I live nearby, and for the last few weeks their customers have been parking way over across 4 lanes of traffic on the other side of the roads. It's all day of cars lined up against the embankment, and watching them walk and navigate the traffic on foot on a busy road. This is new.
They have a 4.6 so sounds like they're popular, but this feels like they lost parking somewhere.
7 years ago, a slight cough that I would get after finishing a meal turned more concerning when after eating a frozen chocolate covered banana, I threw some of it back up. Months later my endoscopy showed I had celiac disease and a chronic cough. The doctors were more concerned that I understood how to live a gluten free lifestyle than telling me how to fix my cough. They implied I had silent reflux ( no heartburn), and put me on PPIs to help. They never did help. For 10 months they gave me terrible heartburn. Eventually I weened off the pills and totally embraced the low acid diet.
For 7 years I was healing my reflux by avoiding trigger foods like onions, garlic, vinegar, tomatoes, chocolate, spicy, citrus, and fatty. My food was so bland. I did have spices like thyme, rosemary and cumin, but categories like Mexican or Italian were nearly impossible to eat since marinara or spicy was best to avoid. I made the most of it, but reflux and celiac disease meant maybe a visit to any restaurant just a few times a year, and I cooked my meals separately from my husband's delicious, spicy choices. It was depressing.
I did all the right things, but my cough never stopped. It was weird. Air conditioning, laughing, sneezing, yawning,..made me cough, and it was a spasm- like cough. I couldn't get my doctors to understand. They were stumped. My second endoscopy stopped near the beginning of the procedure when they couldn't get the scope down my throat because of my cough. They just apologized. Rescheduled at the hospital, billed me, and then succeeded with the scope the second time. My results were everything was fine, but to try Pepcid for my cough since PPIs gave heartburn. Turns out, Pepcid did too, so just back to the bland diet for me.
3 years later, I'm on my usual Reddit GERD/ silent reflux posts even a few Facebook groups to give me ideas for recipes, and here and there the term neurogenic cough pops up. Eventually I pay attention. I start talking to A I. I just start asking it questions just to see. I basically outlined my issues about how I get a tightness in my chest, a tickle in my throat and a cough is produced. I have no heartburn, but I do get it if I eat garlic and other trigger foods. To save time, it basically said...my reflux isn't causing my cough, my cough is causing reflux. If I can stop my cough I won't have reflux. It said I have a neurogenic cough caused by hypersensitive vagus nerve
I messaged my doctor from 7 years ago, and I asked him a direct question. Do I have GERD? He said no. I couldn't believe that this wasn't a discussion when I was there.
Fast forward to two weeks later. I have an appointment with a pulmonologist to discuss my neurogenic cough in a few weeks, and I've been drinking warm water any time I get that tickle in my throat or tightness. I've been doing throat and shoulder breathing exercises. My cough has let up about 90%. After about a week of this I attempted some "unsafe" foods. I've had no problems now that my cough isn't wreaking havoc on my system. I'm tackling my vagus nerve, not the acid in my stomach. I got all this help from asking A I. I couldn't believe it.
Here's a pic of a fully loaded taco with taco seasoning, red salsa and raw onions. I cried a little when I ate them.
This link is invaluable for anyone hoping to strengthen the LES. Molly Pelletier is a great source. Check it out!