Can't sit down.

I literally can't sit down anymore until several hours after a meal. Does anyone else have this problem? It's making me crazy. I pretty much spend the whole day standing these days, because whenever I sit down I get tremendous coughing fits from what I'm presuming is LPR? I can just feel the reflux shooting up into my throat and into my lungs and I get incredible coughing and phlegm production as a result.

The PPI's I'm on seem to control the acidity of my reflux these days, but not the reflux itself (obviously) which is quite bad. The other night I fell asleep on the couch all propped up and slid off in the middle of the night. I woke up and literally thought I was drowning. I'm really struggling with this stuff.

At any rate, I'd really like to get back to the point where I can at least sit down after my meals, so I'm not constantly standing throughout the day. Anyone have any suggestions? My posture is already really good / the best it can be, and I don't know what else to do and why there's such a difference between sitting vs. standing for me.

That sounds pretty tiresome to be standing all the time.

When you sit down it must be putting extra pressure on your full stomach, pushing the contents up the poorly functioning esophagus.

Without surgery, the only thing I can think of is to reduce the pressure on the stomach. If you're overweight, then drop the pounds. If you wear a tight belt or pants, switch to something that is loose on your waist when sitting. When sitting, lean back in the chair rather than forwards, and if you sit at a desk, make sure you don't sit so close that the desk presses on your stomach.

You could also try to make your stomach less full and have less liquid in it. Stop drinking fluids with meals and only drink an hour or two after eating. Eat smaller meals and keep your stomach mostly empty.

You might also try strengthening your diaphragm muscles. That might put more pressure on your esophagus and help keep stuff in your stomach. One exercise for that is diaphragmatic breathing. You breath in and out using your diaphragm muscles (not the chest muscles) with pursed lips to make the diaphragm work harder. Google it for more details.

You could try the Fast Tract for Heartburn diet. It has enabled me to get off meds. There is a thread here with more details.