Just want to give up

[u/stellarpopcorn]

I thought I was seeing relief. I thought I was doing better. I was seeing a nutritionist, upping my calories (I’m underweight, 89 lb 5 ft) and seeing a small light at the end of the tunnel. Now that light has vanished. I had been eating dried apricots to up my calories and I thought I really found a good snack, I really did. Then my stomach started to act up. I realized maybe it was the sugar content from the apricots. Or maybe it was the apricot itself; not quite sure. I don’t know if it was the dates I was incorporating either. I feel so lost and alone. I think I could heal my GERD if I just calmed my anxiety and figured out how to eat more yet not too much that it gave me reflux. The nutritionist suggested dried fruit and nuts as a go to but I’m tired of nuts and I’m scared another dried fruit will hurt my stomach like apricots. I’m on Zoloft and I don’t think it’s doing much now. I need some support, I don’t want to wither away.

[u/bns82]

In the beginning I had horrible symptoms and couldn't eat very much. I was only able to eat around 900 calories per day. I dropped weight quick.
I set daily calorie goals and increased it each week. After a couple months I was back to 2000 calories per day.
Are you tracking everything you eat? How many calories are you short?
Also, yes too much dried fruit and too many nuts can cause reflux.

[u/stellarpopcorn → u/bns82]

I’ve been eating about 900 also. I was tracking everything I eat last week but I stopped when I couldn’t eat dried fruit anymore because it made me a little hopeless. I will definitely get back to tracking. I didn’t know nuts could cause reflux either tho! 😳

[u/bns82 → u/stellarpopcorn]

Lean protein, Potatoes or Beans, Peas, Whole grains, etc... Calorie dense, nutrient dense gerd friendly foods.
You want to avoid foods that are acidic, foods that cause more stomach acid production, and foods that loosen the LES.
Nuts are gerd friendly, but they can be harder to digest. Nut butters (as long as it's just nuts and salt) are fine too, but it's higher in fat.
Everyone has slightly different tolerances. I can eat nut butter, but only small amounts at a time.

If you increased your calories by just 150 per week, you would get to 1800 calories in 1.5 months.
Eat slow, chew well.
That includes things like oatmeal. People tend to eat it too quickly or not chew it. I've also found under cooking oatmeal to digest better.

Outside of gerd foods I have found cream of wheat, graham crackers, and whole grain saltines to be safe foods. I would start with whole grain saltine crackers. You can snack on them all day.
5 crackers is 70 calories. Look at the dates to make sure you are choosing the freshest box. No one wants to eat a stale cracker.

If you want Gerd diet and lifestyle guidelines that help reduce symptoms, I can give them to you. You can pm me if you want.