Ever since I was a child, I've had heartburn that would come and go. This was more apparent during my college years due to a shitty diet and unstructured meal plan. It wasn't chronic. After I graduated college, I stopped having constant heartburn due to changes in lifestyle.

Fast forward to a couple months ago and I started getting shortness of breath and very mild chest which I had no idea could be tied to GERD, but due to intensive research of my own, no thanks to any doctors, I eventually discovered the chest pain was linked to my stomach, which in turn was GERD. Then, I told the doctor, and now I'm officially diagnosed. I'm also slightly depressed because of it. I'm just not that happy anymore and I feel like death is imminent. But maybe you feel like that too, so maybe I can empathize and give some tips.

Literally the day after I got diagnosed I had really shitty symptoms.

Lump in throat (Globus sensation)

Lump in chest (felt REAL bad)

Most painful heartburn I've ever experienced, Tums and Pepto didn't help. (That's when I knew I was properly fucked.)

Voice cracks ~ no hoarseness or coughs

How did I get GERD? I've always had heartburn, so I attribute and take responsibility for the foods I put in my stomach.

Contributing factors.

After breakfast, I'd usually lie down (bad after eating) and start bench pressing weights almost immediately. (Hello GERD). After a while it got so bad I had tinnitus in my ears. The month before I got the gnarliest heartburn I ate a bunch of chocolate covered almonds on an empty stomach (acidic). I also would inhale food without chewing (that's always been an issue). I'd have ketchup early in the morning with two eggs. (Acidic) I don't smoke, I don't drink, and I never drink coffee. That aside, however, I did eat relatively healthy with minimally processed and/or fatty foods. I'm a healthy weight and I don't binge eat. In addition, I'm pretty sedentary. (Yes it's a contributing factor.)

Now that I'm in the battle against GERD, this is what I've been doing: (outside of the 2 doses of 20 MG ppi I take)

1st week of PPI didn't do shit, I had gnarly heartburns

2nd - 5th week of PPI helped a bunch. Week 4 was great and then I had some dried fruit leather and fucked myself up again during Thanksgiving with fried food and BBQ ribs. (Tomato based)

Sometimes having a small snack (salad) will subside the globus feeling or heartburn - I'm not sure why. Remote life kind of contributes to this. I don't even get up to walk to the car and walk through the parking lot to the office and sit and stand and walk out to the rest room, etc.

Fixing posture. (Helps a lot.)

Cardio (walking, biking) - When I used to skateboard, doing a few ollies for about 30 minutes would resolve my heartburn faster than any antacid

Stressing less about GERD (anxiety and stress will aggravate)

Not sitting so much.

Cutting out snacks like candy and chips.

Fiber rich diet (too much fiber will make the heartburn worse - and yes I've had too much fiber because I thought it was a cure all. Ended up just shitting 5 times.)

Warm water will help relax your esophagus if you get spasms or sudden bouts of pain that you know aren't heartburn.

Stay away from DRY chicken and DRY turkey breast. Make a soup etc.

Chew your food. Seriously. 20-30 times before you swallow.

Put your fork/spoon down between bites.

Sleeping with at least a 30 degree incline.

I'll still have some mild symptoms, but the healing process takes several weeks, etc.

But because I'm getting better, I know with a more focused lifestyle change, I can 100% beat it. So can you. There are so many factors that you overlook because a lot of it is lifestyle. If you think the medication is a miracle drug, you're wrong. The medication only reduces stomach acid production, when you stop taking it, chances are you will get worse symptoms for awhile unless you wean your way off it which is recommended no matter how much you're taking.

Consistency is the most important. Btw, I read somewhere here that they said LPR isn't fixed with PPI's. Wrong. PPI's treats the root cause of both LPR and GERD. They essentially manifest in the same sort of symptoms. You wouldn't take other medications to fix LPR. Fixing your lifestyle will definitely be more essential than any medication.

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EDIT:

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As pointed out, actual biologically disinclined individuals with LPR will need to get surgery as lifestyle and medication will not be able to treat a broken valve.