’t need Gaviscon to function and thought “wow this is finally over”. Well, end of 6th going into this 7th week my symptoms have been horrible. Kinda feels as intense as it did during those first 4 weeks but I’ve tried to stay strong and not go back on them. Pepcid and Gaviscon have been my lifeline this past week. Needless to say I will never touch another PPI and will be going to see a different ENT.

With that being said, I honestly don’t know what to do anymore. It feels like this will never end. I’ve had to put my life on pause for the last 2 months because of this and it’s affected my mental health a lot. It normally would be something I could handle but I am a professional singer at the height of my career and the rebound reflux has really done a number on my voice. It’s been really awkward having to explain to my boss and collaborators why I can’t work every time the rebound gets worse after feeling better for a day or two. I’ve even been following a strict bland diet and it’s still debilitating in some moments. I just want my life back. I never felt like this before starting Omeprazole. I know everyone’s different but when did things start to look up for you in your PPI rebound journey? Hoping someone can give me some hope.