This is terrible! Question from a newbie...

I usually post over on the IBS/IBD boards...a little background: have a chronic GI infection from living abroad ("some sort of funky parasite" appears to be the consensus) and have chronic diarrhea, occasional stomach pain, etc.  I'm doing quite well now, though, with a course of anti-parasitic meds every couple of months.  The only med I take regularly is Zoloft.

I woke up early this morning, around 5:30, and got up and started going about my day - brushed my teeth, did a little easy yoga, but didn't eat or drink anything - and all of a sudden within the space of five minutes I was on the floor of my bathroom with the WORST acid reflux I've ever had.  I do not have acid reflux regularly - take the occasional Pepcid or Tums, but nothing more.  It felt like fire ants running from my diaphragm to my tonsils.  My mouth was watering and I just hung over the toilet, saliva pouring out of my mouth, feeling like I was going to throw up, but would just cough or burp instead.  I took three Pepcids, three Tums, and waited for another hour with no change. 

I went to the urgent care doc at 8 a.m.  He said he thinks it's a GI virus and will probably spend the day throwing up and having diarrhea.  The other option is that I have an acid reflux problem and most of the time by the time people start showing symptoms of this, it's a pretty gnarly show.  He prescribed phenergin for today and told me to start a course of Nexium for one month.

Has anyone had a GI bug that sounds like this, or does it sound more typical of acid reflux?  Can you have an acid reflux "crisis" that comes on out of the blue without having had acidic foods/beverages even the night before? 

I am still in a lot of pain!  This is miserable!

A lot of things besides acidic foods/beverages can cause acid reflux, although I don't know if they can cause that bad an episode out of the blue. My really bad episode last year was preceded by a couple of months of pain, accompanied by stress and a resulting unhealthy life style. When I did have a breakthrough, it literally felt like a water gun in my stomach was shooting up into my esophagus.

If you do some web searches you will find there are people that say all sorts of things can cause reflux problems, from carbonated beverages to stomach exercises. (Stomach crunches can put upwards pressure on the sphincter that keeps food and acid in the stomach.) Again, I don't know if it can happen out of the blue.

I also remember reading that several people started having problems with acid reflux after one or more medications, particularly antibiotics.

Good luck and hopefully it's simply a GI virus that will go away quickly.