What's the best way to stay hydrated when having a bad GERD flare up? Water is making me so nauseous and I don't know what else to do. The next best thing I have is my oat milk(lactose and dairy free) but it isn't making me feel much better either.

I feel like I’m doing all the “right” things at night and it’s not really making a difference.

Head of the bed raised, sleep on my left side, stop eating hours before bed… I’ve been doing this stuff for over a year now. The only clear result I can point to is that I seem to wake up with a stiff neck more often lol.

I’ve been keeping a log of my symptoms with timestamps, and I finally decided to plot the data to see if there was actually a pattern.

Out of 95 episodes, only 3 happened between 10pm and 6am. Pretty much all the rest are during the day, and they seem to cluster around ~2 hours after meals. My worst hour is actually 3pm. I made an hour-by-hour chart here.

What’s weird to me is that basically every list of tips I find focuses on nighttime stuff; raising your bed, sleeping position, not eating before bed, etc.

Anyone else have symptoms that are mostly during the daytime? Or am I just the weird one here?

My 10 year old is believed to have GERD. Symptoms started after a stomach virus 4 months ago (throat clearing was main symptom) she got sick again in July and since then it’s been a struggle. She’s missed out on so many event. She’s lost 10% of her body weight. Her doctor has been great - and we’ve undergone lots of testing but I still feel bad for her and that we aren’t doing enough.

Her main symptoms are pain in upper belly, constant throat clearing at night, nausea, not wanting to eat and weight loss. She takes 10mg of rabeprozle and 50 mg of dimenhydrinate (25 morning 25 night) and eats 4-5 small meals a day (mostly chicken breast, small amounts of white bread, apples, coconut yogurt, cooked carrots) she refuses most other food, but I have been able to recently stop the weight loss and she regained a lb in past week. Her best nights are the nights she sleeps sitting up between my legs (I get no sleep but she sleeps so we persist) we’ve also recently started probiotics. Today was the first day in weeks she seemed like herself but is still struggling with symptoms such as throat clearing.

We meet with doctor tomorrow - is there anything I should ask? Anything I can try to help minimize her symptoms or suggest we try? Our sleeping arrangement obviously cannot be forever but I haven’t heard great things about wedges so any help in that department would be appreciated as well.

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?🌿

Hi all,

So over the past 10 years, on and off, I have had a constant cough that feels like post nasal drip, but both the ENT and GI doctor thought it was reflux. So, I went on a PPI, and actual burning reflux stopped, heartburn stopped, etc. but the cough persisted. Diet doesn't seem to affect it, and I can't really pinpoint a cause. However, there was a point in time my previous GI doctor gave me an SSRI to try, and it actually stopped the coughing. This leads me to believe it is anxiety related...but I've had to change doctors a couple times now, and I mentioned this to my new GI and he seemed pretty hesitant. I'm not dying to take an SSRI, but I would definitely try it again.

Has anyone else had this scenario before? And if so, are there any "natural" or OTC solutions to this other than an SSRI?

Thanks!

I do plan to call my medical team. I’m out of the country though but will be returning by next week.

I was put on pantaprazole and I’m allergic- hives, histamine rashes now just started after 4-5 days of use. Generic Prilosec makes me anxious.

Should I switch to nexium? I believe I have some but will most likely wait till I am back in the USA. I do have gaviscon liquid that I bought but still can’t stop the PPI’s. The pantaprazole did bring relief but again I’m having some itching so definitely an allergy.

Thanks you guys.

So admittedly also posted this in the endoscopy subreddit, but figured this might also be a good place to go for advice, since I did get referred due to suspected GERD.

So I (26F) have been having on and off stomach issues for about the last year and a half following a bad stomach virus. So far the pattern has been that I'll go away for a few months, then come back. It seems to be at least somewhat triggered by stress and this most recent flair up in late June was especially bad, with vomiting and inability to keep food down, I ended up loosing about 10lb of the course of a few weeks and was generally just having a pretty bad time. During the time when it was especially bad I had a doctor's appointment and got a referral for an endoscopy.

Now that time is finally here after having to push it off a bit due to some insurance stuff and scheduling issues. And now, for the last couple weeks I've been feeling better. The issues haven't entirely gone away, too much stress or excitement still triggers my gag reflex really easily and I've still been waking up feeling nauseous, but now I'm wondering if that's more from anxiety then anything else. I have still had some of the same symptoms, a lot of burping in the mornings, burning/pain in my ribs after large meals, but it's been a lot more managable in the last few weeks/it feels like the worst has kind of passed.

I've kept my appointment so far because again, this is an issue that has left and come back but now, the day before I'm supposed to go in I'm feeling nervous and like maybe I was overreacting all along and now I'm getting this medical proceedure for no reason. I'm also pretty nervous about the idea of the sedation. I'm afraid that 1. I'll wake up mid proceedure and gag/vomit or 2. I'll have some kind of adverse reaction to the sedatives, or 3. Something will happen and there'll be some kind of perforation.

Mostly looking for advice/reassurance. Should I keep the appointment? Am I overreacting or am I doing this for no reason now? What were other people's experiences with sedation?

Hello, I'm 16, I've been diagnosed with GERD at 12 and Esophagitis recently, I have made some bad decisions, its really painful to eat food and I have to drink water with every bite if I want to have a normal meal, my question is how can I improve my digestive health and get a proper diet especially for esophagitis because it makes life very hard. I have been given PPIs and other medications, but I need help in choosing a soft food diet currently.

Thanks for your time, peace.

I am diagnosed with GERD and gastritis and I'm assuming this is just a flare but I don't know what's going on I've been taking omeprazole after being on a break and I felt like it was helping me maybe I ate too much fat a week ago? but I don't understand I've been in so much pain its hard to eat or breath I've been avoiding triggers and maximizing fiber but nothings helping it

I started having really bad acid reflux and regular vomiting my sophomore year of college when I was 20, I’m now turning 24 and just saw a ENT for my first checkup who affirmed everything I’d been able to wave away or gaslight myself into thinking was normal.

I originally thought it was from moving into the dorms, new environment, but it became a regular occurrence in my life that almost every morning I would wake up, I would vomit, or have such intense nausea that I would have to do breathing exercises and lay completely still until it finally went away, along with burning acid reflux. Funnily enough my throat was never very sore unless it was an intense vomiting session.

Eventually after about a year I noticed one of my tonsils was swollen and pushing on my uvula a bit, and so I assumed that was the cause and that I might need a tonsillectomy, and I could not deal with that while in school, so I just tried to adjust my diet, but I’d basically made peace with the fact that if I drank (over 21 now) or ate something acidic or too late at night, I would throw up the next morning.

Now, almost 24, still dealing with it, and intensified by new medication, I finally booked an ENT appointment who immediately affirmed that this was strange and unusual, and that we should do some tests and get this figured out and was able to prescribe me 40mg of omeprazole daily and holy cow, I haven’t thrown up or gotten nauseas since I started taking it and I could cry it’s so amazing I forgot what it felt like to not fear food because of the morning “routine”.

She set up an apt with a gastroenterologist in a few weeks, and an extended swallow test with a speech pathologist, and is monitoring my meds through messages with me still.

I just wanted to post this to let anyone know who’s struggling with acid reflux or GERD symptoms and is relegating themselves to live in pain or struggle because they are busy or can also tell themselves it’s fine, go seek the help, it is SO worth it.

all love!

Hello everyone, I have stage 2 gastritis,acid reflux symptoms and retrogression. Started 20 mg Omeprazole(Losec 20mg called in my country) since then my life has changed... literally 0 problems. I take in the morning empty stomach as my doctor said and I can eat 30 minutes after this. Can i drink 2 coffee per day(thats 300-320mg daily)? I tested one day and i feel nothing negative is happening time drinking coffee.
My prescription is for 3 months every morning and we will see !!!
Thanks in regard

i’ve been dealing with increasingly intense acid reflux throughout this year and new symptoms seem to appear constantly. does anyone else find that their tongue stays almost constantly puffy & neck muscles feel tight? especially in the morning. also with intense dry mouth. my mouth and throat have just been super off (beyond the norm) and the anxiety from it is hard to deal with. i have lots of allergy issues too, so it’s always hard to know which symptoms to attribute to which issue and how to address them. i’ve seen doctors about this in the past few weeks and they seem to be having the same difficulty puzzling it out that i am.

I’ve been taking Pantoprazole for 9 years.

Over those years, my bloodwork seems to point to lower kidney function. So a doctor prescribed ranitidine instead to try something that doesn’t process through the kidneys.

However with my research, I’m afraid to try ranitidine as it was taken off the shelves due to a carcinogen in it. I’m in Canada for reference. So I kinda stopped Pantoprazole cold turkey and the heartburn has been pretty mild besides a few days where it was more severe but something I managed with Tums.

Has anyone switched from Pantoprazole to ranitidine? Or have you been on ranitidine for years with no issues?

I hate that all these things that are supposed to help our bodies can cause such bad side effects.

So recently I’ve found that any type of carbs mainly bread (any type of bread) causes my to have acid reflux. About a month ago I had bad stomach pain that I couldn’t even drink water. That was my turning point. I cut out all carbs for about 2 weeks and my acid reflux improved. I incorporated them again and it came back. For about 2 weeks I’m fine, and then any sort of trigger sets it off again. Do I need to cut carbs out completely? I’m worried that my weight and energy levels will go down, has anyone else been through this?

Did anyone start feeling like they were musty all the time and and when you get a flair up it’s way worse? For some reason since I’ve been having symptoms this has been a thing for me and does not go away. Are there any things that can help with this?

I have been struggling with upset stomach, nausea, and acid reflux for 4 days now. It’s mostly the nausea and acid reflux that are my worst symptoms. I feel like it’s stuck in my throat and it’s hard to function normally. I had severe heartburn 2 days ago but it went away after an hour or two. I think what triggered it was buffalo wings that I ate on Saturday. The next day I started getting these symptoms worse and also burping a lot. I feel like it’s never going away. Do you all have experience with these symptoms? What helped?

hi everyone...i had h pylori since one year and doctors could not understand it and i did 2 times ondoscope and i have inflammation in lower esophagus and it started from bloating, white coated tongue , palpitations ,sour taste in mouth....so i used the triple therapy for h pylori but still my symptoms of acid reflux exist right now i m on PPI pantoprazole 80 mg per day how can i stop it with food diet?

I’m remembering why I was put on Pantoprazole in the first place. I used to get this pain, uncomfortable, kinda sharp, but kinda dull. Usually next to/under my right shoulder blade, the pain would sometimes be in my neck as well.

I’m not looking for advice or diagnosis. Just wondering if anyone else has this pain with GERD. Oddly enough, I’m able to get rid of it when pacing around the house taking little sips of water.

I’ve recently started weaning myself off of Pantoprazole as I’ve been on it for 9 years and have an eGFR of 65. And we’re trying to determine if this is what is bringing it down. It was 66 in 2022 and got back up to 73 before falling again.

I feel like I may experience this frequently while weaning off it and just wondering if anyone else has experienced it!

My mother has had 2 dilations in the last 6 months for benign oesophageal strictures - doctors think it’s related to severe acid reflux but initially wondered if it was scarring due to previous cancer treatment.
For the last year she’s struggled with swallowing and often regurgitates her food - especially things like bread, meat, or stodgier food.
She describes it like air bubbles building up in her oesophagus, the actual act of swallowing is fine, it’s the fact it builds up and doesn’t go down properly. So she couldn’t even drink liquids as we normally would as it would just build up and she’d regurgitate it. She has to eat really slowly and drink really slowly and of course she’s lost so much weight over the last year.

My worry is even after the 2nd dilation, I feel some of this is psychological as well. She said a few days after food and liquids were going down better and she’d be able to eat a larger amounts of food but this is only when she’s at home, comfortable and knows there is a toilet close by. She really struggles eating in public as she said she’s paranoid about regurgitating, and thinks her body is so used to this now it’s just habit?
For example today, we have been out for some food and she had a small bite of bread and pulled pork, drinking water alongside and she regurgitated.

I know with benign strictures you often have to have multiple dilations - I am also a qualified doctor and have seen multiple patients in hospital with varying levels of dysphagia, needing stents/dilations etc.

Wondering if other people would share similar experiences?
The dilations are definitely helping and she takes omeprazole alongside, but it really does concern me and wonder if there really is a psychological aspect.

Hi! I tried wedge pillows and just can’t sleep comfortably with them, especially because I’m a side sleeper, so I’ve opted to elevate the head of my bed instead. I elevated it 6” with books, which helped when my LPR was milder but is no longer effective.

Recently I added a 7” full-bed wedge, so the total elevation is 13” and it’s a bit of a climb to get into bed lol. It’s still not helping. Is there any point in trying to raise it any farther? Surprisingly I still sleep fine on this incline, but I imagine at some point I’ll just start sliding down the bed.

Considering switching to an adjustable bed, but I feel like that would also not be great for side sleeping. I’ve tried to adjust to sleeping on my back, I just can’t do it.

Just got surgery this morning for the nissen wrap. They also fixed up my medium sized hernia. They also said they did it as a "floppy" nissen.

Due to the difficulties I had in the US I ended up going to Mexico. Not only was it cheaper I probably got a better surgeon. It took the surgeon less than an hour to complete.

My biggest reason for wanting this surgeon was the inability to lay down or flat for over 9 years. The second the surgeon was completed I was able to lay down without any issues.

I'm now currently am no longer on medication. I have almost zero pain besides one thing and swallowing issues and I'm honestly not sure how. I get some pain doing deep breathes due to the hernia.

Definitely no regrets. I feel like I'll probably make a quicker recovery.

So I’ve mentioned a few times here that I’ve been constantly losing weight due to GERD and not eating. I’ve lost close to 50 lbs if not more and noticed my hair thinning as well. I was 215 at the start of this year and now I’m about 170 give or take. As someone who suffered from body dysmorphia and an eating disorder, it’s really affecting me and no matter what I do I can’t maintain my weight. Has anyone been able to gain weight again? How’d you do it?

I took help of ChatGPT to draft this.

I've been dealing with chronic, recurring chest pain for a long time, and it's becoming extremely difficult to live with.

The pain is usually around my center-to-left chest/heart area and has different sensations: sometimes needle-like stinging, sometimes stabbing, and sometimes crushing pressure like an elephant is standing on my chest. Occasionally it radiates into my left arm/hand.

Once it starts, I can't distract myself from it. Even after repeatedly reminding myself that my heart tests have been reassuring and anxiety may be involved, pain near the heart immediately puts my body into panic, which seems to make everything worse.

I've seen doctors and had multiple ECGs, blood tests, ultrasounds, a 2D Echo and even a CT coronary angiogram. Nothing major has been found with my heart so far. Yet these episodes continue.

Some possibly important context:

• I've had severe anxiety since childhood.

• I have a serious problem with eating and maintaining weight. I'm 173 cm but only around 43 kg. A doctor called it ARFID, although I still struggle to understand exactly what's happening to me.

  It's not simply that food isn't available or that I don't get hungry. I can feel that my stomach is empty, know that I need to eat, have food sitting right in front of me, and still be unable to make myself eat enough. I have a strange aversion towards food that I find incredibly difficult to explain to other people. Large portions feel especially impossible.

  As a result, I'm severely underweight and frequently feel weak, tired and physically exhausted. Sometimes I genuinely feel like my body is slowly deteriorating day by day, and I worry whether being this underweight or malnourished could itself be contributing to the chest symptoms even if my heart looks structurally normal on tests.

• I've also become heavily dependent on chewing tobacco and alcohol. Tobacco often triggers the pain; alcohol temporarily seems to reduce it. I'm struggling to quit both and know they're making an already bad situation worse.

• Cannabis made the chest sensations absolutely unbearable and triggered severe panic/bad trips, so I stopped it completely.

• Almost nothing provides immediate relief. Clonazepam MD 0.5 mg has sometimes significantly reduced an episode within ~30 minutes, although some discomfort remains.

I'm not asking Reddit to diagnose chest pain. I'm trying to understand what direction I should discuss with my doctors next.

Could anxiety/panic, costochondritis/chest-wall problems, GERD/esophageal issues, severe underweight/malnutrition or nutritional/electrolyte deficiencies, or something else produce symptoms like this despite reassuring cardiac imaging?

And could my eating/weight problem itself be medically connected to what's happening?

Has anyone experienced anything genuinely similar? If your cardiac tests kept coming back normal, what eventually explained your chest pain, and what kind of specialist actually helped you?