I am newer to this whole reddit thing but I saw there was an r/GERD and decided to take my chance on it.
I (38/m) got diagnosed with GERD roughly 8-9 years ago I believe. I did PPIs for a little bit (less than 6 months) in the beginning but they honestly made me feel pretty terrible so I stopped them cold turkey and then roughly 3-4 years ago I tried the Omeprazole train again, tried them for about a couple weeks and that old feeling came back and made me feel pretty rough. So now I am on a path of actually trying to figure this thing out but man, Google can send you on a scary rabbit hole. I am just trying not to develop Barrett's Esophagus or get esophageal cancer and when you start googling that's the anxiety path it sends you down.
Here is a little bit about my "symptoms".
*Outside of a cough that I have in the early morning when I wake up or when I push it too far with eating or anything I don't really have a ton of other symptoms.
*Heartburn every once in a while when I used to eat right before bed and then lay down which I no longer do. I love spicy food and even after I eat a ton of spicy food I never have a burning sensation like most have.
*Little to no lump in throat feeling or anything like that.
*Regurgitation. This is very very uncommon for me. I rarely have this happen at all. It could/would happen when I have a cough fit in the morning and a little would come up but other than that after I eat or drink or anything I never really have this issue.
My main concern is Barrett's Esophagus or get esophageal cancer. I haven't really been treating it with PPIs. I don't really drink too much soda any more maybe like 1 or 2 a week. Spicy food is my guilty pleasure but again, never have any heartburn that I notice after indulging in those spicy foods.
A couple days ago I started to feel a little burning in the chest and experienced the more common GERD symptoms than I normally do. I have that lump in throat feeling as well as a bubble guts feeling followed by me getting a little tired mid day the past 2 days. Now, I started googling and it sent my anxiety through the roof.. Granted some anxiety about life could be a culprit here but am I just worrying myself over nothing and sometimes I think typing it out may help.
Any suggestions on natural ways to help with GERD because I am not wanting to get back on PPIs and honestly some of these alternatives like Smooth Stomach and Jelly Belly and others just seem like snake oil, is it just my anxiety that is sending a trigger for this?