Boyfriend has GERD; hasn't been able to swallow for 4 hours??

My boyfriend is 22, healthy weight and all, and tonight he tried to swallow a pill (just a tiny, round little ibuprofen tablet), and since then, he hasn't been able to swallow for four hours.
Even if he's not eating or drinking anything, he has to throw up every few minutes, because the saliva he swallows won't even go down.

When he swallows, he said he feels pressure in his throat, and after a few minutes of normal swallowing (just average swallowing of saliva), he said he feels a tight pressure in his throat, and it makes him throw up.
He says that this sort of thing has happened to him before, but never for more than 30 minutes--so 4 hours is definitely excessive in his case.

It hasn't gotten any better or any worse, and he can't tell if the pill has actually gone down or not, or if it's his throat doing all of this (not the pill).


Obviously I'm concerned not only about him vomiting, but about the fact that, if this goes on for too long, he could become dehydrated or even starve to death (of course we wouldn't let it go THAT long without seeking medical attention, but it's still a concern).  I'm just wondering how long we should let this go on before he goes to the hospital (he doesn't have insurance or money, so going to see a doctor is out of the question right now).  Has anyone else experienced this for this amount of time or longer?  Does anyone know if this sounds like an occurrence that will just fix itself, or if he will NEED medical attention...?