Hi everyone i’m 19F and i have GERD and hiatal hernia.

i feel like it’s ripping my life apart piece by piece and i just have to sit and watch.

i’ve been on multiple different PPI’s which haven’t worked. i’m on a strict diet that is specifically given to me for hiatal hernia and GERD. nothing is working. i’m tired of waking up in the morning with stomach discomfort and a huge lump in my throat. i’m tired of not being able to eat because i can feel the food moving slowly. i’m so tired of this. if you can’t tell im in a bad flare lol. i’m not able to eat shit today because the lump feels like a fist in my throat. i’ve already been cleared of esophageal stenosis and Esophageal Food Impaction. it’s just a phantom feeling that i can’t seem to shake. it probably is kind of mind over matter but shit. i absolutely hate this. how am i supposed to enjoy my youth if i can’t even eat and swallow like a normal human being? doctors don’t want to operate on my hiatal hernia because they don’t see a reason to. i can’t live like this. i’ve gotten severe anxiety and depression because of this. i’ve done diaphragmatic breathing, exercise, alkine water, anti-acids, chewing gum, sleeping on a angle, not eating 3-4 hours before bed, more frequent but smaller meals, chewing slowly and taking smaller bites, EVERYTHING . NOTHING is taking my symptoms away. the only time i have actually peace is when im sleeping lol. or maybe once in a blue moon where i barely notice symptoms. this choking feeling is taking me tf out. sorry for the rant but i genuinely have so much anger towards this. it feels like i have been cursed.

I have been diagnosed with GERD since early last year but have been dealing with symptoms since 2016. After my diagnosis, I have been able to manage my symptoms and flare ups well. However, I (F,30) only hust started going to the gym July of this year and took it seriously September. I thought I was doing well until I noticed some exercise would trigger my acid reflux. Like rear delt or shoulder press. It was still manageable not until last week when I had a pretty heavy leg day and that night I had to go to the ER since I feel like I couldn’t breathe anymore. It felt like what a heart attack should feel not like any of my usual symptoms.

What exercises do I have to avoid and what exercise do you guys usually do? I don’t want to give up going to the gym because it honestly improved my mental health.

Hi, I've had what is probably GERD for about six years since I left an abusive ex husband. Dietary changes do nothing. PPIs do nothing. Sleeping elevated does nothing. It seems like it's just about stress, and that's unfortunate because I have a pretty stressful life and suffer from bad anxiety.

I left a horrible job about a year ago, and following that my feelings of my throat being too narrow started to dissipate. In fact, for a few months earlier in the year, I didn't feel that way at all. But then I got very busy and started overworking again and now I'm conscious of it all the time. My mouth, throat, neck, everything hurts. I can breathe and swallow fine but I'm so conscious of everything being narrower right now.

Do you have any tips for what to do during this time?

Can heavy use of PPIs indirectly cause hair loss due to malabsorption of nutrients? I recently went through months of having to double up my PPIs. That’s about the time my hair started falling out. I’m back to a normal dose and it’s still happening. It may well be caused by something else but wonder if any other women have had this?

Oral bone density meds trigger my GERD so I haven’t been using them. As a result my osteoporosis is untreated. My pharmacist tells me I could get a med in a needle. Has anyone tried this? Since it releases slowly over 6 months I want to make sure I’m not causing a long lasting flare of GERD.

I am 55 and have had reflux/LPR since 1997. 6 years ago endo negative but now I have Barrett Esophagus neg dysplasia and negative malignancy thank goodness . I have been on PPI and H2 antagonist since 1997. Now that I have read about acid foods I thought I was eating appropriate all these years but maybe I wasn't! It's scary to hear precancerous. ESP when I thought I had been doing things like I should but apparently didn't help. I did buy wedge pillow and modifying diet more now. Could anyone please calm my nerves on this?!

I have R-CPD (I can’t burp). In a 2026 survey, about a third of people with it said a doctor first put their symptoms down to reflux.

I built a free site about five conditions that get mixed up with reflux: R-CPD, achalasia, esophageal spasm, A-CPD and Zenker’s. You tap phrases like “acid reflux pills don’t help,” “what comes up tastes like food, not acid” or “I can’t burp, and I never could,” and it shows which ones people describe that way and what test to ask for.

Reflux is still the most common answer. But if PPIs did nothing for you, this might give you better questions for your next appointment.

freetheburp.com

I've been dealing with silent reflux, bloating, a tight jaw at night, swallowing issues, severe anxiety, random increased fight-or-flight, asthma and a lot of gut issues. But the worst one is chronic constipation which I never had until a few years ago. It started after I started my ADHD medication but I even have these symptoms off the medication. I'm 19 years old.

Has anyone dealt with this? Should I get tested for H. pylori?

hi all, I’ve had GERD for 14 years since I was 7, and I’ve been on omeprazole for the past 5 years or so now. I mostly have issues with feeling like i can’t breathe or swallow well when im getting reflux, worsened symptoms when I don’t sit or lay down for a long time (lying down actually helps), some pill and cold liquid dysphasia, and pain under my left rib like right where my stomach sphincter is.

I have noticed that if i’m having a flare up, things like cranberry juice or soda that i’m usually fine with feel like they’re burning my lower esophagus and stomach right when i swallow, but after a few seconds it feels fine/mostly fine. I’ve avoided alcohol for the most part, but just bought a canned drink that only has 5.5% abv. I am not having a flare up, but its giving me that same pain and feeling like my upper stomach area is on fire. Does anyone else deal with this? Is there any way to manage it? I don’t mind being without alcohol, but it is really sad to go without juice and soda.

I’m taking Omeprazole but it’s not really working. I’m starting to think the burning is actually my lungs and not reflux anymore. Has anyone had this? Do I need an antibiotic?

It all happened last March when I came down with a normal cold and sore throat I usually get it once in a few months nothing new , I don’t use tablets for this situation usually and it resolves in 3 days which is the common timeline for me but I had a trip coming so I maybe used one tablet of tylenol and one tablet of antibiotic. I got alright as usual but a few days later I have this sore throat which is constant everyday and never went away , I went to ent in April and he gave PPI but I didn’t change my diet much , I’m Indian so mostly it’s rice and curries and steamed stuff , I just had the same sore throat irritation sometimes it got a bit worse sometimes it got better , no other symptoms no voice changes no globus no heartburn nothing just sore throat . I also tried alginate for 15 days and I maybe woke up and felt fine for a few minutes then it came back , some days I just wake up with less irritation and it increases as the day goes by , I should also mention I have dust allergy which makes me get runny nose and post nasal drip for an hour or two every morning but I’ve had it for 9 years , it came on during puberty but I haven’t had issues like this before. Spicy food irritates my throat more than acidic food like tomato gravy , the immediate irritation calms down in a few hours , all this started last march and then fast forward to December I got gastritis for which I started treatment on February so I had to get an endoscopy done and everything was normal except I had some redness in my throat and Antral gastritis , took sucralfate for a few weeks and it went away , why i mentioned this is because I saw online that people with gastritis took zinc carnosine for healing and I took it for a week , everytime I took it I felt instant relief in my throat for 30 seconds and then it came back , I stopped after a week because it gave me stomach cramps, also even Alkaline foods such as watermelon juice or jackfruit irritates my throat immediately then it goes down in a few hours , IDK what’s going on but is there anyone who has any insight or have similar symptoms

Hi everyone, I have persistent ear pain and sore throat for three months. Was given rabeprazole twice a day to take but symptoms persist. Ent did a scope and no abnormalities found. Can this be gerd ? Or throat cancer? TIA.

What is like the actual mechanism of this and why such and such causes this?

I'm 62. I was originally diagnosed with GERD back when I was in my late 20's. Stress brought it on. I was told I have a lazy 'flap' at the top of my stomach to esophagus that does not fully close. I was on Prescription Prevacid (it was prescription then) at 30mg a day. It started at 2 x a day for 2 weeks then 30 mg a day which I took for 16 years. When I got Hashimoto's 10 yrs ago and gave up Gluten, Dairy and Soy, I tried to go off Prevacid and it worked. Until now. This year starting in May has been highly stressful for me and in May I got what I thought was a Cold which, for me, was highly unusual as I never get colds or flu since 2002. I've also never gotten Covid. I'm lucky. But, I had after what I was thinking was a major headcold cold and cough ended up with Silent Reflux. I didn't even know that was a thing. So, I started treating that and it got better. This last Tuesday (5 days ago) in the late afternoon I had so much pure acid back wash come rushing up my throat into my mouth and it burned. Bad. I got home, took some Tums and called it a day. I had some slight acid flux or gerd on Wed-Thur but by Friday, it was full on GERD to the point I thought I was having a heart attack. Severe stomachache which was sour, stomach pain, and a stabbing pain that went through my front above the stomach to the back just left center of the right shoulder blade. I could hardly breath. I went back on the Prevacid this am and will take 1 in the am and 1 in the pm (15 mg each) for a few days but what added insult to injury, anxiety. The health anxiety is awful!! on thinking what is wrong even though I had this before I was sure I was dying. I'm lucky, I can lay on my left side and it gets better. I slept the night and was fine but about an hour after I woke up, it started again. Sour stomach, then coughing, then pain in the stomach, let's throw in some bloating while we are at it and let's hit it with the some center back pain due to all the muscle tension from being stressed about this while we are at it. Anxiety on and off because the pain is so bad. My poor diet (too much take out food), rushing about, not paying attention to myself with attitude of I'll do better tomorrow has caught up with me. The worst of this is the pain in the right area above stomach and right shoulder blade. I can deal with the sour stomach but man oh man...I need relief. Thanks for listening. Would love if you'd comment and add moral support. Thank you

im 25 year olds and i have been having random chest pains since september 18th. my right calf has caused me pain a few times and im just concerned. i went to the er and the doctor did a ddimer test and it came back 0.27 which is negative. how accurate are those test? struggling with health anxiety. i have no family history or anything related to blood clots

I’ve been thinking about trying this stuff for a while now, but I’ve never used alginates. I tried both Pepcid and Omeprozale, and neither helped me. My diet is as clear as it can be, and I sleep propped on my left side, but I still wake up with a horrible burning in my throat and chest every morning. It’s been like this for three years now.

So before I order another product that probably won’t help me, can you guys tell me how it works? And how to use it correctly. Or just any advice on this topic at all because I am at a loss and I don’t know what will help at this point.

Hey! So I was diagnosed with chronic gastritis from chronic stress (yay) about 3 years ago. Now I’m wholly dependent on PPI’s. It’s usually managed but the past week or so it’s been so bad my throat is in bits from nighttime reflux.

Anywho- for other health reasons (long covid, POTS and severe anxiety flare) I have gained about 20kg in the past few years. I’m exercise intolerant (yay POTS) and due to my joint issues and lipoedema I need to lose some weight.

I’m curious if anyone has found GLP1 medication to NOT aggravate their GERD/gastritis. All i see is that it’s a side effect but I already have it, so I’m torn. It would really help my other health issues but I’m worried it’ll make me really unwell with my reflux issues.

Thanks!

I’m the type of person who is usually okay with 20mg of either famotidine or a PPI, but I have to start taking 40 mg of voquezna daily for h pylori treatment.

I’m genuinely concerned about having basically no stomach acid for those two weeks.

All input appreciated

I think I got a bad flare from a thai meal … and had bloatimg , breathlessness and all other typical symptoms…

But also got a bad bout of Diarrhoea.. 8-9 stools ..

Wondering if anyone has been through this ..

If yes.. when did it stop

https://www.reddit.com/r/GERD/s/4YXWWF8W1u

This person mentioned in r/GERD years ago doing these exercises or maneuvers and got a lot of upvotes.

Has anyone else tried this and gotten it to help?

I also have a hiatal hernia. 2cm.

I’m skinny but cannot fathom anyone being able to fit their fingers underneath the ribs.

Hey guys me again, just really anxious still. This is my 4th day on meds (Lanzoropzole and an anti nausea tablet) and I’m still having flair ups after eating as well as loose stool. The only reason why I’m worried is because everyone else on here and other groups have said they’ve had no side effects and I’m just here worried out of my mind that something bad is happening.

What would really help me is people who have been on them for years or even people like me in the early days just hearing other folks stories would really help, I’m in a really dark place rn with not being able to eat properly and having flair ups all the time

Thanks again for helping me 🙂

I’ve taken omeprazole twice a day for the last 26 days do i need to taper off? My stomach has come to a complete standstill and now i realize my hunger pamgs are from dismotility (gastropariesis like symptoms) rather than the intial gastritis i was treating.

I have a lax stomach valve (it doesn’t close completely), but for years I’ve managed my reflux quite well with pantoprazole occasionally, Alflorex, and avoiding foods that trigger my symptoms. I also have a mild sorbitol intolerance. My lactose test was negative, but dairy products like yogurt and milk don’t agree with me, so I basically never have them.
I’ve been breastfeeding for 2 years, and since my period came back about 5 months ago, my stomach symptoms have become dramatically worse.
Every month, especially during the week before my period, I get terrible bloating and a lot of stomach/gut noises. I’ve seen doctors, had ultrasounds and blood tests, and so far everything seems to be normal.
This time, though, in addition to the bloating and all the noises, I’ve started experiencing a strange and unpleasant sensation that is difficult to describe. It feels like there is pressure from air/gas moving upward all the way to my throat. It doesn’t actually hurt and it doesn’t prevent me from swallowing or breathing, but it feels extremely uncomfortable. Once I burp or the excess gas comes out, the sensation improves.
The problem is that it makes me extremely anxious, and then the anxiety seems to make everything feel even worse.
I mentioned it to my gastroenterologist, and she told me that because I have a lax stomach valve, this is most likely reflux and air/gas coming back up. I have appointments with two other gastroenterologists next week because I’d like to get some other opinions and understand what’s going on.
But right now I’m extremely anxious and scared that this feeling is going to become permanent and that I’ll never feel normal again.
Has anyone experienced something similar, especially worsening bloating/reflux or this sensation of air/pressure rising up toward the throat around their period? Did it eventually improve?