my story, tell me what you think please.

Hello, my names cameron and i am new to the forums. i am 24 years old, 6'1 and about 185lbs. when i first started getting GERD at night my breath felt hot and just a weird feeling. later on in life i started to get pains in my chest. not sure i would always go to the ER, where they would do all kinds of test. rule out my heart and say i had some acid reflux. so i started to take omeprazole magneisum(prilosec) i had a endoscopy done in sept 2013, dr said i had some inflammation at my LES and some acid bubbles around my vocal cords. i tired lots of meds, prevacid, dexalent and a few other. they all made me feel ill all the time. prilosec is the only thing i can take that helps a little but not enough to stop all my symptoms. i was having chest pains alot. sometimes it was like a pressure feeling in my sternum. usually goes away with chewing gum.i went to a heart doctor and had a stress test done, heart ultrasound, ekg. 24hr monitor. everything was good he said. besides some pvc after running on the tread mill during my rest. he said it was ok and that its because i dont exercise. but i completely cut back my diet. no more ketchup, no greasy or deep fried foods. nothing spicy. i only drink water. i only eat stuff thats safe for my gerd. now heres my questions. i dont actually get a burning feeling in my throat. i more less have sharp pains right at the bottom of my sternum, and about 2 inchs left of the sternum. and sometimes down the left side of my sternum. and pressure, sometimes feels like i cant get a good breathe. and i have had a few episodes of this thing where 2 inchs left of the bottom of my sternum i guess where the stomach would be, it will start to spasm and its a little painful. after its done its sore. the first time it ever done it was when i was bending over at the waist and as soon as i was straight up and down it spasmed. and for some reason i felt like i was going to pass out. 2nd time same thing but didnt feel like i was going to pass out. 3rd time i kinda tilted to the left side to pick something up and same thing but felt like i was going to pass out. the fourth time i was drinking water ate some chips a hr prior kind had a bloating feeling. sat down in my car started to drive i took in a deep breath and boom spasm. called 911 went to er, they did blood work and xrays said everything was fine. potassium and magnesium was good. are these sharp pains and spasms gerd related? gum seems to help but in the long run gives me gas pains. any input to help me would be great. thank you.

Cameron,

I experience most of the symptoms you have mentioned plus some. I get throat pain, throat tightness (feels like my throat it going to go closed), pain when talking, throat clearing (never can get up any mucus though, terrible taste in my mouth, bad breath, chest tightness, sometimes chest pain, pain right in the sternum and and two inches left of the sternum (especially when laying down)....more recently constant shortness of breath for 3 months straight (comes and goes now), dizziness, and brain fog.

I have tried all kinds of things over the last three years of suffering from this and haven't made any real progress. PPIs do help some of my symptoms mainly acid taste in mouth, bad breath, and throat pain but even these symtpoms don't go away on strong doses of PPIs. I have also tried all kinds of different diets. I am evaluating surgery at this point (mainly Linx) because I don't know of any other options.

I wish you all the best in finding the cause of your issues.

Did the Linx surgeon mention how successful the Linx device may be in resolving your symptoms? I ask because most of our symptoms are atypical.