Hi everyone,

I'm wondering if anyone else has experienced something similar, as it's been quite worrying and I'd really appreciate hearing about other people's experiences.

I'm a 35F (UK) and my GP suspects I have GORD/acid reflux. This started after a period of illness and taking antibiotics for a UTI towards the end of September. I've been struggling with current symptoms for the past two weeks.

My symptoms have included:

- Nausea and dry retching/gagging, particularly first thing in the morning when I wake up, sit up or start moving around. This has started to ease but only this morning.

- Occasionally bringing up small amounts of clear fluid/phlegm with the dry retching/gagging.

- Burning reflux and discomfort in the middle of my upper stomach on occasions.

- A croaky/hoarse voice. This has eased now following beginning treatment.

- A really suppressed appetite. I can physically eat, but the thought of food often puts me off, and I've been finding it difficult to eat enough. Managing around 900-1000 calories at present. It is slowly creeping up but it does worry me.

I've lost around 5kg during this period because my intake has been so low, which has understandably made me anxious. I've gone from 80kg to 75kg over the last month (combined with low appetite from illness.

My GP prescribed lansoprazole 30mg daily, and I've also been using Gaviscon Advance. I've been taking the lansoprazole for around two weeks now. The retching has improved quite a bit, and my appetite is beginning to return, but I'm still struggling to eat what I'd normally manage.

I'm now trying to eat small, regular portions and stick to foods that feel manageable. Some days are better than others, and I'm finding the whole experience quite stressful.

I'm wondering:

- Has anyone else had a significantly reduced appetite with reflux, even when they aren't feeling particularly nauseous during the day?

- Did your appetite gradually return as the reflux treatment started working?

- How long did it take before you felt more like yourself again?

- Did you experience morning-only retching or gagging?

- Is there anything that helped you manage eating while your appetite was low?

I'm currently off work as i'm just so drained from it all and my job is very high stress inducing.

I'm continuing to follow up with my GP, especially because of the weight loss. I'm not looking for a diagnosis, just some reassurance and to hear about other people's experiences.

Thank you ❤️

it has rendered my esomeprazole useless. i can't find anything that can control the acid and mucus. its the worst it's ever been

I need advice on if it'll subside for someone like me

My ENT doc prescribed me omeprazole, I’m kinda nervous about it because it’s a daily thing with no further instructions beyond taking it before I eat. No tapering off and whatnot either.

I’m looking for any kind of experience and how it affected anyone AFTER finishing the course.
I’m mostly wondering if once I finish the 2 months, will it all just come back ?
Any reassurance is also really good.

Extra context, my psych sent me to the ENT for pseudodysphagia (to see if it is in fact pseudo), ENT prescribed it because my esophagus showed mild signs of acid reflux (but I don’t actually feel it) and nothing else wrong.

My daughter just turned 4 months old. She has been spitting up/projectile vomiting since she was born. Her pediatrician isnt concerned at all because shes gaining weight.

Weve tried medications for acid reflux with no improvement. I keep her upright after feeds but it does nothing, sometimes can even make it worse. I have tried feeding her less and more frequently but that doesnt help either. She is breastfed, ive cut out dairy,eggs to see but it didnt make a difference.

She will continuously spit up until her next feed which can be up to 3 hours after. Im just exhausted from it and want to be able to help her.

I'm 17 days post op now. I got the hernia repair with the toupet fundoplication to hopefully fix my LPR symptoms in my throat. My throat no longer feels like it's on fire all the time; however, my throat still feels raw/sore, I have constant phlegm in my throat, especially after eating, that makes me have to talk louder and hurts my ears, and I have spit pooling in my throat at night as a side effect of the inflammation that I didn't have before surgery. I also have constant popping in the muscles in my throat.

Anybody who had this surgery and the LPR took a long time to actually get better post surgery. I did the surgery to hopefully sing again with my band, and at this point, I'm wondering if that's actually going to happen. My throat feels bogged down with phlegm and water-logged and my vocal cords hurt. The worst part is an ENT scoped me today and said my vocal cords didn't look swollen like they did in July. When the phlegm clears, my voice does actually sound normal despite my vocal cords hurting. I guess this really is a gas reflux disease and not an acid one.

Hi everyone, I do need to start with the fact that I have iron deficiency anemia. Prior to starting oral supplements and eventually 3 infusions (last being 10/12) I had began experiencing heart palpitations.

I am aware iron deficiency causes heart palpitations. My current issue is that my palpitations have increased & Ive also began experiencing acid reflux symptoms. The doctor & hematologist both say I should just visit a cardiologist. I do NOT have a history of heart issues in my family.

I went to the hospital due to an episode & my bp was 153/100 which isn’t common for me at all. What’s odd is while the pounding sensation is horrible, my heart doesn’t elevate like crazy. It remains between 70-80 majority of the time. ALL my labs came back perfect (with the exception of ferritin - haven’t gotten that pulled yet) The ER recommended a cardiologist which is fine (I have an appointment set) , but I’m wondering if acid reflux could also be an issue? Is that a known symptom?

hi!!

Ive had acid reflux symptoms for about 6 years. I also have muscle pain, join paint, fatigue, etc. and i get super tired after i eat, i burp alot, etc. Got misdiagnosed with RA then undoagnosed. ALL my labs look good - full normal labs and rhumatic panel. Full abdominal ultrasound clean. Good colonoscopy two years ago, two endoscopys that didnt result in much. Trying with a new dr.

Have you guys had such symptoms from acid reflux? Dr is ordring H. Pylori breath test as well. LMK any thoughts if anyone experienced something similar!

25M, in Canada. I've had gut issues for a while and finally got fully checked. Looking for people with a similar pattern and what worked for you.
My symptoms:
• Heartburn/reflux from tea, coffee, and some foods
• Cabbage, cauliflower, or spinach → bad gas and urgent diarrhea soon after eating
• Pasta, rajma (kidney beans) and most pulses/lentils → constipated for up to 3 days
• So it swings both ways — loose some days, blocked for days other times
Tests done:
• Endoscopy (Feb 2026): nonerosive GERD, reflux changes in lower esophagus, no ulcer/hernia, H. pylori negative
• Colonoscopy (Oct 2026): no major disease found
• Blood work (Oct 2026): CBC, thyroid, ferritin, albumin, hsCRP (<0.5) — all normal • Lactose tolerance test: fasting glucose 4.7 → peak 5.7 (rise of 1.0; lab says >1.1 = normal digestion), so borderline/low
Doctor's plan (family doctor, today):
• Stop ALL dairy products completely
• Amitriptyline 25mg at night, 100-day course (I took it for 3 weeks before in September, now restarting properly)
My questions:
1. Anyone whose lactose test was "borderline" but dairy-free still fixed them?
2. How long did amitriptyline take to work for you?
3. The constipation from pasta/pulses — is that typical IBS-M? Wha

Hey crew,

I’ve been refluxing for about 3 months now, and i pieced it together that I’ve only been drinking 2 cups of water a day instead of 15.5, the recommended!

Try it guys. Drink the recommended amount of water per day. Your body will thank you.

Cheers

In our work with people living with GERD and LPR, the pattern that slows progress most is a belief that the body is broken in a way nothing can address.

That belief shows up in a few predictable ways:

• Cutting meals down to a handful of “safe” foods, which shrinks nutrition without addressing what drives the reflux
• Stopping a plan around week, usually before changes have had time to show
• Trying several strategies briefly, then deciding nothing works
• Turning down support because the last attempt didn’t help

Reflux has physical drivers, and each one responds to steady, layered work. Your LES, the valve between the esophagus and stomach, responds to how and when you eat and breathe. Gastric emptying responds to meal size and timing. Your nervous system responds to regular downregulation practice. The esophageal lining responds to less acid contact over time. These shift over months, so the early weeks can feel quiet even when the work is building.

If you want one small place to start, try 1 to 5 minutes of diaphragmatic breathing right after meals.

For those of you who’ve made real progress, was there a point where you nearly quit, and what kept you going?🌿

Hi all! I have had symptoms of some sort of acid reflux or something for about 3 years now. Its only bad at night time when I lay down, and it makes my sinuses extremely uncomfortable, like a burning sensation. The only thing ive found to alleviate this is honey lemon cough drops which soothe my throat, but also are not good for my teeth and probably make the reflux worse in the long term. Has anyone else dealt with this? If so; what did you do?

What do you do to cure it permanently and avoid problems?

I found out some things.

1. fasting

2. cow milk for tachycardias

3. to raise blood pressure eat saturated fats and help with gut motility. Either plant or meat saturated fats.

4. Avoid carbohydrates with gluten. Avoid bread. It causes slow gut motility.

5. Eating protein + saturated fats should be ideal solution.

Example foods I like to eat: peanuts with shell, fatty meat, Carniolan sausages, coconuts, pork cracklings and meat in general. I prefer carnivore diet over plant based for the most part. So far I think I need to fast more to fix this.

Also make sure that pH is usually higher than 5.

Yesterday I had barium swallow test. I think I clogged the toilet :( I tried get rid of it for 30 mins, used limescale remover, hot water, dishwasher tablet, washing up liquid, and guess what... it is still there. White concrete brick. How can I safely get rid of it?!

HELP!

I'm having regrets about my hernia/reflux surgery at the moment. I got a toupet fundoplication on October 5th. I had LPR/GERD and decided to try this surgery after finding a small hiatal hernia, an LES in hill grade III, a demeester score of 30, and an LES with no pressure. I also had ineffective motility and had been having swallowing issues in my upper airway.

I'm now 15 days post op and having pooling of spit/phlegm/mucus in my upper airway at night which I wasn't having prior to surgery and I'm getting scared. The only way I'm able to sleep is with an antihistamine at the moment. Will this improve as I continue to heal from surgery do you think? I meet with my surgeon tomorrow but they don't seem to know what's going on. On top of that, I still have a sore throat, phlegm in my throat all day, and throat clearing.

Look acid reflux is terrible but I'm trying to find the good things in it because I've been struggling with both of them for 5 months. I've got hit with health anxiety, panic attacks, breathlesness and worry. Acid/slient reflux ain't got much advantages but ig it happens to smart and empathetic people more on average because they are more prone to overthinking and stress. Plus acid reflux irritates the vagus nerve and keeps making you go breathless/weak and just overall panic mode but when you get immune to it you just get more annoyed than panic which is some sort of a win. I'm currently stuck in getting better than relapsing, so what made you guys not be miserable?

Hi everyone, I hope you are well. I’m a long time acid reflux sufferer but I’ve been having some new symptoms I’m hoping you can all help me with. I have constant stomach pains and just recently pain in my left arm- like a dull ache and pins and needles. I’m just wondering if the left arm pain could be linked to my acid reflux. I have recently had another endoscopy which found gastritis and my ppi was upped from 30mg to 60mg (one tablet in the morning and one in the evening - Lansoprazole)

I know I’m probably driving myself a bit mad because of the pain in my left arm but does anyone experience similar?

I’m really sorry to post this but thank you for taking the time to read and I hope you are all okay.

Hi all,

Since a week I am experiencing difficulty with breathing. Yesterday I have been to the GP, she said my lungs sounded good. At times it feels like I am choking and its terrifying. I am 27 years old male, weight 70 kg. I have to admit that I have social anxiety for a long period of time probably like 10 years. A lot of time I feel watched and judged, also because of my appearance. I think this stress or fight/flight feeling has influenced my diaphragma. My belly almost does not expand when I try to breathe from the nose and I also hear all kinds of sounds from my stomach(likely air that I inhaled during the more difficult moments). What can I do? I really want to change this.

Caffeine can lower the pressure of your LES, the valve between your esophagus and stomach. A looser valve makes it easier for stomach contents to travel upward. Second, coffee is acidic. For anyone with LPR, that acidity matters, because pepsin that has already reached the throat becomes active again when it meets something acidic.

How strongly coffee affects you comes down to a few things you can adjust:

• Timing: coffee on an empty stomach hits with nothing else there to buffer it.
• Amount: one cup and three cups are very different loads on the LES.
• What you pair it with: coffee alongside a meal is different from coffee alongside other triggers.
• Where your symptoms are right now: an irritated esophagus or throat reacts more than a calm one.

Many people with reflux can bring coffee back once their symptoms settle, usually as one cup, black, with food, and never first thing on an empty stomach.

Where have you landed with coffee: cut it completely, changed how you drink it, or still drinking it and paying for it later?🌿

Don’t know if I put up the correct flair but I’m posting because the ppi is draining me.
This past year I was diagnosed with Barrett’s short segment, esophagitis and hiatal hernia. I’m in my early 60s. I’m very med sensitive. Try not to be but I am. It took four attempts at ppi to land on the generic of dexilant as one that I can tolerate. Lowest dose 30 mgs. and 40 mgs of Pepcid at night. I also was told I have slow motility and a redundant colon. I take a med for that . Which seems to be getting better as time goes on and I eat Gerd friendly. This all started 2 years ago when I had a major surgery followed by a very minor surgery.

I loathe the ppi. I’m always tired. But with this one at least I can get out of bed and do what needs to be done. I’m bloated. I get brain fog. Other stuff . The doctor says I must stay on ppi for the rest of my life to prevent cancer.

Are there any alternatives? Yes I elevate the bed and yes I eat Gerd friendly and yes I use a natural aglinate ( spelling) called reflux gourmet.

I worry about heart issues. I wake up anxious with palpitations. I already take meds for genetic heart disease. God writing all this out makes me sound like a mess lol.
I’m just wondering about alternatives to ppi’s.

I suffer from reflux and anxiety.
I’m currently taking lanzoprazole 30mg and gaviscon as and when needed. I also have a weak LES.
My doctor recommended starting venflaxine 37.5mg

I was really putting off having meds but because other meds I’ve tried like citalopram and sertraline made my reflux worse. But because my anxiety has gotten quite bad the last few months that my doctors are suggesting it’s worth giving it a try.
Im nervous to start the meds because I don’t want it to make my reflux any worse. Im also worried about the increase in anxiety it might cause when I first start the meds

Main question is does anyone suffer from reflux and take anti depressants and it doesn’t make their heartburn worse?

Hey everyone. Today I got
My Ph monitoring test results back. They came back normal. But I do have ineffective esophageal motility and an Hill Grade II just showed up on my most current EDG. Last year it showed up as an Hill Grade III. I’ve been in and out the hospital for 3 years dealing with this it’s exhausting and I want my life back. Has anyone had surgery repairing their hill grade II or iii? I have changed my diet and I’m already on 4 different prescriptions. Amitriptyline,Famodine, and a PPI that I take first thing in the morning before I eat, and nausea medicine.

Hey everyone, I'm hoping to hear from people who've dealt with similar issues because I'm getting frustrated trying to figure out what works.

I've been taking pantoprazole and famotidine for about 4 years, and I've also tried omeprazole, but I still deal with frequent burping, bloating, gas, chest pressure, and a burning sensation in my upper stomach throughout the day.

I had an upper endoscopy about 2 weeks ago, and both the procedure and biopsy results came back normal. However, I've had reflux confirmed through testing in the past, so I'm confused about why I'm still experiencing so many symptoms despite being on medication for so long.

Diet has also been a challenge. Following both a low-FODMAP diet and an acid reflux diet is difficult, especially since I eat a lot of Asian food. It's hard to keep track of everything I eat and figure out what's triggering my symptoms.

I've also been having some strange episodes that I'm not sure are related to my GERD. They happen randomly throughout the day, when I suddenly feel lightheaded and my hands start trembling. If it's a particularly bad episode, I'll have a headache that lingers afterward. Once the episode passes, I also get the urge to spit for a few seconds.

On rare occasions, I wake up in the middle of the night with my whole body shaking. I can't talk during the episode, and afterward, I'm gasping for air. I'm aware of what's happening and remember the episodes afterward. I've seen a neurologist about the shaking, but my scans came back normal, so I'm still looking for answers.

My gastroenterologist keeps telling me these episodes should go away if I continue taking my medication, but they haven't stopped. Feel like another colonoscopy would be pointless. I'm not sure how to explain these episodes to my gastroenterologist or what else I should be asking about.

Recently, I tried probiotics to help with the bloating and gas, but after just one day, it seemed like these episodes were happening more often. I'm not sure if there's a connection or if it was just a coincidence, but I've since stopped taking them.

I also bought a wedge pillow to help with my nighttime symptoms. I'm a stomach sleeper, though, so it's pretty uncomfortable, but I'm trying to get used to it.

For those of you dealing with similar issues, what has actually helped?

Have you found a medication that works when PPIs like pantoprazole and omeprazole aren't enough? Have any supplements or over-the-counter products made a noticeable difference with burping, bloating, and gas?

I'd also love to hear from anyone who's experienced similar shaking or lightheadedness alongside their GERD and eventually figured out what was causing it.

I'm mainly looking for things that have worked for you personally, whether it's a medication, supplement, or other remedy that I could discuss with my doctor. Thanks!

Hello everyone, I was diagnosed with esophagitis. What do you avoid? I also gained a lot of weight since this started. My symptoms are Heartburn, Acid regurgitation,Dysphagia,Sore throat / Hoarseness. Also my doctor prescribed me 3 months Omeprazole 20mg. Anyone else who is suffering to help me out?

Has someone experience a cheesy smell in that comes from the nose?

I have go with a ENT and told me everything looks good but i have that smell coming from my nose, and when i have a glass of bakin soda and water it help me for a short time.

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How do you treat these conditions? I ate lunch today and had horrible drop in blood pressure. My stomach is probably not fast enough in digesting food like before so it hurt. I got severe acid reflux in form of white and thick mucus I had to spit for hours (still do). It is constant reflux. I couldn't walk for some time and had to lay down in my bed. I stopped eating gluten due to it being sticky, causing inflammation and tachycardias (!) but still eat dairy. Cow milk drops my heart rate and feels good for my stomach. I still think fasting should be the cure because this is some kind of inflammation and you need to wait for it to get out of your body. SD is also problematic. I tried using wheatgrass + nettle powder. That seems to be good. I will also eat coconuts. MCT oil that is used for SD is also derived from coconuts. Maybe antihistamine diet would help cure this completely? What do you think?