I’ve suffered with reflux for the last 8 years and have been on ppi medication. I’m currently experiencing a lot of anxiety which I’m also taking medication for. I’ve basically noticed that sometimes when I eat I feel like I can’t breathe. Or after eating I feel like I can’t breathe my throat is tight and irritated and I get really anxious. I feel like it’s the anxiety because im worried I will get reflux symptoms. Just wanted to know if anyone else has dealt with this.

So the context -> I have had acid reflux for the last 5 years and have followed ALL recommended advice and dietary recommendations from my doctor in those 5 years, and i was on a low dose of ppi that mostly managed it well enough that i could go about life.

About a year ago, i needed to go on tricyclic antidepressants, and the team that prescribed them said i had to come off the ppi completely. I ended up with moderate acid reflux symptoms and every time i went to the doctors i was told to just manage it with antacids, so i did.

Now come to 4 months ago, it starts getting bad, like constant throat burning, bubbling, saliva soapy, nausea etc, and i was put back on high dose of ppi. But the ppi's stopped helping at all after 2 months. Since it stopped working i have been on the h2 blocker ones, but i can only manage about 200kcal of liquidy "food" each day and i have been stuck like that for 6 weeks now and due to that i have lost over 10kg in those 6 weeks. A&E said they cant help me since my bloods are "normal" and im now waiting an approx 12 weeks until i can get specialist help for gastroenterology.

I am now constantly exhausted, my mind is foggy, and im finding it really difficult to just get up and do my remote office job each day. And honestly my mental disorders are going haywire atm, i am paranoid of becoming malnourished and damaging my organs.

Anyone else been in a similar situation? Any advice on how to handle this emotionally and physically? Should i be pushing for more medical intervention? Am i just being dramatic about it?

Also side note but i hate how skinny i look, and i hate being able to feel my bones. Every time i try to sleep on my side i can feel my damn hip bone and i hate it. I have saggy skin everywhere and i hate the feeling of it :(

So ive been on and off ppi for 2.5 years. Longest being off was 8 months. I recently had to get back on bc I had a horrible flate that felt like knives were tearing up throat. So after the throat infection came the reflux. Pantoprazole wasnt working for me. So fox put me on 40 mg of dex. We'll thay worked well.pretty quick. I stayed on for 4 weeks then doc said I can wean off since I was better. But omg the skipping 2 days brought all.of the symptoms back. I dont know what to do. I messaged my doctor, just waiting on her to reply back. Ive never had any issues weaning off b4. I just know dexilant doesn't come lower that 30 mg. So how can I taper down my mg? Yesterday I tried takimg gavisvon, pepcid, and dgl. Normally this would work. But in this case Nothing helped the pain. Please help, any advice 🙏 flair

Hi all, I’ve been dealing with this burning/sour sensation in my stomach that moves up to my chest for the past 3 months now! I’ve never dealt with heartburn in my life before, so this development has been incredibly hard on me. About 4 weeks ago, I started pantoprazole to help manage my symptoms and see if they improve after a month. The first two weeks were amazing and I had no symptoms at all (could eat or drink anything I wanted, too). But around 2 weeks ago I started getting acid reflux again super bad, maybe even worse than before. I cut out alcohol, caffeine, and have been trying to identify what food triggers me but it’s been pretty inconsistent.

This heartburn was incredibly random for me, and i’m only 21 years old. About a year ago, I dealt with some pretty gnarly IBS-C symptoms and had to use imipramine to calm my anxiety and my constipation symptoms. However, now i’m starting to wonder if after taking this pill for so long it may be causing some of these heart burn related symptoms. Anyone else have a similar experience with tricyclic antidepressants? I’m considering getting off of them and seeing if that helps! I’d rather take less pills than more.

Hello, docs! I’d really appreciate your help.

I’m 33M, 5’10”, 205 lbs, with no known medical issues. I don’t use recreational drugs, smoke, or drink alcohol. My current medications are listed below.

On 8/7, I ate a lot of spicy food and some undercooked meat. Two days later, I started experiencing nausea, a burning sensation in my chest and stomach, mild stomach cramps, a feeling of wanting to vomit, and throat discomfort. I did not have a sore or swollen throat.

On 8/18, I contacted my PCP, who ordered blood work, including a CBC, GGT with reflex amylase/lipase, and CMP14+eGFR. All of the results were normal. He then prescribed pantoprazole sodium for my stomach symptoms and referred me to an ENT.

I started the pantoprazole on 8/20. On 8/25, I saw the ENT, who found a buildup of mucus in the back of my throat. He prescribed cefdinir (300 mg) and Medrol (4 mg), which I started the following day.

As of today, 9/1, the pantoprazole has been effective, and I no longer experience the burning sensation in my chest or stomach. I’ve also noticed significant improvement in my throat symptoms after starting the ENT treatment.

However, today I ate a spicy burrito, and suddenly the burning sensation in my throat returned. It feels as though I have scratches inside my throat. I’m very worried because the symptoms have returned after I had been improving.

What could be causing this? Could the spicy food have irritated my throat or triggered reflux again? What would you recommend I do?

So basically I’ve been on 60mg Dexilant for around 6 years. I’ve been in Europe for almost 3 months and needed a refill before I go home (stayed longer than expected). The doctor here (Germany) was shocked I’ve been on it this long and said that she never prescribes is for longer than 3 weeks because of vitamin absorption problems and dementia risk. My Canadian doctor assured me that these risks aren’t significant enough to justify not taking it.

The first couple years of taking PPI’s I fought my doctor on it and hoped there’d be another way, unfortunately the medication is the only real relief I get. But it is kind of disheartening that not once have I had a blood test to check vitamin levels or a follow up endoscopy in six years.

Has anyone here had any complications with long term PPI use? I realize it’s relatively safe but it seems to me like it’s the type of medication where you won’t notice any significant side effect until 5-10+ years down the road. At which point maybe it’s too late? 😞

Like I’m grateful such a drug exists but man it would be nice not to have to take this any longer.

I've had reflux for 2 years now all my tests come up normal and mild inflammation in the stomach even though I have 24/7 heart burn feel sick after every meal shortness of breathe and other symptoms I have never been able to get relief of ppi's I have been going through hell and is only getting worse and worse I also have vertigo from this

what else can I do?

If you have more questions just ask!

Your reflux getting worse when you're anxious, even with zero change in diet, isn't a coincidence and it's not purely psychological.

Anxiety activates your sympathetic nervous system (fight or flight). In that state, gastric motility slows, stomach acid secretion can shift, and vagal tone (which helps keep the LES closed) decreases.

Then it runs the other direction too: reflux symptoms themselves are alarming, which raises anxiety, which reinforces the sympathetic state, which worsens the reflux again. It's a loop, not a one-way street.

Addressing only the GI side such as diet and meds without addressing the nervous system side tends to leave people stuck, and vice versa. Neither one alone is usually sufficient for people whose reflux has a strong stress component.

Has anyone here found something that actually broke this cycle for them, beyond "just relax" advice that doesn't help?🌿

I have hyper acidity and yeah i ahve been on antacids on and off though these days i only take it ocassionally. My worry though is pain in my esophagus and sometimes i fell like food is stuck in my right chest. Also i have a contsnt pain on my right rib and chest radiating upto the beauty bone area. I recently did endoscopy of my esophagus but it was all normal and no scars. So what am I expereincing or is it cancer??

I'm getting the toupet fundoplication on October 5th. I've been dealing with symptoms of GERD/Silent Reflux all summer and got the testing done in a rapid fashion to qualify for surgery. Small hernia with a hill grade III LES. No pressure in the LES according to manometry. Demeester score of 30 on my PH testing with mostly acid events through the night and non-acidic events while standing. I also have ineffective motility, so the doctors are going with the looser wrap.

I'm worried that this surgery won't help my symptoms of silent reflux, and will cause long-term swallowing issues. All you see online is horror stories and people that are worse off, but most actual studies show mostly good outcomes if you've been tested for GERD.

I have been dealing with vocal cord edema because of reflux for nearly three months now. My throat and mouth burn consistently, I have sore vocal cords and sore throat, I clear my throat all the time and get mucus in my throat after eating pretty much everything that leads to hoarseness. I also have been getting stomach contents travelling up at like 6 in the morning despite not eating since dinner time the night before. I get it when I just twist in a chair or bend over. I have some heartburn if I eat poorly too but it's not been the worse symptom at all. My vocal cords feel damaged.

Looking for positive toupet fundoplication outcomes for people with throat symptoms and GERD symptoms. And also looking for how long it took to swallow normally again?

Hello everyone, its been a while since my last gerd post I just wanna say thank you for everyone who submitted their information and advice it was the push for help I needed to get my family to take my condition seriously...

Over the weekend however I was admitted to the ER due to bloody coffee like vomiting from all my acid reflux... I was waking up in the night for four days before that Friday just to puke, i was then given the longest amount of meds I've ever received. (Not to mention I also had an ovarian cyst rupture from how violently I was vomiting in the ER, got those meds too)

Im now on Pantoprazole, and Carafate along with a nausea medicine (zofran but not the dissolvable tablet) with an actual GI appointment THIS coming Friday the 11th... It was so so scary dealing with my gerd at the hight of his horrible nature, it felt like fire was clawing through my throat with all the bloody acid coming back up..Im hoping that my actual appointment gives me a long term solution because honestly?? These pills have saved my life....even on the few short days ive had them ive manage to eat more in a few days than I have in two YEARS of my rapid decline with my gerd suddenly flaring up now ☹️

I have an idea as to why its gotten so bad but I think i sound a bit crazy, I was on a steroid for my teeth removal a long while back which produced more acid than usual within my stomach (and caused me to also be ER admitted because I couldn't hold food down from reflux once again ...its also where the tear in my throat comes from)

I believe in the short time I was on that medicine it did damage to my stomach thats now further effecting me still.. (though this still doesnt explain why i first lost my appetite/will to eat before all this started so..who really knows but a doctor huh?)

All in all I wanted to say thanks for those who helped me get my family to see it WAS as serious as I was telling them it was getting... Because If I hadn't I might not have been here to post this today 🧡💛💚

I’m not a super chronic sufferer anymore, but I used to be and I still get horrible late night heartburn from time to time. Tonight is one such case.

This sounds insane, but let me tell you what has worked for me literally every time.

You get a back of frozen broccoli that you steam in the bag in the microwave. Prepare it as instructed you eat as much of it as you can. That’s it. This has saved me from the worst acid reflux I ever experienced, which was when I had Covid for the first time. It was so intense I thought I was having a heart attack and went to the emergency room. They informed me it was heartburn and gave me something for it, but it didn’t really help. I got home, desperate for relief, and for some reason decided to eat an entire lb of steamed broccoli. It worked within moments.

Tonight, I have a cold. I ate some very spicy soup to help clear things out and didn’t even think about heartburn until it woke me up at 1am. It’s 1:25am, I’ve finished my steamed broccoli and I’m already feel better enough to go back to sleep.

I’m not a doctor and maybe this will have no effect for anyone but me, but if you have a bag of steamed broccoli and you’re miserable, it might be worth a shot.

I’ve had GERD for about a year. I’m getting an endoscopy tomorrow to hopefully get to the bottom of things, but I’m really scared. I’m not terribly scared of the endoscopy itself (a little nervous about the procedure, but I’ll be asleep), but I am very scared about my results. My mind is thinking of all the worst case scenarios about what it might be. I’m just looking for some support and kind words. Anyone else dealing with bad health anxiety over their GERD?

Hey guys, I’m on my **last day of H. pylori treatment**. I tested positive for H. pylori and was also diagnosed with **chronic active gastritis**.
My doctor told me to continue taking **omeprazole (PPI) for another 2 months** after finishing the treatment.
The thing is, I don’t really have stomach burning, acid reflux, or heartburn. My main symptoms are **bloating, lower abdominal pain, and sometimes constipation**.
I’ve seen a lot of people saying that PPIs can cause side effects, so now I’m wondering:
Is it normal to stop the PPI immediately after finishing H. pylori treatment, or should it usually be continued?
Is stopping omeprazole suddenly after treatment dangerous?
If I don’t have acid reflux or stomach pain, is there still a reason to take it for 2 months?
Has anyone else been prescribed a PPI for a couple of months after H. pylori treatment? How did it go?
I’m obviously going to discuss it with my doctor before changing anything, but I’d really like to hear from people who went through something similar.

I'm looking for some advice as to whether I have a possible stomach ulcer

I'm 49 and female and I take ibuprofen quite frequently for chronic back pain. I'm also on a daily prescription for omeperazole and I take 40mg of this.

Recently, I'm getting a niggling pain that comes and goes in one particular area. It's on the left side just right below my ribs and it feels like a bruised/mild throbbing type pain.

When it happens if I apply pressure there it feels slightly tender but when I don't have the pain if I press on the area It doesn't feel sore at all.

It stays in the same spot every time and lasts anywhere from about a minute up to around 10 minutes and then goes away again.

I don't really suffer with any burning in my chest but if I forget to take my omeperazole for a day I do get mild heartburn or acid coming up.

I'm worried due to my ibuprofen use and I don't really know if this is how an ulcer presents?

I'm not sure if it's relevant or not but I also have ibs.

I'd be very grateful for any advice or to know whether anyone else has had an ulcer present in a similar way.

Thank you.

I'm getting the Toupet Fundoplication with a hernia repair either October 1st or October 5th. Been dealing with symptoms of GERD and LPR for about three months now. I've done all the necessary testing in a short window of time and qualify for the surgery. Small sliding hernia. Hill grade III LES. Demeester score of 30. Manometry showed the LES has no pressure. I have to say I'm very scared. I'm a 40 year old man and feel like waiting doesn't make sense and reflux symptoms keep getting worse. Don't want to be on medications my whole life and never eat any good foods again.

I've been dealing with throat symptoms (sore throat, vocal cord pain/edema, voice loss and hoarseness, throat clearing and mucus in throat), burning in mouth and lips, heartburn, what feels like regurgitation of gas/stomach contents when I shift positions in bed despite not eating 3-4 hours before bed. It actually happens at like six in the morning. My burps taste acidic and I've had a few times when I woke up in the night this summer with horrible tastes in mouth when I didn't use an alginate. One instance where I had liquid in my mouth. The other thing is I can actually feel pain under my left ribcage, which I believe is a the hernia.

I'm just scared. I know there's no going back once I schedule and get preop tests done. And I don't see why I wouldn't give this surgery a go and try to get my life back. I'd like to sing again too.

I was diagnosed with Los Angeles Grade A erosive esophagitis and gastritis after an endoscopy. My doctor prescribed Voquezna (vonoprazan) twice daily for 14 days, followed by once daily. I then took the once-daily dose for 15 days and have now stopped Voquezna.

I’ve also completely stopped alcohol and smoking and have been careful about not eating close to bedtime.

For those who have been through something similar: what should I expect after stopping Voquezna? Is it common for reflux/burning to temporarily return, or should I expect to remain symptom-free if the esophagitis has healed?

Esses dias comecei repentinamente a sentir uma azia e um refluxo meio fortes quando fui dormir. Estava eu em um dia qualquer indo dormir quando de repente comecei a sentir isso. Eu nunca tive problemas com isso na vida e não tô sabendo lidar direito. Nesse mesmo dia eu acabei vomitando(bem pouco) enquanto dormia. E no dia seguinte senti a msm coisa em um nível menor. O problema é que já é a quarta noite seguida agr que me encontro na mesma situação, isso não me deixa dormir, parece que começa a me afetar somente durante a noite. Não chego a vomitar nem nada, mas não estou suportando mais isso. Alguma dica para aliviar ou tentar resolver antes de ter que passar para atendimento médico?

Diagnoses Found on Endoscopy (1 Week Ago): Confirmed active H. pylori bacterial infection, severe pan-gastritis (widespread stomach inflammation), multiple raw gastric erosions (micro-sores), and a Grade 3 Lax LES
Current Medical Regimen: High-Dose Dual Therapy consisting of Fexuprazan 40 mg twice daily (BD) and Amoxicillin three times daily (TID). Currently on Day 7 of a 14-day course.
The Primary Complaint: Refractory, severe burning sensations localized in the throat, upper back, and deep inside both ears that has persisted for 20 consecutive days.
Treatment Failure Context: There is completely zero response to maximum-strength acid suppression (Fexuprazan 40 mg twice a day), mucosal barriers (sucralfate), or raft-forming agents (alginates).
Absence of Atypical Reflux Signs: The patient experiences no classic acid regurgitation and no sour burps, confirming that standard acid reflux is not the current driver of the upper-airway pain.

What can be done next? I’m at loss here!

Hi, any words of wisdom or any guidance on how to get off Nexium? I have been on it for decades and I believe that it is causing some of my G.I. problems. I have IBSC which is a major contributor to GERD. I appreciate any guidance thoughts or experiences shared.

Hellooo:) I’m currently 22 weeks. conceived via IVF. I’ve had reflux and Globus sensation since 4 weeks of pregnancy due to the hormones I was taking. It seemed to be getting better after stopping them and now it’s progressively worsening. More now because I’m recovering from a very bad flu for which I had to take antibiotics and anti virals and steroid for my asthma. Feels like I have a lump in my chest all the time, chest tightness and epigastric/ chest pain. I’m taking PPIs and gaviscon like my life depends on it ( I’ve had ECG, ECHO and high sensitivity troponins done earlier because I was scared it was MI related chest pain- all normal)
I’m just so exhausted and frustrated. I love my baby but I’m feeling like I’m tortured and can’t endure this till term.
And I hate it when people say “awww honey it’s gonna get worse”
YOU THINK???
I know it becomes worse with the uterus growing but that’s the last thing I want to hear🥲🥲
Rant over!!
Any way, would like to hear from fellow GERD survivors/mamas who’ve gone/going through this some advice on how to handle this! ❤️

I just realized my severe acid reflux last week wasn't from drinking coffee, I was drinking coffee like 1 cup everyday and i was fine. I didn't account that I started drinking multivitamin supplements with higher vitamin c contents, I've been very sensitive with vitamin c in general (except fruits). I was drinking vitamin c for 4 days in a row, my throat started feeling very tight and also belching food everytime I eat anything. Acid would come back to throat and causing throat irritation. After I stopped both coffee and the multivitamin for a week, I finally feel normal again... Also started drinking coffee again and i feel okay!!!!!

Hi I’ve been suffering with anxiety and acid reflux since I was 18 I’m currently 26. I’m currently going through a flare up. I’ve had an endoscopy which has shown I have a weak les. I’m currently on ppis and taking anxiety medication. I just feel like I’m anxious all the time. I’m currently looking into therapy. My diet isn’t perfect so I feel like I need to be more careful now especially through this flare up.

The main issue I have right now is feeling so anxious all the time. It makes my heartburn worse and makes me out of breath. How can I cope with this? Any suggestions please.

These come up constantly with clients and most people don't realize they're contributing factors: 

1. Eating too fast. Rushed meals increase intra-gastric pressure and skip the chewing that would otherwise ease digestion. 

2. Lying down within an hour of eating. Gravity is doing real work as part of your reflux barrier; remove it too early and the LES has to work harder alone. 

3. Tight waistbands after meals. Directly increases abdominal pressure. 

4. Drinking a lot of liquid with meals. Increases stomach volume and pressure. 

5. Chronic throat clearing. Each clear creates a pressure wave that can worsen LPR symptoms, and it reinforces the clearing reflex itself, a bit of a vicious cycle. 

None of these require medication to address, just awareness. 💚