How long do you guys take non-prescribed meds/enzymes such as Zypan?

Hi guys, like most of you I suffer from reflux, silent reflux to be exact. However, I bet I am unique in that I am almost positive my reflux is mainly caused by singing, as I do not fit the demographics for someone who has silent reflux at all (24 year old male, in very good shape). Sure I like my spicy foods etc, but 99% of my friends do too with no problems. So I'm pretty sure it's from me taking singing veeerry seriously as a hobby, and hopefully I can turn that hobby into a career.


Anyway, after trying various OTC remedies, I finally found a local pharmacy that had Zypan. Ever since taking Zypan, it's been like a miracle drug. I've religiously taken it with every meal, barring both a few misses and when I eat something 'safe' like a banana or apple. Now, my local pharmacy and the only place within 30 miles that carries Zypan has decided to quit carrying it.

So my question is, do you think I'll be ok not taking it anymore? I've taken it since around September I'd say. Likewise, do you think I took them too long, or in general a person should only take pills for X amount of time and then only take them if they notice the reflux acting up and/or a particular deadly meal?

I have a theory that my reflux came to be with the singing, and the fact that in college I would eat pizza or Chipotle every day, binge drink multiple times a week etc, and the culmination finally reached a tipping point. Considering this means it took ~2 years for my symptoms to happen, I assume if worst came to worst I could survive at least that long without pills if I needed to haha.

I'd be rather shocked if it came from something other than singing. One day I realized I couldn't sing as high as I usually could, like complete sound stoppage, and this continued for so long I went to a voice doctor, where I was diagnosed with reflux. Apparently it can be a lot worse than mine since I didn't get a prescription, and for that I'm grateful.

I don't know if you're familiar with singing, but intense, "correct" singing requires a LOT of support aka air pressure on the diaphragm and stomach, especially when you're a guy and are singing in the soprano range without falsetto. I've seen articles that suggest this support can cause gerd and since I'm not the usual demographic of late middle aged women who get silent reflux I thought it was probably something unique causing this. Not to mention the symptoms came on after college when I was eating a lot less spicy/greasy foods and almost no alcohol.

I know on a singing forum I go on, someone asked if certain kinds of exercise were bad for singers and a man with a Ph.d in voice said to just be wary of the valsalva maneuver, which is when you hold your breath and push against it. Considering the lifting I do, the maneuver is the safest way to breathe while lifting, I do it, so maybe that caused it?


In regards to what foods I need zypan for, I occasionally tried to be conservative and not use the foods for blander items like crackers and bread, but I found I still got reflux, so I start d using zypan for everything except non-citrus fruit. These experiments were when my voice was healing/repairing itself, so once I finally got my range back after x amount of months I didn't want to experiment and reset some progress. So I don't know if I need the pills now or not. I forgot a few meals like at work and wasn't immediately hit with reflux but idk. Even when taking the pills on an empty stomach right before a meal sometimes I get a slight cough/feeling in my throat, so i don't know if that means I don't need them or what.


Thanks for your response though.