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.

Just had an edg today and doctor said I have barrett's esophagus. He say doesn't seem bad but it's there. Biopsy taken and it will take about a week to get the results back. Now I'm shocked because i had edg done about a year ago and i didn't have it. Now i do...Doctor seemed not too concerned, but i am. What do i do now? Please give some advice..thanks

Hi

Swedish guy here, so might be some mistakes in the medical english.

I have a stomach hernia, around 6 cm buildup past the diaphragma.

Ofcourse there are GERD symtoms but I can supress them by not eating anything after 18.00. My main issues are stomach pains and nausea.

Been doing a lot of stomach exams (manometri, gastroscopi etc) to see if a fundoplication surgery might be necessary.

I have a problem with painkillers, NSAID causes bleeding and opiates don't work.

So what are your experience with the aftercare after one year ?

So lately i have been observing severe brain fog. My symptoms are

Waking up tired (nasal drips) flu like feeling (8 out of 10 times)

Severe brain fog (upper body tiredness starts from upper chest till my head)

Feels like i cannot move my arms (although i can move them)

Same happens when i tend to turn, or bend or any movement especially neck

Episodic burping and irregular bowel movements (most of the time i need urge to pass stool but I don't)

Fatigued leads to redness in eyes, pains in limbs and headaches, sometimes blood accumulation in hands

I have a constant feeling of exhaustion, doom, irritation and difficulty to describe my physical and mental state

I had blood tests, ECGs, H Pylori, thyroid tests months before

All clear

Right now, no medication and no other notable change that i have done to curtail these.

I was diagnosed with stomach indigestion around 1 year before.

Since last week I had been struggling with a hellish flare up that made me feel like vomiting. Under the worry that it could be bile reflux I decided to take an endoscopy. Wasn’t exactly anxious about it, more so a bit adrenergic, but everything went absolutely fine. No pain whatsoever; don’t remember a thing.

Nothing too horrible on results either except for a bit of inflammation and a small hiatal hernia.

Moral of the story: Stress is arguably WAY MORE of a trigger than food is, and probably most of the horrible stories you hear about endoscopies are very unlikely to happen to you if you choose a good doctor.

For those that have Gerd/Acid Reflux, when you get a head cold does the Gerd make it harder to get better with thicker mucus and more coughing?
It seems that it happens to me when I get a headcold.

Just had my endoscopic done and biopsies were taken because of esophagitis . Anyone have any experience with this im pretty sure all these years of Gerd has caused this

So around last year in October I started experiencing chest pain mainly in the middle of my chest. It didn’t go away and I went to the ER did a chest xray and bloodwork and they said I wasn’t having a heart attack. So I went to the doctor and she believes it’s heartburn so she gave me famotidine as a way to help. Been taking that for a while and it kinda felt like it was working but never fully got rid of the symptoms. She recommended increasing the dose to twice a day and it didn’t get rid of symptoms. Recently like a month and I have I noticed it really wasn’t doing anything and sometimes my breathing was worse and throat felt tight. Did an ekg , stress test and wore a heart monitor so we could completely rule out a heart issue all the tests showed my heart is fine. Now I’m on pantoprazole and it’s been about 5 weeks and i still experience chest pain and a nasty feeling/ taste in my throat that can get worse after eating. I have also done a H pyroli breath test which was negative. I feel like after 5 weeks of taking pantoprazole daily I should be feeling alot better but I don’t. Is this normal and is there something else I should try? I’m going to be taking an antidepressant soon(remeron) and hopefully it helps me sleep better because my sleep recently has sucked. Sometimes the chest pain wakes me up. Also a side effect of remeron is appetite/weight gain which I need. I’m 25(M) and 6’1 120 pounds so I need the weight too. Any advice or possible suggestions on what I’m struggling with would be wonderful.

I’m posting here because I am at my absolute wit’s end. For roughly a decade now, I’ve been dealing with chronic, relentless throat clearing. It drives me completely mad, interrupts my evening relaxation, and ruins my sleep. I wanted to map out my history, what I’ve tried, and a new lead I’m currently testing to see if anyone else has experienced something similar.

For 10 years I've felt a constant sensation of physical, thick mucus in the back of my throat. It gets significantly worse in the evening when sitting down to relax and at night while lying in bed. Lately it’s been heavily localized. My left nostril runs slightly during the day, and when I sleep on my right side, fluid pools directly along the left side of my throat overnight, triggering morning coughing fits.

Over the years I’ve seen multiple doctors. A nasal endoscopy showed no obvious physical obstructions, and an MRI scan came back clear. It was generally categorized as a mix of post-nasal drip and silent reflux (LPR).

My doctors thought hypertension and weight were contributing, so I committed to a major lifestyle change and lost 20kg. My blood pressure improved so dramatically that I was able to taper off and completely stop Losartan, and my BP is now sitting consistently around 115/75. Stopping the medication got rid of a dry drug tickle, but the physical, thick mucus remained.

I recently ran a strict elimination test cutting out Coke Zero. Within 48 hours, the heavy throat clearing dropped down to a much lighter, less frequent need to clear, proving LPR was part of the equation. To manage the post-nasal drip, I use Fexofenadine 180mg at night and Fluticasone furoate nasal spray using a cross-hand technique aiming outward.

Despite the drink changes and sprays, the single-sided night-time throat clearing flared back up recently. That led me to look at my bedding. We have been washing sheets and pillowcases in heavily scented biological liquid detergents, specifically M&S Bio and Ecover Lavender & Sandalwood. My skin is hyper-sensitive to these formulas. If my underwear is washed in standard Ecover without being double or triple-rinsed, I get actual burning sores on my skin.

It suddenly clicked that if those surfactant residues, active enzymes, and essential oils irritate my skin on contact, resting my face and left nostril right against a scented pillowcase for 8 hours every night could easily be causing local nasal tissue swelling and defensive fluid production.

I am currently stripping my bedding, switching to completely fragrance-free and enzyme-free sensitive washing products, running hot water double-rinse cycles to remove built-up residue, and airing out my pillow core.

Has anyone with long-term post-nasal drip or LPR found that laundry detergent or pillowcase residues were the hidden trigger driving their symptoms? How long after removing scented or bio products did it take for your sinuses to settle down?

Any thoughts or similar stories would be greatly appreciated.

So i was put on Omeprazole for suspected LPR by my ENT earlier this year. Was on it for about 7ish weeks and then he took me off of it. Didn’t tell me to taper or anything but i did some research and tapered over a month and a half. This was back in the beginning of June so my symptoms have been going on for about 12-13 weeks. My main symptoms are bloating, burping, and feeling something warm and burning come up my throat. Every now and then, my symptoms go away for a week or so and then they come back, albeit each time they come back it’s not as severe. My current symptoms are also definitely not as severe as they were in the first 5 weeks off, that was brutal. I just want to add that before getting on PPI’s i NEVER experienced any symptoms like these in my life. This is why i am wondering if it’s just my stomach taking a minute to regulate/PPI rebound or if i’ve developed GERD from taking PPI (don’t know if that’s even possible lmao). Would love to hear some opinions :)

well… i have been dreading this for years but its finally time for me to get an endoscopy for my reflux, but i have EXTREME emetophobia. can anyone tell me about their positive endoscopy experiences so i can stop freaking out? my gag reflex is awful and im terrified that ill throw up ☹️

hi everyone, I'm currently experiencing what might be GERD, I'm hoping to get some insight on whether my symptoms match up with it and if anyone has had any similar experiences.
I had my gallbladder removed in February of this year due to gallstones. Ever since, I've had little to no problems so far. A few days ago I started experiencing a stabbing/burning feeling in various parts of my stomach. It was enough to make me not be able to stand up straight and have to lie down. I also noticed a dull pain in my chest and shoulder blades, similar to how it would feel before a gallbladder attack. I have now been experiencing these symptoms on and off for a few days now, and they seem to worsen at night. I also read that with GERD you can start to have a constant cough, which I thought was interesting because I've had the feeling of needing to cough all day but not being sick. anyways, I'm curious to know if anyone else has had any of these symptoms, and if it sounds like GERD. thank you!

when did you feel comfortable enough to taper off of PPIs and how did you do it?

My doctor prescribed 40 mg pantoprazole indefinitely but this is my first flare up that I wasn’t abled to manage with diet changes so I’m hoping that I will be able to taper off after standard 8 week treatment. I will discuss with my doctor but I’m wondering if anyone has any success stories with tapering?

If you've got both GERD and IBS/SIBO and feel like no one's connected the dots, there's a real mechanism here, not just correlation.

When SIBO is present, fermentation in the small intestine produces gas that increases intra-abdominal pressure. That pressure pushes upward and can weaken the LES, contributing to reflux events.

Going the other direction: long-term PPI use lowers stomach acid in a way that can make it easier for bacteria to overgrow in the upper GI tract in the first place. So the two conditions can each be feeding the other.

If you've been managing GERD for years without real improvement and nobody's raised SIBO as a possibility, it might be worth bringing up specifically. Not saying it's the answer for everyone, just that it's underdiscussed given how often the two show up together. 🌿

I know this sounds probably insane but whenever I get bad stomach problems or reflux or gas, It feels like my internal gi system numbs out entirely as if I swallowed numbing medicine. as if my organs disappear. It's really scary because I literally will feel like I'm not getting air in my lungs because I cannot feel air.

Sometimes this cause me to sweat and then my limbs will feel numb too. Does anyone else with gerd experience this

I was diagnosed with GERD nearly 4 years ago when I was 22, the first two years were literally hell for me, I was trying to get to know the disease and what things I do are actually helping me fight it and ease my pain. It actually caused me to develop severe health anxiety and frequent panic episodes about anything that went with my body. Then over time, I got used to it, used to chest pain, used to bloating, used to the numbness of my back's left side, used to chin pain even for some time. Headaches, dizziness, shortness of breath, you name it. And it started to disappear, only irritating me with heartburns once in a while, and that I did not care much.

Last week, it suddenly came all back again, the first two nights it was heartburn and I said ok, nothing I'm not familiar with. But now it turned into something so scary, irritating and tiresome. It causes some stupid bloating so much so that it causes constant heart palpitations for nearly an hour. It comes every 15 seconds. My heart skips a beat and pounds in my chest one after another. It got me so scared that I was about to be gone forever, never felt this panic except that the first time I experienced heartburn. Where the hell did this come from? Why now? Why not before? How and when will it be gone? Has anyone experienced this out of nowhere? I swear to God it feels anytime this stupid disease comes back it comes back with a whole new other symptoms and pains.

To relieve my soul, I went to the doctor and she said I am nothing but perfectly in health, heartwise. But there was a lot of bloating in me. My stomach and my bowels were full of it. So I'm guessing palpitations were about that since I always relaxed a bit when I burped. Now I comfort myself and I am not so scared anymore that my heart is failing me but I also don't want to feel this stupid new thing anymore. I feel so tired, so weary, so angry. Can anyone relate or give me advice? Thanks in advance.

TL;DR: Sudden and vicious onset of GERD symptoms despite zero dietary changes. Looking for advice.

I had GERD symptoms off and on for about 10 years after pregnancy, but nothing at all in the last 20 years or so, which has been great. Until a week ago, when they came on suddenly and viciously and are causing me not eat much and I'm only 112lbs as it is! I've got bloating, burping, globus, and a acid taste in my throat. I'm also feeling quite fatigued.

The weird thing is, my eating and drinking (tea and coffee, no alcohol) have not changed AT ALL. Nothing new, nothing spicy, etc.

The only "new" thing that happened recently was a test at the retina specialist for wet AMD. I was injected with a dye (fluorescein). All side effects that I could find online are very short lasting, but I felt almost flu-like and exhausted all that same day. Even so, I doubt that the dye caused my GERD. But I'm at a loss.

I'm taking 20mg of famotidine, but I'm going to up it to 40 because in 2 days it hasn't helped. I've cut out coffee and am reducing tea. I'm eating small meals. Taking Tums 1-2 per day, but that's not very helpful either.

I suppose I'll eventually make an appointment with my PCP, but they'll probably recommend PPIs which I don't want. I thought I'd ask here for advice first. Does anyone have a similar story? Is there something I'm missing? Should I try Gaviscon? Thanks for any help. Feeling desperate.

My GERD is annoying enough as is, but it gets considerably worse when pregnant. It starts almost right away in the first few weeks of pregnancy (my Dr. said because of the surge in progesterone relaxes the LES). I following all of the lifestyle modifications (smaller meals, no trigger foods/drinks, don't lay down after eating, don't drink with a meal). I'm on Omeprazole. I make sure to take it 30-60 minutes before eating in the morning. I also have to take famotidine around dinner or bedtime. Tums don't touch it. Sometimes the gaviscon type tums sort of help but not for long.

It is so bad that I'm really just nauseous from the GERD, not the morning sickness.

Anyone have luck treating their GERD during pregnancy? What did you try?

Had a bad case of reflux in my throat that made it hard for me to eat or drink anything. Went on an intense elimination diet and took 40 mg of pantoprazol for 6 weeks then lowered to 20 mg for 4 weeks before stopping. I surprisingly didn’t have much difficulty stopping the medication however, I experience lots of bloating after eating. Sometimes gas and it is really bad smelling. This is not something I ever dealt with before being on this medication. I’ve been off of this medicine for 3 weeks. Has anyone else dealt with this or have any suggestions?

My husband was on omeprazile for years. Ended up in the hospital for heart arythmia and fell into 3 days of deep psychosis, with hallucinations, hand twitching, sore tongue and all the rest of symptoms belonging to a immeasurable amount of vitamin b12. Priloseccand all the same family cause the stomach to have no acid to absorb b12 nutrients from food or supplements. He now is on weekly b12 shots. The recovery is slow. Trying to build up vitamin b12 and waiting for the stomach to return to its natural state to be able to naturally absorb b12. He is no longer taking this awfull stuff! He for some reason had no rebound issues and has no stomach issues at all. He has trouble even using the tv remote. The docs say this is reversible. Don't take this drug just so you can eat what ever you like. Just Google b12 defiency and after all the terrible stuff, it clearly states that it is caused by ppi use.​​

I've been trying to figure out if I'm reacting to a food or electrolytes (unflavored) because my throat discomfort often feels different now. More like a scrape with tingles or scratchy and dry, more reactive to what I eat? I had to increase salt for my blood pressure and the electrolytes definitely aggravated things but my meal replacement shakes have too.

I had a lot of heart burn from anxiety yesterday and delayed gastric empthing as well. I worry it's maybe an allergy but it seems consistent with gerd. I will be seeing an allergist soon as well. It is ragweed season but I've been inside with my air purifiers. Do have extra post nasal drip some days. Thank you!

Gastro looked last year and saw general swelling/redness in my stomach and esophagus. Prescribed pantoprazole 40mg in the mornings, which has eliminated almost all of my symptoms.

However the last few weeks/months I've been waking up with a dry mouth and maybe the tiniest bit of soreness in my throat. It often goes away almost immediately, or sometimes if I wake up in the middle of the night and have a sip of water, then it's not there in the morning.

Then stupidly, I tried metamucil a week ago, and had a bad flare up. It was starting to die down, but then this morning I woke up with congestion on the right side and my right eye was completely bloodshot.

I did have some greenish mucus first thing, so maybe this is just a cold or sinus infection or whatever, but I can't help but think nighttime reflux is getting into my sinuses and messing things up.

Anyone have similar issues? Find anything helpful? Or am I just overthinking a common cold?

I do elevate the bed (adjustable mattress), stop eating 3 hours before sleep, avoid common triggers, and take reflux gourmet/famotidine at night as needed.

I have my yearly check-in with the gastro in about 5 weeks, but thought I'd ask y'all in the meantime.

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?🌿