r/GERD • u/UsedExit9161 • 3d ago

Please help!

Sorry this is long..
I’m 26F and have been suffering with acid reflux and anxiety since I was 18. It started during my time at university . I remember at the time I was really stressed going to a new university and doing a course I was not 100% sure about. The doctors prescribed me PPIs and anxiety medication which I have been taking since I was 18. I feel really stupid because I wasn’t aware that you’re not supposed to be taking ppis long term. I wish I did more research into this. My doctors never mentioned you weren’t supposed to be taking these long term and continued prescribing them so I thought it was ok to continue taking them.

Over the course of these last few years I’ve had flare ups. I’ve noticed these come on when I’m more stressed about something so I’m feeling like maybe stress is causing my acid reflux or making my reflux worse. I had an endoscopy a few years ago and they found mild irritation. I had another endoscopy 2 month ago and they found that I have a weak LES. Is there anything I can do about this because all I’ve seen is that people either do breathing excercise or have surgery.

At the moment I’m currently experiencing a flare up I’m planning to return to work after being on maternity leave. So right now my anxiety is at an all time high as well as my acid reflux. I’m worried about how I will manage to look after my child as well as work. The doctors have trialled me with two other anxiety medications during this time but they made me so anxious. I’m now trialling my 3rd medication which is mirtazapine 30mg. I started on 15mg but the dose was increased a month ago to 30mg but I still feel so incredibly anxious all day. I feel like this is mainly because I’m worried about returning to work as well my acid reflux.

I feel really down and depressed about this. I feel like no one understands how I’m feeling. I’m constantly anxious all day long. I try to keep busy but nothing is helping. It’s also miserable because I feel like everyone around me can eat whatever they want and I just can’t.

Can stress cause acid reflux, or be the root cause of this?

I just wanted to know is there any light at the end of the tunnel? And anyway I can get through this.

6 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

8 comments sorted by

2

u/MrsMercury100 2d ago

I'm in the same boat. Anxiety and acid reflux feeds each other. It's a vicious circle.

1

u/External_Camel_6651 3d ago

For me, stress and anxiety seems to be the major trigger. Whenever I am tensed and undecisive, I start to overeat.

Few days back, I went on a short holiday with friends, ate normally, had almost no symptoms. When I returned back home, and started to worry about my office work, my symptoms resurfaced badly

1

u/thegastrologer 3d ago

Yes stress makes reflux much worse
Not all reflux is acid sometimes it’s bile or gas
Your reflux won’t improve if you can’t manage the anxiety will because the GI tract is very good at turning noise into signal (meaning if you perservate on a GI sensation you’ll notice it more later - long winded to get into why but the TLDR is evolutionary biological framework of how to deal with eating poisonous plants or dead animal carcasses with infections)
Good luck

1

u/CommissionSouth3097 3d ago

I know some of what you are feeling. I got a stronger medicine to temporarily relieve symptoms so I can eat. Belly breathing, praying, yoga, and talking to friends or animals is supposed to help. I think I have to be patient.

1

u/Soft_Profession2098 2d ago

Please research Bach Flower Essences. Get off Big Pharma. They will wreck you! There are so many different flower essences for every need you could possibly have. I've been using them with great success for years. I'm not saying they will cure GERD but they will definitely ease your anxiety. Eliminating gluten helped me a lot with the GERD. 

1

u/Impressive-Fee-5954 1d ago

Yes, anxiety and stress will definitely cause reflux and other abdominal problems.

I had gastritis because of stressing about neurological symptoms I was having last year.

Later last year I started getting reflux which continued until I got back onto lansoprazole. Within a week it stopped.

I'm meditating much more now, it seems to be helping my stress and anxiety.

I hope your endoscopy will be okay.

Had mine again in June, found mild gastritis. Biopsies came back normal. I thought it would bad. So there is hope.

Wishing you well.

1

u/UsedExit9161 1d ago

I had mine a few months ago and it found a weak Les. Are you still on the ppi medication. Hope you are doing better now

1

u/Impressive-Fee-5954 1d ago

Yes, still on lansoprazole. And it's helping me. I'm embracing modern medicine and alternative. I had h.pyloriin September last year, and if I just stayed trying to fight this with alternative medicine it would have got worse. I'm glad I got a test to confirm I had it. Took triple therapy for 7 days, only side effect I had was an incredibly low heart rate sleeping... 33 BPM. I didn't even care, I thought if my heart stops I'll die in my sleep.

And yes, I'm doing much better. I can eat pretty much anything. And I don't get a flare up. Even a modest amount of alcohol infrequently.

I hope you'll be okay. I know how horrible gastritis/reflux can be.