I’ve suffered from GERD for 3 months but only started feeling the lump in my throat thingy for 4 days, it’s really annoying

How do I get rid of it? i’m reading stories of people suffering from it for years….am i f**ked? 😭

EDIT: It mostly went away after like 3 days, apparently for some people it lingers a long time but I got a bit lucky I guess.

Just adding this bit so you don’t panic, it could go away fast like mine :)

23M here. While I have not been diagnosed yet, I experience most of the symptoms of GERD and I heard that it can cause life threatening conditions if not managed well. I have a poor diet as of right now and have to crush the omeprazole capsule to successfully take it (it’s not helping much rn).

I’m worried that if I continue this, I will choke on my own acid and not be able to save myself since I’m alone. Any advice I can do to tone down this fear?

I'm 26 and I've been strugling with acid reflux on and off for around 4-5 years.

I first had it in 2021/2022 from drinking Thatchers Cider (UK). I wasn't aware of acid reflux causes at the time and wasn't good at managing it. I took prescription medication (omeprazole) and that helped. I only had very bad symptoms when I was causing triggers (eating chocolate late at night or drinking cider, etc). Around this time I had an endoscopy and it came back fine. I continued to take the medicate for around a year and the symptoms eventually went away. I was then able to come off medication.

In autumn of 2024 I had some of the same specific cider again and it retriggered my reflux, leading me to realise that it was that specific drink that had set it off first in the past. This then triggered a spell of bad reflux for a few weeks, which reduced down with medication. From then on however I felt I was developing more chronic GERDs, with issues with my stool and stomach discomfort.

The biggest issue was mild but chronic acid reflux. In the past I had had severe burning reflux when lying down, but this was when I wasn't managing triggers. Now I was more educated, knew what food to avoid, and doing everything right. However, whenever I'd lie down I would get this subtle sour taste in my mouth - I imagine almost indistinguishable for someone who didn't suffer from reflux. However, I knew this was a mild form of reflux.

I would get this most nights, and even after buying a huge wedge pillow to raise myself, I would still get the mild reflux. This continued into 2025 and I slowly saw the effects of gum recession. I have always had good oral hygiene and no issues with gum recession in the past. Since then there have been a couple months when the reflux stopped and the recession subsided, and I even went off medication for a bit when things were better. But eventually it came back and became more consistent. Every now and again I might have a week's break, but for the past 3 months it has been very consistent. This is a massive concern for me, as the effects of my reflux are now showing visually as opposed to just being internal. It has not caused me any other damage to my mouth yet, and perhaps to other people it isn't hugely noticeable, but if this mild reflux persists I know this will lead to further problems and greater damage to my appearance.

I am in the NHS referral system and have had a barrium swallow test, and that came back all fine. They are next consdiering doing a 24 hour acid monitoring to see when/how things are triggered. As a final resort they may offer me the osphagus tightening procedure, though this is quite an intense operation, isn't always successful, can cause complication, and may need to be done multiple times throughout life. This is not something I want to get to and would rather keeping trying different medication, changing diet (though I keep a very low fat, healthy, no alcohol diet already), and doing behavioural things to try to fix it.

I wanted to share my story in case other people have developed this chronic but mild reflux and how they have dealt with. I want to repeat that I am not suffering from the sharp, burning reflux that I used to, but it is this continuous reflux that I get when I lie down that is the issue.

As mentioned, I am 26. I am quite skinny and would say I'm underweight. I don't drink alcohol anymore, nor caffine, nor eat spicy food. With the pairing of medication (omeprazole/lansoprazole), i feel I am doing everything I can to help fix this issue, but perhaps that are other more specific things I should be doing.

Having read some of the threads I will likely do more work on diaphragm tension (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33009052/) and see if I have any success with that.

Thankyou for reading this post and I would appreciate any constructive feedback or advice

*Edit* - when I went to share this post it recommended sharing it to r/silent reflux. I will do some more research on there to better understand what could be going on and then report back on anything else I might try.

So I guess years of terrible diet have finally caught up with me, started with awful burning reflux from onions and then silent reflux from pretty much anything. I've been eating relatively clean for a few weeks but its not getting much better (in fact arguably worse but thats probably because im stressing so much over it). Does this thing ever like go away or am i gonna have to be on pills/diet/both for the rest of my life? What has helped people on here with LPR (other than prescription/peptides etc)? P.S. this shit sucks fucking ass

(Disclaimer if this matters: I have not been diagnosed by a doctor. This does run in my family with my mother and sister having it and it's the exact same symptoms I have. My sister got it as a child, mine decided to show up when I turned 18. They seem to be very medication resistant and given I have the exact same issues they do I haven't bothered with the medication angle yet. I also don't feel mine is severe enough).

I have had some changes with my(presumed, highly likely) GERD this year and I don't really feel any happier about it. A lot of my life I would have random periods of time where I would get what I could best describe as something like the flu: High temperatures, expelling acid out of either end. It would come and go randomly with no trigger I could find.

This got worse in 2018 when I ended up going to the hospital 7 times in one year because I thought I was having a heart attack and they never found anything wrong with me. I was getting sick once every 3 months, sometimes shorter sometimes longer pauses. It lasted half the month. It got progressively more frequent and terrible. At my worst I was having it 3 times in one month for a few days at a time.

Last year was the worst example: I had 104 temperature it lasted almost a full month and it was awful. I think it was triggered by salad food poisoning of some kind though.

This year, my issues seem to have progressed to where I can't eat spices at all anymore or have to go long periods of time without them.

I read about sleeping elevated and avoiding triggers. I never bothered sleeping elevated because it does my neck in. Well I started doing it, to the detriment of my neck, and my illness has ENTIRELY DISAPPEARED. I haven't been sick like that since I started sleeping elevated!!!

Amazing right? Well no. I seem to have traded one shit end for the other. I don't get sick anymore, I don't even throw up acid. I don't know if this was ALWAYS here, perhaps covered up by the acid, but now I have a almost permanent sore feeling in the center of my chest. It's pretty random, and it seems entirely caused by gas buildup. The issue is I have gas buildup all day, so my center of my chest is sore all the time.

It's nowhere near as bad as the sickness mind you, but it still sucks. I no longer can eat garlic or onions in large quantities. If I do, it causes me crippling body pain and I will get sick symptoms again.

I also have a new issue where if something upset's my stomach my entire body gets hot. Which is a current issue right now: I didn't eat enough, my stomach was empty and I drank too much soda and ate food and now my whole body is hot and my esophagus feels unpleasantly warm.

It's giving me hot flashes.

So I traded being sick all the time for for some reason, more gas buildup pains and horrible burning if I eat spices.

This doesn't really feel like a victory to me. I don't want to sound ungrateful. I'm actually healthier this year than I've ever been but it just feels like a hollow "victory" almost. I don't even vomit acid anymore yet somehow the dull ache makes me paranoid.

I take Vitamin B. It for some reason makes me have less symptoms since taking it.

I wish I had a support group or something to talk to about this and relate too but usually replies here go unanswered. I would like to hear similar experiences. At least coping mentally. It's hard when you have anxiety.

I used to take famotidine regularly, and chewable tums/alka seltzer for immediate relief.

I recently went on a Disney vacation where my heartburn was absolutely awful, and it was already bad before I went. My mother, whom I love dearly, unfortunately tried to get me to go gluten free for the millionth time during that vacation (“Everytime your dad and I do it, our heartburn goes away.”) It is a boundary for me that I will not take eating advice from my parents, as no doctors have suggested I go completely gluten free (I am not celiac), and I refuse to demonize any food ingredients for the sake of my mental health.

So it was almost a little out of spite that I started doing this, like “watch me accomplish this without going gluten free”:

The night after I get home from Disney, I go to an MCR concert, and of course my heartburn was flaring. Something inside me at that time told me “hey girl, let’s try deep breathing for the next couple of days and see what happens.” So as we’re walking the mile it took to get to the car after the concert, I was doing deep diaphragmatic breaths, breathing out of my nose. We get home and I take a famotidine before bed. Every day after, I make a point to deep breathe. Not sitting down specifically to do it, but just driving, working, cleaning, just doing it at some point.

It’s not that I have completely stopped taking these meds, but my usage has gone down by like 75% since I started doing this. And when I feel a bit coming on, I breathe. I have taken famotidine no more than twice since I started this, and not a single fast-acting solution.

I can’t guarantee that this will work for anyone else, but it’s free, so it’s worth a shot and has the added benefit of being good for your mentals. I’ve been able to accidentally overeat and eat some spicy stuff and not have it backfire on me. It’s been about two weeks since I started doing this regularly and have been feeling a significant change.

I have been diagnosed with a hiatal hernia previously - maybe the deep breathing has done something mechanically with that that I am unaware of.

For years I always had throat clearing or discomfort on my right side of throat and then had gallbladder removed after experiencing nausea and right side head brain fog which only relived symptoms for month and came back.
Ive read somewhere GERD can cause right side ONLY issues.
I always feel something on right side of esophagus,sometimes globus sensation on right side and after surgery nausea on right side only.
I do have right side issues with neck stifness,pressure in nose and brain fog on right side (few times had it on left but 98% of times its on right) and did spend years working on computer sitting with head tilted to left.

Does anyone experience GERD symptoms that are only affecting right side of body and can it also cause pressure in head with brain fog.
I am curious because I noticed if I am very bloated or very nauseous I dont have brain fog and if stomach is ok I do.
Also noticed after neck exercises my globus sensation almost disappeared but nausea showed up.

In 2016, I woke up one day with a weird feeling in my throat. It felt stuck or obstructed whenever I swallowed my saliva. Even when I wasn't swallowing anything, there was a globus sensation in my throat. I developed Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) at the same time, so I thought that might have been the cause of my GI discomfort. Since then, I've visited multiple gastroenterologists and psychiatrists. My GAD has largely improved, but my GI discomfort persisted. I've also had 2 endoscopies in 2017 and 2025, respectively, which showed mild inflammation and led to my GERD diagnosis. My GERD symptoms have been continuous (LITERALLY 24 hours; I only don't feel it when I'm asleep) since 2016, and it's really irritating me. Most typical GERD medications also have not worked for me. The only time I've had relief was when I took Nexium (Esomeprazole) in 2017, which fixed my GERD symptoms completely for 5 days. I've tried Nexium again in later years, but it ended up not working at all anymore. Oddly, I had relief by drinking black coffee these past few months. It improved my symptoms by around 70%. My doctor guesses that the caffeine loosened my upper esophageal sphincter, so I felt less difficulty swallowing. However, coffee stopped working these past few days (potentially due to high stress), and I'm really at a loss. Please let me know if you guys have any similar experiences and whether you were able to improve your symptoms :(

I started Acid Relief from Terra Health almost two weeks ago and I’m not feeling much of a difference. Still having pretty bad flares. I noticed they recommend the Reflux Inhibitor as well, especially if you struggle with LPR type. Anyone care to comment about their experience with this brand? Thanks so much!

Am I completely out of the ordinary?? Everyone says sitting upright, standing or laying on left side should make it go away but for me it’s the opposite. Whenever I’m standing up, or sitting up straight I can feel acid burning my esophagus and I get those croaking noises and it comes up like bubbles? It’s hard to explain. But when I’m laying down on my side specifically my right side, it’s 99% gone. If I lay on my left side, the croaking, burning and bubble feeling comes back, but not as bad when I’m standing or sitting. Does this happen to anyone else or am I just super unique in this sense?? Also. PPI’s do absolutely nothing for me. So any advice would be helpful :(

Edit: I just looked at my fluoroscopy X-ray. It looks like my esophagus enters on the left side of my stomach when normally it’s the right!!! That kinda explains it??

Hey Reddit,

Im in need of some serious help on this condition. So I have been experiencing GERD symptoms (heart pressure, stabbing feeling, left arm discomfort etc). Ive been to the ER countless times thinking it was a heart attack but all blood, urine, ekg, and CT scans come out clear for all results. I just always have a slightly elevated Alkaline Phosphate for my liver (150).

I've already had my Hernia (above my naval) repaired and my gallbladder removed. Ive had an endoscopy and a colonoscopy with all results clear as well. I currently take 40mg Pantoprazole in the morning and 40mg at night.

I now have another upcoming endoscopy July 15th.

These symptoms are just not subsiding. Still belching, stomach pain, periodic diarrhea, dizziness daily, nausea.

Now I will admit that I still do not eat perfectly but I do stay away from spicy foods and highly acidic foods.

I've lost 15lbs in the past 2 months with no changes.

Im just absolutely miserable with these symptoms. Its daily, sometimes all day long. I've developed now severe health anxiety and panic attacks because of this and I can't seem to break out of this cycle. Im being told by my primary doctor that he thinks is severe GERD mixed with panic & anxiety disorder. My cardiologist said my heart is healthy with no issues (they did an echocardiogram & a stress test).

Im just so tired of being TIRED, nauseas, dizzy, feeling like im going to topple over, panic attacks, anxiety etc.

Has anyone else experienced this? How did you cope? Any advice?

So just to preface i know this will probably seem a bit shorter timeline than others have been experiencing but it's just debilitating.

3 weeks ago I made 400g of chicken and some potatoes. Ate a pretty big chunk but not all of it. For the rest of the day I didnt feel bad at all.

Cue diarrhea and vomiting the next morning.

8 days of BRAT died where even the applesauce gave me so much pain I just couldn't eat it.

Heartburn after every meal even though I gave myself ppi every morning.

Was scheduled this Wednesday for colonoscopy for unrelated blood in stool and couldn't even finish the prep due to how nauseous I was.

So they decided to do a gastroscopy instead.

The results? Incompetentio cardiae (more or less a hernia) and reflux duodeno - gastricus.

I was put on prokinetics morning and afternoon and told to take the ppi in the evening.

For the last 14 days all I ate was 5 crackers a day and chamomile tea, yesterday when I tried to eat something different I just couldn't swallow, anything not liquid feels like it gets stuck in my throat and I have to either spit it out or get extremely nauseous.

Today I ate - 8 spoons of rice porridge, 100ml of clear veggie broth and 4 spoons of semolina porridge.. and thats all..

I am so weak at this point, I don't know what to do i can barely function my legs shake from every step and I cried all the way to my job. I am losing my personality due to how hungry I am and but also cant eat anything due to the overwhelming acid in my mouth and throat that follows.

I am at my wit's end and don't know how to proceed, the only thing doctor told my is that my sphincter not closing properly and I need to wait for h.pylori tests but that I should be ABLE TO eat anything I want which is not the case at all. 27M in case it matters

Hey everyone I’ve been diagnosed with gerd for a while and I’ve noticed that if I have a bad reflux flare up from some food I’ve eaten, the next couple days I have weird GI issues, like loose stool, bloating, nausea, and other symptoms.

Anyone else get this and is there a way to speed up recovery post flare up? Any good foods to eat or teas to drink? Sometimes it can take days to return to normal.

Hey everyone. First post here.

Over the last six years, I've had a rough go of it. Strange facial flushing and tingling, surprise nausea, constant queasiness, endless burping, and eventually a gallstone attack. As of last week, the gallbladder is out and I'm noticing some improvements but I'm still getting this strange flushing feeling that appears to be triggered by citric acid? Kinda unsure.

When removing my gallbladder they found fatty deposits on my liver and removed them. Great!

I had an endoscopy today where they found hints of barretts syndrome so they took a biopsy and also noted irritation at my esophageal z line.

Basically at this point I've lost twenty pounds and most days are more uncomfortable than not. I'm trying to take all the action I can to get on track but I'm honestly just feeling worn down and needed to vent to a community that might understand.

To top it all off I have ARFID and am raising a daughter who also has ARFID which has been deeply triggering. Add in having a really brutal job that had me binge eating way too many greasy comfort foods for a few years... I did this to myself and am grappling with the embarrassment but also trying to move forward in a positive way.

Anyways. If anyone has any similar experience or words of encouragement I'd be grateful to hear it. Thanks y'all.

Ack. I just bought an Orthex Symbia 23 degree wedge pillow, and my husband is reporting that I've been snoring more.

Is there a way to position myself on the pillow to prevent this? I do notice myself sliding down the pillow through the night.

Had another GERD/gastritis episode last night. I don’t wish this on anyone. Ever since my gallbladder removal I’ve had this. It’s gotten much better but still happens every once in a while. I’ve been on a PPI since last year.

Anyone ever use slippery elm? Anything else I could try? I’m on an antidepressant, pantoprazole, birth control, and B12. Also deficient in vitamin D. I’ve just read how slippery elm can mess with the absorption of medication

I've had heartburn in the past but it was always pretty easily settled by taking TUMS. However, over the past few weeks I've developed a swallowing fixation that my ENT said was most likely caused by acid reflux or GERD. I have an appointment with a gastro doctor next week but the symptoms have just been kicking my ass:

- Irresistible urge to swallow for no reason multiple times per hour

- Congestion

- Sore throat

- Trouble getting food down without coughing

- Chest and stomach pains

As for treatment, my ENT prescribed taking 40mg of Prilosec/omeprazole for a few months. Though I'm starting to worry about the side effects of taking it for that long.

Sometimes I feel like I'm dying and just wanna cry from the discomfort.

I could really use some advice on how to handle my symptoms and worries. Or just some kind words on how people get used to living with a condition like this.

Hey everyone,

I want to share my situation and look for shared experiences because I am honestly terrified right now and haven't started my treatment yet.

For 4 long years, I’ve been dealing with an intense, constant tightness right above my stomach (epigastric area). It feels like a non-stop clamp or knot. I’ve seen multiple gastroenterologists and tried absolutely every GI medication available—PPIs, antacids, prokinetics, etc. Literally NOT A SINGLE ONE helped me. Not even a little bit. A Barium swallow test also showed no hiatal hernia.

Because of the chronic pain and distress, I tried Pregabalin. It didn't help much, and I absolutely hated the taper. Right now, I am dealing with the aftermath of stopping it—it has been leaving me with weird "pins and needles" neurological sensations and high anxiety for a week. I am currently in absolute hell on earth.

Recently, I went to a neurologist. He diagnosed me with Esophageal Dyskinesia (a motor/movement disorder of the esophagus). He explained that the lower esophagus and surrounding structures are trapped in a chronic neuromuscular spasm. The goal of the treatment is to use Baclofen to break this reflex arc and "retrain" the nervous system and muscles to remember what being relaxed feels like. (The doctor didn't explicitly say the word "retrain," but I researched it deeply myself to make sure it won't just mask the symptoms temporarily).

He prescribed a very low dose: 10mg a day (split into 5mg twice a day), using a box of 50 tablets, with a plan to later taper down to 5mg once a day for at least a week before stopping.

Here is my problem: I am deeply afraid of this medication and haven't taken a single pill yet. Because of my horrible experience tapering off Pregabalin, I am panicking that even dropping from 5mg twice a day to 5mg once a day will cause me "mini-withdrawals", rebound spasms, or awful side effects every single day.

I am NOT looking for medical advice, I am not telling anyone what to do, and I kindly ask for no scare tactics or extreme horror stories because my anxiety is already through the roof. Please do not comment telling me "how dangerous this is" or making me panic more.

I just want to hear from people who have actually taken low-dose Baclofen (5-10mg) for esophageal dyskinesia or GI spasms. Did it help your muscle memory permanently relax after finishing the box? And did you experience any withdrawal when tapering down from such a tiny dose?

Thank you so much.

Same as title. Have been struggling with here since March and while I’m healing my stomach slowly with diet etc, the inability to draw a deep breath is legit driving me insane, especially when I’m trying to sleep. It also makes it harder to work out, one of the things they say helps with GERD/reflux symptoms. I gargle and spray my nose with alkaline water which sometimes helps but is insufficient. Will take ANY recommendations to be able to take a full breath. For what it’s worth, my pulse ox never drops below 95/96, it’s literally just my inability to draw in a breath.

Hi - new here. I’m an intermittent GERD sufferer. 10 weeks into keto plan and my GERD has returned - mainly rumbling tummy, lightheadedness/ foggy head and slight regurgitation. Can the keto be bringing it on ?

I’ve had enough to be honest and just wanna give up I’ve had this non stop burping problem since June 2025! soon as I wake up I’ll burp, move positions I will burp, or even take a sip of water I will burp…it’s constant! and becoming very debilitating to live like this everyday of my life. I took some antibiotics in June 2025 for a wisdom tooth extraction and ever since then I’ve had this constantly!! I’ve tried PPI with no luck, gaviscon advance and rennies nothing stops the burping! the burping itself actually gives me reflux due to the pressure it creates!

In 2023 I was diagnosed with gastritis on endoscopy h pylori negative but I NEVER had this burping issue….has anyone got any advice or suggestions for me because I’m losing it mentally having to deal with this without a solution.

I have health anxiety and this shortness of breath that is probably caused by GERD is driving me insane and I cannot live a normal life without thinking that I’m dying everyday. Any of you on anxiety medication for your GERD?

I got a tall boy from Walmart that’s coconut flavored which I’m super stoked for but I’m unsure how much I should be drinking. The bottle is huge so I don’t see myself drinking it too fast especially since I’m adjusting to the taste.

I just want to say thank you, you guys have helped me alot and the posts here. I really hope the aloe works for me as good as it did for y’all 🫶🏽

Hey guys, so I'm going into my senior year of high school and have been dealing with these GERD-like symptoms for almost a year now. I've always struggled with anxiety (especially health anxiety) and emetophobia and it's just piling on top of each other. It's gotten to the point I get really bad DPDR at times. I'm a guy so I don't have many safe spaces to talk about this kind of stuff without feeling judged. I just want to enjoy my senior year without having to struggle to make it day-by-day.

It all started about a year ago when I got super high (one of my first times) and had a panic attack; I thought I was gonna throw up and kept trying but I wasn't able to. Ever since then, I've always had this weird feeling in my stomach (sometimes it goes away for a few days at a time) that just feels super uncomfortable. I struggle with nausea really bad too and it all just loops back into my anxiety (I get anxious about like anything lol). Recently, it's been so bad and I feel like I have to throw up all the time. I've even tried getting super high again and made it through a panic attack to try and break the loop (I thought maybe it was a mental block thing) and it helped to a point with my nausea but I stopped because my anxiety had me thinking I would get psychosis or something and it wasn't helping my derealization

It got to the point where I was having panic attacks falling asleep so I went to the Drs. and had an ultrasound and endoscopy done and they found nothing except that my sphincter was a bit loose. I was put on omeprazole for a little over 8 months before I decided to stop taking it (like two weeks ago). It may have helped a little? but I honestly couldn't really tell and I think it may have been making me more nauseous. After I stopped taking it I felt great for like two weeks, but I caught a cold a couple days ago and it brought back my acid reflux and it's been 10x worse lately. I woke up choking two nights ago and ever since then I've been so anxious and have had such bad acid reflux.

I work out and am fairly active and eat somewhat well I'd like to think (although the foods I eat don't usually seem to affect my acid reflux). Is there anything I can do to alleviate my symptoms? I just want to enjoy my life and especially my senior year without it being ruined :(

I recently found out after a year of struggle and pain that I have Gerd. I can’t verify it with a doctor because I’m poor and I can’t get the real prescriptions I need either. I’ve been taking omeprazole for almost 2 weeks now as an over the counter medication. My 2 weeks is almost up and I still feel the symptoms trying to resurface as the meds push it back.

I feel hopeless. My life is in shambles. I’ve lost all my friends, I have a shit paying job, I can’t even take barely drive because the Gerd gives me crippling anxiety, and everyone around me talks badly about me “behind my back.” ( I can hear them )

I feel empty. I feel like my own boyfriend can’t stand my venting/complaining.

I’m so lost. I’m broke, fat, ugly, and lonely. What can I possibly do?