Intro and a HUGE thank you to all!

Hi there! As with many of you I had been having troubles with eating and it was badly affecting my breathing, all of this came about from food poisoning 9 months ago. After my doc failed to get a diagnosis I went online and found this site, and kept reading for a month and a half while I waited to see a specialist.

I tried EVERYTHING to make my situation better, from baking soda to not eating, to only eating plain foods. What I found that works is plain food in very small meals, some baking soda, decongestants and no eating after 7pm ( I go to bed around 1am). After finding this forum I had a whole new list of questions and ideas....I am SO GRATEFUL for all the strangers here who posted their results, you have saved my sanity!

Today was my gastro doc appointment, they put me on Carafate (which I heard about on this forum) and on Dexilant. For most of the day I have felt pretty good! I'm not dreading sleeping tonight (well a little) rather I'm curious to see if this will help me FINALLY sleep without choking on stomach acid all night!

My doc say one month of the meds, then I go in for a scope and to see if surgery is needed.

My thanks again. If it would be helpful to anyone I will happily post my DIY efforts from the last 9 months that had some limited success. You all are awesome!!!!!

It was from stomach acid going into my esophogus and lungs.
I tried everything.
This problem has been going on for quite awhile. I had bronchitis last March or April (2016) and recovered from that, a month or two after that resolved I got food poisoning and ever since I have been coughing. It is made MUCH worse if I eat a large meal or if I am in the shower and there's too much steam. Also when the weather is hot my breathing is worse. When I saw the pulmonologist he thinks it's just asthma. He also gave me the inhaler called "Q-var", it didn't seem to help my asthma but did give me sores inside my mouth so he told me to discontinue use.

Nothing had been resolved, I still felt horrible so I plugged my symptoms into google and found my symptoms matched those described for GERD. I have zero heartburn sensation, just tons of acid backing up and coughing.

Things I have tried thus far with varying levels of success, all of which is simple stuff like diet changes so I figured they were worth a try:

1. Ginger tea with organic honey (seems to help slightly)

2. Eating tiny meals (seems to help the most)

3. Using chewing gum (seems to help)

4. Limiting carbs I eat

5. Aloe Vera juice (helps a little)

6. Using a large bed wedge pillow (seems to help)

7. Drinking more water

8. Cut out all chocolate etc (my only sweet? Handmade caramels, I seem to have no reaction to those)

9. I tried probiotics based on advice I read online, I broke out in a huge rash

10. Baking soda in water (helps, but for a very short amount of time)

11. Taking Tums ( doesn't seem to help at all)

12. Not eating anything after 7pm which means I am usually hungry since I go to bed at 1am ( I have tried to cheat on this and every time it backfires and I cough all night)

13. I tried Prevacid, it gave me horrible diarrhea

Update: (not that anyone was waiting...lol)
Turns out I have H Pylori, I even know exactly how and when I got it: A year ago from bad salad dressing.
It's taken several docs and many many appointments but I finally have an answer!!!!! I wasn't expecting that, not all my symptoms match it, but it's good to have a ray of hope again!