Anyone else have terrible acid reflux?

[fairgame84]

I'm really struggling right now. Coughing constantly and persistent mucous at the top of my throat. I just wish there was something to melt it away 😩

I actually think I'm going to ask for surgery because I'm finding it hard to cope. I'm coughing so hard that I'm leaking urine on bad days. It's awful.

For background I've had it 12 years, didn't get an endoscopy until 2 years ago because I got fobbed off due to my age.
I have a hiatus hernia and grade 2 Barretts oesophagus. I was on 40mg pantoprazole twice per day which worked really well but my gp had changed it to omeprazole because I'm ttc.

Any fellow sufferers?

I really feel for you, I've suffered for around 6 years and take prescription 40mg esomeprazole now after a few years of pantoprazole which didn't suit me. It's taken years to work it out but discovered tea and milk make it much worse and my coughing is almost non existent since stopping drinking tea in particular, the constant sore throat that comes with it has gone too. I can drink black coffee and not suffer at all. Today a ripe banana set it off which has never happened before. I hope you manage to get on top of it, I really know how down it can make you feel too.

Thanks. I think some of it is stress related coughing. I think I need to start keeping a food/cough diary and seeing if I can pinpoint any triggers.

I get it really bad, but to be fair, I'm piggish with food that I know isn't going to help.
The trouble is, the list of foods that don't help is growing.

Do you take Nexium? I just take one a day and it keeps it at bay, unless I go overboard on the gluten!

@thisisnotmyllama I tried nexium a few years ago and it didn't do anything for me.

@MorriseysGladioli im a bit of a fussy eater and live on carbs and caffeine which probably doesn't help.
Alcohol doesn't seem to trigger it for me so maybe I should drink more

Melted cheese is bloody hell for me.
Even as I'm eating it, I know I'm going to suffer.
I don't drink alcohol either, luckily because the thought of a red wine gurgling up into my esophagus in the middle of the night is not a good one!

I often wake up choking. Acid comes up faster than I can swallow it back down. Leaves me gasping for air. No hope of sleeping after that because I can't get rid of the feeling of something being stuck in my throat.

Hiatus hernia diagnosed years ago. I take lanzoprazole. Gaviscon before bed helps quite a bit.

Sausage rolls are lethal - set me off every time but those gourmet saus rolls from M&S are sometimes worth suffering for.

When I'm bad I have to literally sleep sitting up. I have recently developed a feeling as if the entrance to my stomach will not open to allow food in. I then cannot continue to eat - after a short while 5-10 min my stomach opens and I can continue eating. What on earth is my stomach playing at. Won't open to let food in and opens to let food back up when it feels like it????

Childminding my grandchildren doesn't help either - bending down all the time leaves me feeling like my whole digestive system is on fire.

Recently read that hiatus hernia and EDS is related - which I have.

Mine is a hiatus hernia, too.
I also wake up with a mouth and nose full of acid.
It's so caustic it's frightening - until the next time I fancy cheese on toast, or the absolute worst. Lasagne.

I have absolutely no problems at night whatsoever. I sleep flat on my front and I don't even cough or suffer heartburn but as soon as I wake up and something hits my stomach it's constant coughing and phlegm.

Just realised it's really bad after I brush my teeth. Apparently this is a thing with toothpaste.

I was like this, Zantac was a game changer and you could take it in pregnancy too. Never found any improvement whatsoever with anything ending in -oprazole. Zantac no longer on the market but GP can prescribe drugs in the same family like Famotidine. Good luck, it is miserable

I had ranitidine (zantac) before but it didn't do much. I really have tried most things over the past 12 years.
It's been a bit better yesterday but not sure why then it's bad again this morning.

My heartburn and indigestion has gone since eating low carb high fat. I used to live on gaviscon.

@Bryonyshcmyony I don't think mine will ever go because of the hernia. My diet is mainly carbs otherwise I feel starving all the time. I'm not overweight, I'm around 55kg at 5ft 4in.
I don't really know where to start with changing my diet.

I suffered from reflux on and off for years. Switching to a whole foods planet based vegan diet is what my body likes and settles it. I can't eat tomatoes, lemon or spicy foods at all anymore. I also find slippery elm helps.

Fairyannie I would speak to the GP about the stomach closing issue. I had this too and thought it was weird but didn't think not much of it as could ultimately eat ok but it was a symptom of my oesophageal-junction cancer. The tumour was getting in the way but would then move and I would eat normally.

Trouble is when you have reflux for a long time you get used to all these odd symptoms and feelings but it can be far more serious than you imagine, so I would try and get on top of the reflux as much as possible.