New guy in forum - diagnosed with GERD Hiatal Hernia Mild Esophagitis

I hope to find people who has been through the similar condition, to point me in right direction.

It has been 2 months now. It started with intermittent gastric pain. Clinic doc put me on PPI / (another doc) H2 Blocker and Antacid. Gastric pain did go away. Then I started to experience indigestion, belching and occasional heartburn. Two counts of disturbed sleeps. Didn't realize the drugs actually inhibited my ability to digest (didn't they?). Indigestion problems slowly went away after I stopped the medications.

2 weeks ago, I began to experience night-time reflux and as a result insomnia. This was the beginning of my torment. I went to see a gastro specialist, did upper GI endoscopy, was diagnosed with diagnosed with GERD, Hiatal Hernia (slight) and Mild Esophagitis. I was prescribed with Nexium.

Since then, I have been following all tips I can find on the internet about GERD and insomnia. I adhere to a GERD-friendly diet, update a health diary every now and then, resigned from my stressful job. I got symptom-free after 1 week, despite the awful side-effect of Nexium. Then I took the liberty to make a stupid decision which I regretted heavily now. I stopped taking Nexium and hoped that I can control GERD with diet alone.

Last 3 days, disturbed sleep, insomnia and night-time reflux struck again. Slanted bed was of no help. This morning, I started to retake Nexium, and tried to repeat what was done in the past one week, hoping to get symptom-free again, and stayed on Nexium for some time.

What signs should I watch for, that would indicate worsening of my condition? So far i lost 3kgs, the experience is so distressful.

Hi WJf,
I am a new member as well,it seems like you and I have similar symptoms.I was diagnosed with GERD about 4years ago,My PCP tried to put me on protonix,but i had a reaction to it,then we tried Nexium,I have been on that for 4 years,and ate almost everything,spicy,pastas,breads,etc.Just within the past 4 months I started having severe heartburn,that required a Gi cocktail of(lidocane,mayloxx and some other ingredient the prescription called for.)that helped,then within a month it escalated to 50% of what i eat i'd feel pressure in my chest that was painful i rushed myself to the e.r.but felt stupid when i was told it was heartburn,not only that 50% of what i eat usually comes back up.I felt like food was stuck in the back of my throat,the only way to fell comfort was to vomit,sometimes i go to burp it was vomit it was really disgusting.My pcp and i thought maybe nexium wasn't working anymore maybe i built up a tolerance to it.Possibly a esophageal stricture?Barretts Esophagus? I stopped taking nexium last week and now i can't sleep.my doctor wanted to try a new ppi (dexilant) i haven't taken it yet.i am scheduled for a barium swallow tomorrow a,m, then i have to wait anther month to see the Gi (which i scheduled back in aug.)Keep your fingers crossed for me.LET me know WJF if your symptoms get better any suggestions from you or anyone i would be willing to try.I am only 40 and this is stressful,embarrasing,and aggravating.

Dear all, thank you for the replies, I feel warm here. let me share some of the observations I made.

1. Stress and anxiety only aggravate the symptoms. Nearly all doctors I visited told me a majority of their GERD patients got their GERD because of stressful jobs. Conventional medicine knowledge says the cause of GERD is unknown, but I think stress and anxiety is the no. 1 risk factor.

Here's how I control my stress. I resigned from my previous job. Yes it was a very stressful job. Thank goodness, the boss of my current job knew me and is willing to help and give me the flexibility of working from home when I am not feeling well. From this I can maintain a salary to pay my medical bills.

You may not have the opportunity that I have here, but try your best to stay away from stressful work. I meditate, listen to classical music, sing in the day to relieve stress and anxiety.

To Gettysyork, stop thinking about "esophageal stricture?Barretts Esophagus?". It will just increase your anxiety, do more harm than good. Only 1% of reflux patients got those complications, they did because they left their symptoms untreated. The odds is against you. If you can't stop thinking, have your doctor do an endoscopy to find out!

2. Diet control is effective but not sufficient (i learned this the hard way). Control by medication is also effective, but you should not be over-reliant on that, due to possibilities of side-effects, withdrawal rebound, development of resistance to the drug ,etc. I think diet control + medication (gradually reducing the reliance on med to minimum) is the way to go.

I am avoiding all heartburn-trigger and gassy food (find them out from Google). I actually went symptom free for one week with the diet. I am taking Nexium 1 pill per day, despite doc's recommendation of 2 pills per day at the start.

With these, I still find fighting insomnia and night-time reflux an uphill battle. Most of the articles on internet are about reflux/heartburn in general, not specifically night-time reflux. I am out of my wits here. Currently I am testing a new method not attempted by any before, which may work for me. It is my only option now. I will report any success back here.

WJF, from my own experience with acid reflux, erosive esophagitus and gastritus I would take the meds as prescribed. If he recommends 2 nexium a day I would do it. If you find nexium to create too many side effects try another PPI like aciphex. I tried to control my erosive espo and refulx with 20 mg a day in spite of the docs recommendation of 40 to start. Not only did my problem persist but I developed gastritus due to my delay. Once I started the 40 mg it took about 2 months to heal and thenI was able to go back to 20 mg a day of aciphex. I can't take Nexium due to side effects but the side effects of aciphex are minimal for me.