I need an opinion

Hey guys,
I'm looking for some opinions on what I'm currently dealing with. My symptoms match the symptoms of GERD, however I had both an upper GI (barium swallow) and endoscopy done and everything came back good. No signs of damage or anything wrong with my digestive tract. This shocks me considering my symptoms. My Dr. is suggesting that it's all in my head. (I recently started Lexapro for anxiety and depression.) I'm am in a rut right now. The last 3 weeks have been very rough and the doctor has no answers for me. While my anxiety/stress levels are at an all time high, I don't think I'm imagining what I'm feeling. I've been taking medicine for acid reflux for about a month (despite never actually being diagnosed) and I felt the 40mg of Protonix helped me a lot. However now my insurance is being stupid and wants me to try over the counter stuff for 2 weeks before they authorize a script refill. I took Omemprazole for 3 days and it gave me heavy breathing (the Dr thinks I had a panic attack) and ever since I've been on Prevacid 15mg. My symptoms seem to be getting worse since being off the Protonix. I'm to the point now where I'm afraid to eat and barley eating. I'll list some of my symptoms and past issues in the past and if anybody has any ideas that would be wonderful. I just need a direction to go in.

*Lately I've been burping a lot. Almost after anytime I put anything in my body and sometimes LONG after a meal. Sometimes I feel a pressure in my chest like I have to burp but can't.
*Sometimes when I burp I can feel the food coming back up.
*I have burped up what I believe is acid (sour taste in mouth) but that's only happened twice.
*I've gotten food stuck before. Usually it goes down within a few minutes but I've gotten chicken stuck twice for hours. (Eventually went to ER or Urgent Care. This was how I got the Protonix in the first place.)
*I've felt dull pains in my chest area
*Sometimes my throat feels right and I feel like I have a hard time swallowing

Is it acid reflux? Anxiety related? Why wouldn't anything show on the GI Endoscopy? Any ideas?

Reflux is such a picky thing when it comes to tests, you could have had reflux show in the barium swallow and your doctor may have still said that you don't have reflux because everyone has reflux events regularly, its just those of us who feel it either have stronger acid, or greater volume etc.

If you want a more conclusive test, ask to have a 24 hour pH test done. This measures the acid levels in your esophagus over 24 hours, and you mark down times when you can feel one of your symptoms that way it can be correlated back to times when your pH was up or down. If you get an impedence 24 hr ph test it will also show if you have non-acidic reflux.

Another test you might want to look into is a gastric emptying test. Gastroparesis could cause some of those symptoms as well. I definately don't think its time to give up yet, I think maybe you just need to get a second opinion and explore other gastro conditions as well as GERD because there are plenty of other ones which could cause symptoms similar.

Hi Ashlee,


I suffered for about 6 years with LPR(laryngopharyngeal reflux) or silent reflux, until finally my reflux was diagnosed by a Gastroenterologist after seen 4 different specialists. All my symptoms where pretty much centered in my throat(burn throat, Asthma, ear pain and ear heat, neck pain and neck heat) until the last year where it got much worse and at that point my reflux started affecting my esophagus, I had 3 endoscopies in the course of those 6 years, plus manometry, plus Ph-Metry, Because in first 2 endoscopies there was no damage in my esophagus the Gastro's assumed nothing was wrong with me and they assumed that it was stress related or that I was exagerating the symptoms, they gave at least 20 different drugs among them PPIs, Antiacids, gastroprokinetic agents and finally sedatives(anti depressants).
In conclusion the tissue of the throat is 100 times more delicate and sensible than the tissue of the Esophagus, the tissue of the Esophagus can normally resist 80 reflux episodes in a week, which is what gastroenterologists consider normal, in comparison the throat tissue can only resist 3 per week.
Most of the Gastroenterologists dont know this or they simply doesnt care about it, because is not the area of their specialty.
I was not crazy and I knew that everytime that I layed down or when i went to bed my throat started to burn 5 minutes later. I begged them to authorize my anti-reflux surgery but they said that they were not going to authorize it because My Phmetry was ok and that my esophagus was fine in my endoscopies too.
Finally I had to wait until everything got worse for them to finally agree with me. My latest Endoscopy showed a Hiatal Hernia(1 inch) and Esophagitis B
I had the NF(Nissen Fundoplication) done one month ago.

I hope this info had help you. Feel free to ask more questions.