Really, GERD?!

First, Hi everyone. I'm Jess! I'm a healthy 27 year old, who was told today that its "probably" GERD.
This all started in June of this year. I've been having REALLY bad chest pains, it feels like it is in my ribs, lower & upper. It hurts so bad, I can't sleep I can't sit still. I've been to the hospital a few times, dr. office. They did x-rays, blood work.. all that stuff, never had an answer for me.

Let me say I have only had heartburn a few times in my life, most often a few years ago while I was pregnant, and for the past 2 or so weeks it has been a problem.

I told the ER doc what the problem was, severe chest pain for the last 6 months and I added in that it was strange I had been getting heart burn the past couple of weeks too.

She told me that the chest pain was caused from GERD, and that it doesn't matter i've never had heartburn before, that it can show itself like this.

SO - I'm asking the experts here!! Is this what I have? Is the chest pain a sign, even tho i've rarely ever had heartburn?!
I went & bought some over the counter acid reflux medication as suggested by the ER doc, I figured it wouldn't hurt!!

Thanks everyone!!!

I also have chest pains with GERD but rarely any true heartburn. I'm 28 and pretty healthy too. I've been diagnosed with a hiatal hernia (common with GERD -- it's when part of your stomach herniates up above your diaphram) and I suspect it's the cause of much of my chest pains, since my pains always get better when I stand up or sit up straighter, and get worse when I slouch or bend over (which puts pressure on the stomach).

My GERD started fairly suddenly but I suspect it was caused by antibiotics I took. Prilosec OTC did nothing for me, and Nexium (Rx) worked for a few days then my symptoms get back. My chest pains didn't get significantly better until I modified my diet to avoid many common GERD trigger foods. Also, eating smaller meals and just eating more often can help a lot too. Every person has different GERD trigger foods, there's a lot of threads about it on this forum! Right now I'm avoiding acidic foods, onions, garlic, mint, caffeine, alcohol, carbonated drinks, and chocolate. I'm still experimenting though, so some of these foods might be ok for me in small doses, and I might have other trigger foods I haven't identified yet since I still get some symptoms. Although I also think stress/anxiety may play a role as well ;)

That does remind me ... do you have a lot of stress or anxiety in your life? When my mom was younger she got chest pains just from anxiety and was put on Valium for a while for it!