Reflux for 5 years
endoscopy
PPIs
Always suspected it was muscular problem, stress related etc...
Noticed I was subconsciously holding in my stomach and had absolutely no idea I was doing so until yesterday. Let stomach completely hang out, symptoms improved noticeably.
I'm currently in a position where I should be getting rebound reflux and have been since I stopped taking Nexium regularly a week ago, but since I consciously made positive effort to completely relax and almost forcefully distend my stomach, my symptoms eased, noticeably. My throat feels less tight, swallowing feels more natural.
I mean really let the stomach completely hang out and relax your posture. This counterintuitively actually required a tiny bit of active pushing as I described above.
This is 100% not me trivialising reflux, this really has been a horrible journey for me and has caused me significant emotional and physical irritation for 5 years, I've seen doctors and had endoscopies etc... It just seemed to never end.
I think the human brain is as flawed as it is wonderful and we all carry stress in unusual different ways,
Just posting incase it helps anyone any amount.
Just reiterating, I had NO IDEA I was doing this subconsciously, and I have been obsessing over these symptoms for what seems like forever! How truly bizzare!
I have been into weight lifting and think the 'bracing of the core' habit maybe extended into everyday life, this is the only explanation I can think of.
Will see if the improvement really lasts, I have been falsely optimistic before.