Hi there,
Are you still suffering from breathing/pressure problems, particularly in reaction to eating food? I was having the same problems. For a couple of years, I was having severe breathing and esophageal-pressure (for lack of better words) problems that lasted for hours, particularly after having eaten. (Some foods resulted in worse reactions than others) I found that, sadly, only eating an incredibly simple diet of mostly raw fruits and veggies made it go away. My social life really suffered from this, at least I felt it did, as I could not eat "regular" food and I couldn't even drink any alcohol. As I cannot sustain that sort of diet for the rest of my life, I obviously went back to eating "regular" foods, and the breathing/pressure problem eventually returned. A doctor diagnosed me with acid reflux, which I had suspected was the problem. Proton-pump inhibitors did not work for me, nor did tums or anything. This has been driving me nuts - I am a grad. student, and having this problem was severely effecting my quality of life. FINALLY, a doctor told me over the phone that I might have too LITTLE acid, a problem called hypochlorhydria, which symptomatically mimicks acid reflux - she said that my previous horrible diet could have upset my stomach's ability to generate acid. When you have hypochlorhydria, your food, after having eaten, tends to sit in your stomach and "ferment" as you do not have enough hydrochloric acid to digest the material. Your stomach then produces lots of gas and even reflux from the other "juices" that make up gastric acid. I suspect that the "esophageal pressure" and breathing problems were a result of too many gases being produced in my stomach, expanding my diaphragm and upsetting my lung capacity. All I know is that I started taking probiotics (I know, sounds flaky) and this stuff called Betaine HCL w/ pepsin and my problem, literally, went away completely. I honestly feel, like, rejuvenated. I maintain a good diet, but I can have sweets and heavy foods and, as long as I take this stuff once a day, I always feel fine - I literally couldn't eat ANY heavy/sweet foods before. I would check it out if I were you. I am literally so ecstatic now that my problem is gone. Has any doctor consulted you on this? I am really worried, because so many doctors said I had acid reflux, and it turned out I had the opposite - I am worried that so many people are on all this antacid stuff that isn't, therefore, helping them.
Good luck! Let me know if this works for you, if you end up trying it out.
best,
Suzanne
By the way, I also had had tons of bloating and belching before. (I know, attractive)
Oh, and I had had lots of mucus in my throat.
I also had the same symptoms. It put me in the hospital 14 months ago and I was diagnosed with Gastroperisis. It's complicated so would be best to google it but in a nut shell I had to eliminate all fiber from my diet. Ever since then my stomach problems went away. I still have the chronic mucus cough after I eat and I wish I knew how to get rid of that. It's so embarrassing I starve myself at work most of the time because I don't want to cough :(