Hiya, Im new here...and new to this illness

I have been browsing through alot of topics on here and suspected I had Acid reflux, it was only till a few days ago I was diagnosed with it.
It started in July, I would have this horrible pain in my sternum, felt breathless alot and bloated after I ate. At the time I had no idea food was actually
causing all this trouble, I went for an X-ray, had blood tests, had an EKG, everything came back normal. I was pretty confused. Then sometime in September, I was finding that food would stick in my throat, but I would just drink water for that, then I developed a lump in throat feeling and got really worried. I began to have panic attacks and anxiety, I would be scared to eat in case I choked....eating became difficult but I thought oh it was just probably my fear that was causing this, I calmed down a few weeks after thinking I was getting back to normal with eating....I was wrong. It became increasingly difficult to swallow food, everything I ate burned me and I would be in pain pretty much everyday. Now I have to use a blender to eat because I would end up choking or getting food stuck all the time. At times eating would be such a pain, my neck muscles are tight, my face gets tight...its a nightmare.
3 days ago it got so bad that I couldnt even drink water without coughing. I started crying and just went to get an appointment with the ENT doctor.
He carried out some tests, endoscopy, said my throat was pretty inflamed, and did a barium swallow test, found no strictures or any suspicion of a motility disorder. He kept me in for nearly 2 days for observation, and then gave me Prevacid to take for the next 4-6 weeks.
I really hope this works. I have changed my diet drastically, and have lost ALOT of weight which sucks because Im already thin as it is. I have found that I react to certain foods such as cake, chocolate, anything dairy. One day I was eating a slice of cake, within 5-10 mins I felt sweaty, and started gasping for breath. I was never sensitive to any food what so ever until a few months ago.
So for the last 2months I have been unable to swallow properly (solids mostly), have alot of gas (belch alot), throat burns, cramping in stomach, pain in sternum, difficulty breathing, dizziness, neck muscle tension, salivating alot and generally feeling crappy.
This is going to affect my grades at university I just know it. Im weak, have no energy and cannot concentrate on anything but this.
I hope it will go away soon. Im determined to get better because this is NOT a way to live.

hey there :)
I have woken up to it a few times....Its scary.
You should cut out whatever you suspect is causing it. I myself have a sweet tooth and love cakes and chocolate...looks like I wont be getting much of that now! I cant resort to comfort eating anymore lol.

anything with wheat or white flour, Milk...yogurt. Spicy food, fried food....Burgers make me bloat.

erm well Im limited to white/brown rice, lentil/vegetable soups with chicken occasionally, white fish, soya milk with cereals like rice krispies, probiotic soya yogurts, stews, papayas, melons, raw honey with bread (on a good day when i can swallow better) scrambled eggs sometimes. I guess thats it.

Genie:  Yes, it certainly sounds like you have gerd with all of the classic symptoms.  If I understand your post, you said that you will barely be starting your prevacid?  The thing with the PPI's is that it takes a while for them to kick in (in other words, your symtoms will not be allieviated right away).  I can say this because of my on-going experience with the PPI's and I have tried all of them.  Also, if you read the prescription information given to you it will say that symptoms may not improve for at least 4-8 weeks.  This can be very frustrating because while you are waiting for it to kick in you will be miserable with all those nasty gerd symptoms.....Good luck and I hope it works for you.....