Acid Reflux-Help!

[Cap'n Spanky]

Hi everyone! I am coming here to ask for advice because I am so, so desperate. For the last two years, I have had this awful bloating and belching after every meal, as well as coughing. Sometimes the coughing has gotten so bad that I have thrown up for no good reason. This last year has been the worst. I have had every type of antacid and PPI prescribed to me to no avail. I have had an endoscopy, which told me I have esophagitis. I had esophageal motility issues where they were saying that my esophagus is only effective about 50% of the time. And recently I was just told that my doctors are putting me back on the same PPIs that didn't work in the first place. I read Dr. Sarno's "Healing Back Pain" and think TMS may be the answer, as I am healthy otherwise and have no structural reason why this could be happening to me. I have just begun journaling every day for about half an hour and have been doing it for about a week now. So far, I have noticed no changes. How long did it take you guys to notice changes? I understand that everyone's journey is different, but also need to know that there is hope for me if I decide to continue. Besides journaling, what other practices do you all suggest I try? Thank you so much for reading this. I really appreciate anything you have to give me. Just as long as it's not more PPIs. I must add that for some reason, I have felt no pain. Though they told me I have acid reflux, I have never had heartburn or chest pain or any sort. I am unsure of what this means.

Hi Nick! Very sorry for the issues you're having related to your esophagus. Mindbody issues are a bitch! While my experience is not the exact same as yours, I was on heavy PPIs for several years and was able to completely off and I credit that to Dr. Sarno. I do occasionally take a famotidine, but frankly, I don't consider that to be a big deal.

My advice is worth exactly what you're paying for it... . But my suggestion would be to take a close look at Alan Gordon's Pain Recovery Program and apply it to your issue. http://www.tmswiki.org/forum/painrecovery/ (Pain Recovery Program)

I've been going through it and re-going through it diligently for a chronic fatigue issue I've struggled with recently. To me, Alan's program is modern approach to TMS with concrete steps to get better. It's not just good for TMS, but for your overall well being. I'm a very big fan.

Good luck on your journey, Nick!

 

[Nick5049]

Hi Nick! Very sorry for the issues you're having related to your esophagus. Mindbody issues are a bitch! While my experience is not the exact same as yours, I was on heavy PPIs for several years and was able to completely off and I credit that to Dr. Sarno. I do occasionally take a famotidine, but frankly, I don't consider that to be a big deal.

My advice is worth exactly what you're paying for it... . But my suggestion would be to take a close look at Alan Gordon's Pain Recovery Program and apply it to your issue. http://www.tmswiki.org/forum/painrecovery/ (Pain Recovery Program)

I've been going through it and re-going through it diligently for a chronic fatigue issue I've struggled with recently. To me, Alan's program is modern approach to TMS with concrete steps to get better. It's not just good for TMS, but for your overall well being. I'm a very big fan.

Good luck on your journey, Nick!

Thank you so much! I will try my best!

 

[Mazinio]

Hi everyone! I am coming here to ask for advice because I am so, so desperate. For the last two years, I have had this awful bloating and belching after every meal, as well as coughing. Sometimes the coughing has gotten so bad that I have thrown up for no good reason. This last year has been the worst. I have had every type of antacid and PPI prescribed to me to no avail. I have had an endoscopy, which told me I have esophagitis. I had esophageal motility issues where they were saying that my esophagus is only effective about 50% of the time. And recently I was just told that my doctors are putting me back on the same PPIs that didn't work in the first place. I read Dr. Sarno's "Healing Back Pain" and think TMS may be the answer, as I am healthy otherwise and have no structural reason why this could be happening to me. I have just begun journaling every day for about half an hour and have been doing it for about a week now. So far, I have noticed no changes. How long did it take you guys to notice changes? I understand that everyone's journey is different, but also need to know that there is hope for me if I decide to continue. Besides journaling, what other practices do you all suggest I try? Thank you so much for reading this. I really appreciate anything you have to give me. Just as long as it's not more PPIs. I must add that for some reason, I have felt no pain. Though they told me I have acid reflux, I have never had heartburn or chest pain or any sort. I am unsure of what this means.

Hey Nick,

I'm sorry to hear you have been going through this. I have had all the same symptoms as you for the past year. It started off with a dry cough that progressed, now I have throat tightness, a tickly menthol type feeling when I breath, inflamed vocal cords (LPR), horse throat, coughing, belching, hiccuping and tightness in the chest area. Seems to get worse the longer the day goes on too. I also find myself constantly swallowing my own saliva (a reaction to the inflamed throat).

I am waiting for an endoscopy which I am worried about due to what they might find but I hope it could also put my mind at ease.

However with my track record and TMS I'm a thinking that it is a mind body disorder.

I'm hey familiar with TMS as a long term back pain sufferer which I got on top of after years of pain by hearing about John Sarno and TMS. This time it is inside my organs so has a completely different feeling and I must not be 100 percent convinced it's TMS.

How have you gotten on since you last posted here. Any improvements? Any words of advice? This goes out to everyone else too. I'm in a crappy place with this right now and could use a pick me up.

Thanks all!

 

[progrickey]

Hey Nick,

I'm sorry to hear you have been going through this. I have had all the same symptoms as you for the past year. It started off with a dry cough that progressed, now I have throat tightness, a tickly menthol type feeling when I breath, inflamed vocal cords (LPR), horse throat, coughing, belching, hiccuping and tightness in the chest area. Seems to get worse the longer the day goes on too. I also find myself constantly swallowing my own saliva (a reaction to the inflamed throat).

I am waiting for an endoscopy which I am worried about due to what they might find but I hope it could also put my mind at ease.

However with my track record and TMS I'm a thinking that it is a mind body disorder.

I'm hey familiar with TMS as a long term back pain sufferer which I got on top of after years of pain by hearing about John Sarno and TMS. This time it is inside my organs so has a completely different feeling and I must not be 100 percent convinced it's TMS.

How have you gotten on since you last posted here. Any improvements? Any words of advice? This goes out to everyone else too. I'm in a crappy place with this right now and could use a pick me up.

Thanks all!

How have you been with the chronic cough? Any improvement?

 

[Mazinio]

Not great unfortunately. My symptoms for much worse and I burp 100 times a day and swallow saliva constantly. Coughing is still going on along with a bunch of other symptoms including pain under my left rib cage too. I got an endoscopy done and I am still waiting to speak to the doc but it looks like severe gastritis so my stomach is inflamed and needs to heal. No matter what I eat or drink (even water on an empty stomach) I immediately start to burp. Frustrating but am going to have to take a mind and body approach. Basically de-stress and reprogram my thought patterns and then I guess I need a dietary plan.

 

[progrickey]

Not great unfortunately. My symptoms for much worse and I burp 100 times a day and swallow saliva constantly. Coughing is still going on along with a bunch of other symptoms including pain under my left rib cage too. I got an endoscopy done and I am still waiting to speak to the doc but it looks like severe gastritis so my stomach is inflamed and needs to heal. No matter what I eat or drink (even water on an empty stomach) I immediately start to burp. Frustrating but am going to have to take a mind and body approach. Basically de-stress and reprogram my thought patterns and then I guess I need a dietary plan.

I am sorry to hear about your struggles. My main symptoms are a constant cough sensation that brings on coughing. I hardly ever cough while sleeping so that seems to point towards TMS. I understand about dealing with multiple symptoms, I am dealing with a chronic off kilter dizziness sensation along with the cough for a few months now. Sometimes my own body movement causes me to feel motion sickness. Hang in there, we will get better if our minds can truly accept these things.

 

[Nick5049]

Hey Nick,

I'm sorry to hear you have been going through this. I have had all the same symptoms as you for the past year. It started off with a dry cough that progressed, now I have throat tightness, a tickly menthol type feeling when I breath, inflamed vocal cords (LPR), horse throat, coughing, belching, hiccuping and tightness in the chest area. Seems to get worse the longer the day goes on too. I also find myself constantly swallowing my own saliva (a reaction to the inflamed throat).

I am waiting for an endoscopy which I am worried about due to what they might find but I hope it could also put my mind at ease.

However with my track record and TMS I'm a thinking that it is a mind body disorder.

I'm hey familiar with TMS as a long term back pain sufferer which I got on top of after years of pain by hearing about John Sarno and TMS. This time it is inside my organs so has a completely different feeling and I must not be 100 percent convinced it's TMS.

How have you gotten on since you last posted here. Any improvements? Any words of advice? This goes out to everyone else too. I'm in a crappy place with this right now and could use a pick me up.

Thanks all!

Hi Mazinio!
I am so very sorry for the late reply. Initially, I followed Spanky's advice and read and re-read my way through the pain recovery program. I felt like whenever I needed to burp, repeating the phrase "I am safe, not in danger, and this is just my brain being weird" over and over in my head actually alleviated some of the symptoms. In addition, I started meditating for ten minutes a day just to breathe. I would say that this started working very well and I saw large improvements until I started having about an equal amount of good days and bad days. Unfortunately, I had a rapid string of family tragedies and "fell off the wagon," so to speak. The whole issue came back with a vengeance. Currently restarting what I was initially doing and hope for the best. I do think this is TMS, and the more I deal with it the more I am sure. I sincerely hope you are doing well and seeing some improvement!

 

[harryhaller]

Hi Nick and Mazinio,

How are you doing now?

I have very similar symptoms. Came out of nowhere last December. Burping hundreds of times a day (I used to never burp), stomach feels overly full and distended, pain when talking, chest discomfort at times, regurgitation occasionally, a feeling that my stomach is going to overflow if I make a wrong move. It has taken over my life. I had all the tests, only results were a positive SIBO test and some reflux shown on the barium swallow. I have a history of TMS and cured my years of neck pain back in 2017.

 

[Nick5049]

Hi Nick and Mazinio,

How are you doing now?

I have very similar symptoms. Came out of nowhere last December. Burping hundreds of times a day (I used to never burp), stomach feels overly full and distended, pain when talking, chest discomfort at times, regurgitation occasionally, a feeling that my stomach is going to overflow if I make a wrong move. It has taken over my life. I had all the tests, only results were a positive SIBO test and some reflux shown on the barium swallow. I have a history of TMS and cured my years of neck pain back in 2017.

Hi Harryhaller!
Sounds like we have very similar stories. Reflux was shown on my barium swallow as well and they told me there was mild esophageal dysmotility. After a couple months of really working on my stressors and overthinking, I've found that I have more good days compared to bad ones now (good being burping one or no times during the day). There are still flare-ups that correlate with my job every once in a while, but I am convinced even those will decrease in frequency over time. The amount of dedication that I have put into this has been completely worth it though. The belching and sometimes regurgitation many times a day truly did take over my life. I wish you all the best and hope you keep us updated!

 

[Sammie]

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[Sammie]

I haven’t been on this site for a couple of years! Had 2 years of psychotherapy at pain center in California. Didn’t improve much. Have been listening to Dan Buglio on YouTube. So far I continue to STRUGGLE greatly! I am weak and tired, constant heartburn, stomach pain, back pain, anxiety, insomnia, knee and leg pain! I could go on and on. I have 10/20/30 symptoms at one time, daily! I don’t think that is talked a lot about? I have had FIVE scopes and the doctor found nothing last time…still prescribed PPI’S?? This daily heartburn is scaring the SHIT out of me! Does anyone have ALL these symptoms at once! Any advice would be appreciated!

 

[harryhaller]

Hi Sammie, I too have knee pain, which I developed one day prior to the reflux starting (or at least - the feeling of reflux, since my digestion had been "off" for a month or so before). I felt the knee pain and told myself this is TMS. Then the knee pain faded and the reflux started. But the knee pain has come back on and off for the last year. I just feel awful in every way, reflux and stomach problems, pain in one knee, lower back pain at times, and I broke my collarbone because I fainted. I was perfectly healthy in 2019 - had long forgotten about the neck pain I used to suffer.

I guess it doesn't make sense for some people to just be in pain constantly with their body breaking down. I think the signal (the pain) has gone awry, creates secondary consequences, a vicious circle, and of course provides us a way not to think about the things we don't want to think about.

Everyone I know is breaking down in the last year, big surprise. A large number of my acquaintances have died, in at least one case, death of despair.

 

[h-p]

Sammie, GI issues are my primary (though not the only) problem, daily for almost 2 years now when I never had heartburn or this kind of discomfort before. Make sure you get all the tests done and go through the usual treatment first (your doctor will probably do double-dose PPIs for 3 months for heartburn for example), but... if there is no improvement and you get a diagnosis of "functional dyspepsia" and/or "functional heartburn" (which affects something like 25% of the population!) then that's a sign of symptoms without a structural cause. For me that's another sign to think psychologically instead of physically. If you've had 5 scopes and the last one found nothing, that's another strong reason to think psychologically.

My current regimen is a low dose antidepressant for pain modulation which keeps me from retching when I have morning queasiness but otherwise doesn't do much. And, other than some natural things I'm taking but haven't been particularly effective, that's it. It's more a matter of not letting the pain scare me: yes it's uncomfortable, yes it's annoying, but as much as possible I have to prevent the pain from taking over my life. That means challenging myself with foods because what I eat doesn't seem to make much difference and it means trying to get past the pain. Probably the most positive thing for me was to eat something "forbidden" like spicy food and, afterwards, say, well I'm not burning any worse than I was when I ate plain oatmeal so I guess I can eat more variety.

 

[Mazinio]

Hi Nick and Mazinio,

How are you doing now?

I have very similar symptoms. Came out of nowhere last December. Burping hundreds of times a day (I used to never burp), stomach feels overly full and distended, pain when talking, chest discomfort at times, regurgitation occasionally, a feeling that my stomach is going to overflow if I make a wrong move. It has taken over my life. I had all the tests, only results were a positive SIBO test and some reflux shown on the barium swallow. I have a history of TMS and cured my years of neck pain back in 2017.

Hey Harry how are you doing since you last wrote here? I'm still struggling and my symptoms have worsened which I didn't think could be possible. Have tested positive for Candida, Sibo even Mold and am on a treatment program to eradicate but my symptoms are chronic, all day mom stop. How are you and did to ever make any headway?

 

[harryhaller]

Well it's hard to say...in general I got better after last September when I talked to a GI doctor who said it was functional dyspepsia, that it was a result of stress etc., that he had seen it many times and it often develops in people who go through trauma like car accidents. There have been some times where it has not been such a big deal for me, but overall it is still there and much of the time is on my mind, recently I haven't been doing so well. So basically I think I have just been able to accept it more than when it first started, or even started to forget what normal felt like.

 

[fridaynotes]

it’s amazing how sometimes certain symptoms will just “settle in” and feel chronic. it’s happened to me… but i won’t accept it, and it makes me want to dive deeper into the dark places of my mind, my life, and shed some light on them.

 

[rjh18]

I have been having burning in the back of my throat along with thick mucous and a feeling of a lump in my throat. Also my nose and breath have a rotten egg smell that gets worse and then better. I have had many TMS symptoms in the past that I have been able to eradicate once I found out there was nothing structural. I am due to have an endoscopy on Wednesday but I am always leery of these tests because they always seem to find something that needs further checking which drives me insane. I am debating whether I should postpone it and try and work on it assuming it is TMS. Taking ppi but am not sure if it is helping. Any thoughts is much appreciated

 

[Louise D]

rjh18, I'm not one to discourage people from getting tested for things. I can say that I have had acid reflux and burning mouth syndrome that are both TMS. The lump in the throat sensation was one of the first symptoms that cropped up when I got myself into a bad marriage and was taking a speech class in college that was very stressful to me and I was working two jobs while going to school. I was fortunate that the doctor I started seeing at the time quite quickly got the conclusion of "globus hystericus." I was so clueless that when the doctor asked if I was under any particular stress, I told him, no. It took me a while to realize that being that stressed out wasn't healthy or normal. The lump in the throat drove me nuts for a long time, and it was TMS. That's what I can share for what it's worth.

 

[SebastianM]

Hey all,
All the best for 2025!

A few years have passed since I was active in this post in 2018.

After being cured, I have severe problems with acid-reflux again. After fighting my way out of a toxic relationship in 2022 and 2023 and starting therapy in 2024, my path leads me back to TMS.

In these 2 years I experienced bad things and situations - a lot of drama and suffering. It was an up and down of emotions. My nervous system suffered massively, I know that in retrospect and only today do I realize the extent and severity.

I have (again) developed acid-relux as a core symptom, which has been plaguing me for 2 years now.

Although I have already been through the combination of therapy and TMS treatment in 2017, I am surprised that it doesn't seem to be working this time, or not at the pace I would have expected.

I would be interested to know if you have experienced similar situations. Have you had similar relapses after a longer “healthy” phase in difficult life situations that couldn't be cured so “easily”?

I am very worried, anxious and feel my nervous system is dysregulated. I am in a new relationship, which is very healthy and well-being so far. But I also realize that the new relationship confronts me with fears that it could be just as bad again with so much suffering like in the past.

I am facing a big task - the balance between healing and continuing to live life.

Best regards
Sebastian

 

[Cactusflower]

Hello @SebastianM
Silent reflux is one of my symptoms of anxiety. It has mainly gone, occasionally surfaces but leaves quickly when I call it out.
Claire Weekes helped me get over the anxiety and fear. She discusses first, second and even 3rd fears - and this helped me see these symptoms for what they are. I had a few months of EMDR with someone who I really trusted, and we found one point from where we could really see how things from my past developed anxiety.. and after a few weeks (no more therapy) my brain/subconcious sorted things out. A little bit of journaling helped. This was my own method.
You may find journaling and getting back in touch with your inner rage plus whatever else you enjoy such as meditation will work if you can address the stress and anxiety you are creating around your symptoms ( again, Claire Weekes). Get used to the idea that your symptoms may come and go as a communication that you need to attend to your inner world, stress, self-talk etc or incorporate the work into daily life as a lifelong habit to reduce the flair ups that might otherwise occur. Be open, vulnerable, curious, creative and find a way to enjoy the process of getting to know yourself again.
Relationships are stressful for you. Perhaps journal around this. Maybe send yourself a letter of love and support for your suffering around this topic. It might help you reveal more about why this is hard.