r/GERD

my GERD gives me occasional extremely bad flares of nausea that last days on end and cause a lot of fear and pain for me . the only thing that helps is zofran, but up until now i've just been using some we had left over in the house, with no actual prescription. i need to ask to have it prescribed for the first time, and i'm nervous. i've heard doctors are hesitant about prescribing it, but it's the only thing thats ever helped my flare ups.

any tips on how to not sound like a desperate drug chaser?? i don't know what i'd do without it. i keep dreading having another flare.

(any reccomendations for alternative perscription drugs for extreme nausea are appreciated too. yes, i know the risks of zofran, and i am not at risk. thank you.)

I’ve been taking Omeprazole 40 mg for maybe ten days now? I feel like they were helping a little bit, but not much. I want to keep taking it but I am having pretty awful side effects that are making it difficult to continue. How does one taper off after a short period of time? Should I just stop completely? Should I drop to 20 mg? Should I switch to Pepcid for a week? I’m feeling really sick on this stuff, I kind of want off as soon as possible.

Hello all.

I need to vent. I have had GERD since June 2025. It was rocky at first but I feel like I have gotten used to it, its mostly under control and I can branch out a bit.

Well. That was a DUMB thought.

I am able to tolerate matcha with 0 reflux as long as I have it with food. I can even get away with it without food, but I try to avoid that as much as possible.

I have had a severe migraine for days now, and in a pinch, I took tylenol and matcha together to get like an "Excedrin" effect without having to buy Excedrin.

Well, this was stupid. That night gave me the WORST FLARE in my entire life. It is completely uncontrollable. I can't sleep. I can't eat. I have constant, horrible, painful, burning that won't stop for anything.

I am so mad at myself. I have to take days off of work because it is so bad. UGH!!!!

For context, I am f20 and just got an endoscopy and the bravo test done. I have a 2 cm hill grade IV hiatal hernia, the bravo ph study test came back as having no abnormal reflux. Dr. says my biopsies showed signs of intestinal metaplasia. I think that’s another name for Barrett’s esophagus?

My acid reflux is very genetic on my mom’s side and she had Nissen fundoplication surgery at age 17. As well as her mom being on Prilosec for basically her entire life. And brothers, cousins, etc being affected.

My symptoms:
- I’ve had bad acid reflux since age 16, but in the last year or 2 it has progressively gotten worse.
- I take tums every single night for the last 2 years. They don’t do anything anymore but they used to.
- Dairy makes it worse and also hard to digest foods like raw vegetables. And spices.
I’ve quit so many foods and it barely does anything. I’m gluten free for the last half a year. Dairy free. And just random other foods I’ve quit. I’ve tried exercising, doesn’t help. It is so hard to eat enough food in a day and I’ve recently lost 10lbs because it feels like I have to choose between eating or having terrible acid reflux. And I’m already only 100lbs
-when off of tums or gaviscon I have acid reflux at least every 2 hours. (When I did the ph bravo test)
- Prilosec makes it worse
- I’ve also had weird chronic “scream hiccups” since age 16. Which I’m pretty sure is related to this. Half of the time my burp is just a scream hiccup lol.

Anyways, I’m just feeling very confused. I feel like wouldn’t surgery be the obvious answer here? I am very against being on medication for years and years, and to me this sounds like a PHYSICAL issue in my body. Especially for how young I am.

- **My GI Dr said “**your more likely diagnosis is reflux hypersensitivity”
“Which is treated with neuromodulator medications and behavioral therapy.”
“treatments including diaphragmatic breathing, relaxation strategies, and/or cognitive behavioral therapy.”
- I’m confused how this would fix my hernia? It just feels not right but I am willing to try medication for it.
Did anyone here have success with Nortriptyline or antidepressants for reflux with a hill grade IV hiatal hernia?

I took capsule at night on Friday with little water and woke up with pain like I had a pill stuck, it continued through the day and was all better by Monday, today is now Wednesday, I had a smoothie this morning and ever since then symptoms came back but not as bad. I know this can be a side effect to med if the capsule sat there, I planned to give it more days to rest but I have taken this med multiple times no issues. Anyone else?

This is so ridiculous and I don't know that it's GERD for sure, but I do have a history with it years and years ago so it tracks. Anyway I can not put literally anything in my body without gagging, including liquids. Eat? Feel like I'm going to puke for 20-30 minutes after no matter what it is. Drink something? Same deal. Even water. Taking pills is a living hell. Sometimes even a freaking sneeze makes me gag. Like???????

It's worse on some days and others it is practically gone. I can not find anyone else dealing with this and I feel like I'm going insane.

I do not experience literally anything else symptom-wise. This is it. I'm miserable. When I get sick and start having post-nasal drip it's another version of hell.

I’m looking for easy to make, preferably cheap meal recs that won’t trigger my GERD. i know most dairy products (except ice cream for some reason), chocolate, tomato, spicy foods, mint, and excessive oil are my most severe triggers though I would like to avoid as many triggers as possible. additionally, i have braces so i can’t eat certain foods like whole apples (i can slice them though). i also don’t like fish, lettuce, bananas, nor cilantro (got the soap gene), so they’re off the table. in place of lettuce, i do like spinach (ik it’s a weird preference, i can’t help it).

for reference, i live in a predominantly mexican town in the USA. i have access to a stove, oven, microwave, and air fryer. im not sure if the user flair is showing but i do take pantaprozole daily. i’ve had gerd at varying severities from none to severe for about a decade. i had half a bag of hot chips and my body decided it was the ultimate betrayal and is acting out against me now. lmk if you’d like any more relevant information or context.

So let me get this straight. For nearly 7 months I dealt with reflux. I couldn't drink coffee, eat heavy-ish meals, drink carbonated beverages, etc. without any cause that I could think of. I took PPIs and H2 blockers, did tons of research, tried different exercises...

All to suddenly have my symptoms go away when I gave up BLUEBERRIES of all things.

Backstory: I've been dealing with GERD-like symptoms since around March. My symptoms mainly consisted of occasional liquid belching, as well as a hot acidic feeling after drinking coffee, eating big meals, or some other things. However, I've been drinking coffee for years, so I refused to believe that suddenly coffee was some kind of big trigger for me, same with many things I was eating.

I've spent hours trying to think through what could possibly be irritating my GI tract so badly. So... I thought, what are some of the consistent things I've been consuming this year that don't include coffee. I had already given up dairy, since that seemed to simply cause belching for me, but the only other thing I consumed a lot was... blueberries, which I had nearly every day with cereal, oatmeal, smoothies, or yogurt...

So I gave them up, specifically the Wyman's wild blueberries, which again, I nearly ate every single day.

And guess what. My reflux symptoms are gone. No more hot acidic feeling in my throat, and I can work out and lift weights without getting any recurring symptoms. I can drink a ton of coffee and not get any reflux or globus.

My question is, has anyone else gotten a similar intolerance to random foods like that? I'm going to experiment with it in a couple of weeks to just double check if that was truly the cause. But all my symptoms are GONE at the moment after I gave it up. Is anyone intolerant to a specific family of berries? Is that how it works? I'm happy but very confused!

Caveat: I have not gotten tested, nor tested myself as to whether adding blueberries back into my diet causes reflux, so this is kind of speculative that blueberries was the actual cause. I am however trying to get other opinions and experiences on this... because its not a cause I would have ever thought could be the culprit.

Edit 1: I also gave up PPIs around 3 weeks ago. I had no symptoms on them and got some rebound after giving them up. Gave up H2 blockers at night a week ago.

I’m looking for experiences from people who’ve had a Nissen fundoplication.
I had my Nissen in October 2025 after years of significant reflux and stomach symptoms. Recovery was rough at first, but by around six months after surgery I felt really good. For months I felt like I was back to normal and could eat normally. I’ve had some limits with burping since surgery, but that’s my usual baseline.
About two weeks ago, I developed new burning and aching in my upper middle abdomen, right below my breastbone. Before it started, I’d had a night with alcohol, took ibuprofen, and ate something late. I’d tolerated alcohol and other foods before, so I don’t know if any of those actually caused it. The discomfort has lingered since then. It can feel sore or irritated, and eating often brings on burning, nausea, fullness, or bloating. Sometimes I feel better when I’m hungry and then uncomfortable again after I eat—even after a protein bar. I’ve also had throat gurgling and stomach noises. I had one brief stabbing chest pain and some mild discomfort in my back around the same level, but those aren’t the main ongoing symptoms. It can feel sore when I cough or move, too.
After the pain had already started, I did a roughly three-day fast because I thought resting my stomach might help. It didn’t make the original pain go away, and I felt uncomfortable when I started eating again. I’ve since had a few meals that caused fullness or discomfort, especially larger meals. I’m not saying the fast caused the original problem; it happened afterward.
I haven’t noticed a clear change in my usual burping, food coming back up, or new trouble swallowing. I’m worried about the wrap because this pain is new and I was doing so well for months, but I also know that pain alone doesn’t tell me whether the wrap is involved. I took omeprazole recently, but I’m unsure what the plan should be and don’t want to just assume that a medication trial will explain the cause.
I called the surgeon’s office. They said I’m due for follow-up and are arranging a barium swallow. I’ve had one before surgery that didn’t show my reflux; reflux was demonstrated on pH testing. I understand a swallow can look at the wrap and how things pass through, but may not answer whether reflux is happening or whether the stomach lining is irritated. I left a message for scheduling and am waiting to hear back.
Has anyone had a new flare of upper-abdominal burning or meal-related discomfort after feeling well for months following Nissen? What tests ended up being useful for you—barium swallow, endoscopy, pH testing, or something else? If your swallow looked normal but symptoms continued, what did your surgeon check next? I’m not assuming I need revision surgery; I’m just scared of being left with pain and no explanation, and I’d appreciate hearing how other people’s evaluations actually went.

So before starting ppi all i had was a tight throat feeling, and a sour taste in mouth. I have been on 40mg twice a day for 20 days. It is not really helping, and the second dose makes my head hurt so bad. I want to get off this as fast as possible. Is 20 days soon enough to cut to 40mg once a day for a week then 40mg every other day for a week and so on. How bad will i rebound? Please help me.