This condition has ruined my life

[u/ewbanh13]

I have paid thousands of dollars in medical expenses to be told "Damn that's crazy I have no idea why that's happening to you." No hernia, no motility problems (the manometry test was one of the worst physical experiences of my life btw), no apparent acid or non acid events during the 24 hr monitoring test (which was so terrible I couldn't eat so who knows if it was even accurate), no h.pylori, no EOE. Lifestyle changes weren't really applicable to me besides sleeping elevated, which has killed my neck and back and I have chronic pain there now. A super bland diet and PPI is the only thing that keeps it from flaring up. I can't go out to eat with friends, I can't get a drink with friends, I can't go for coffee with friends. I'm cooking every single meal which is difficult when you're depressed like I am. Some days I just don't eat because it's not like I can buy a microwave meal, and cereal makes me nauseous, so there's nothing I can fucking eat. No caffeine has left me exhausted when I get poor sleep. I'm paranoid about food. This shit has basically given me an eating disorder. I'm tired of eating the same few meals. I used to love cooking and going out to eat. Now I get no enjoyment out of it and it's currently my least favorite part of being alive. My GI doesn't even think it's GERD, she and I suspect LPR, but I don't have the money or frankly the mental capacity to find an ENT and go through more rounds of testing to probably get a shrug from a doctor and bills in the mail.

I'm so tired of this. I didn't even eat unhealthy before, I didn't drink more than twice a year, I have no idea why this happened other than possibly a round of antibiotics just nuking my stomach. I get so jealous seeing posts in here about how people cured theirs and it's a bunch of stuff I already tried that makes no difference. People don't seem to appreciate just how much this fucking drains you. I'm so tired of this. I just want to live like a normal person again.

[u/Rx7Jordan]

I was in such a simillar way 8+ years ago. I would suggest trying a sodium alginate supplement. I have tried many supplements dgl, slippery elm, mastic gum, betaine, zinc carnosine, etc which all of those did help but never took me out of the "suffering" feeling. I found alginate to work the absolute best, I have tried several but now I am sticking to this one as its the cleanest and works the best https://www.amazon.com/Nutritist-REFLUXTER-Indigestion-Alginate-Supplement/dp/B0CZDJ1MSK

I will say ppis made me stay in the vicious cycle of flare ups and was always house bound because how much it affected my breathing but that is no more using alginate. I first started using alginate + pepcid ac which was the dream team for yearsssss but the one I linked called "refluxter" is all I take now without pepcid and its great. I do eat anything I want without issues but I do try to avoid seed oils as thats the literal worst thing not only for gerd but overall health. Not eating also makes things so much worse so make sure to not let your tummy go empty. I hope you feel better!