GERD with hiatal hernia

Hi everyone, I was wondering if anyone else has a hiatal hernia that's causing GERD and is experiencing these other symptoms. I have chest pains almost daily, usually sharp, stabbing in one pin pointed area. They can last for a few seconds, minutes, hours, or all day. Eating anything can set them off. My heart rate and blood pressure were also increased when all of my symptoms started. I've had 4 EKGs, an echo, and a stress echo, all came back clear so it's not my heart. My doctor has me on inderal to help with palpitations and the lower my blood pressure and heart rate.

I also have acid reflux and indigestion almost daily and nausea, and stomach pain/cramps a few days a week. Some days I'll wake up nauseous and stay like that all day. Sometimes it's triggered by eating anything. I'm on prilosec for the GERD.

Then I have a weird symptom where if I put any pressure on my upper back, sides, or chest, I get a pressure feeling inside my chest and a feeling like I have a tennis ball in my throat. I can breathe and swallow just fine, it just feels like something is in my throat. Changing positions often helps but sometimes it does it when I have an empty stomach or after I eat. I also get palpitations when I lie down flat or nearly flat. I raised the head of my bed up to help with the GERD symptoms but it doesn't help the palpitations. I usually have to stack 4 pillows and lay on them so my top half is raised. It feels like my chest, upper back, lower back, and abdomen are all throbbing and it keeps me from sleeping.

It worries me that it might be something with my aorta but I've had 5 chest x-rays from all angles, 2 x-rays of my abdomen, a barium swallow test with fluoroscopy, and a sniff test, none of them indicated anything wrong with my aorta. I've also had an upper GI endoscopy, which is how my hiatal hernia was diagnosed. I have no lesions or inflammation in my esophagus or stomach, just a large sliding hiatal hernia. I get a weird, achy, tingling feeling in my upper throat/lower jaw/back of tongue as well. My doctor said my symptoms sound like when the hernia slides up into my chest, it puts pressure on my vagus nerve, causing chest pains, palpitations, acid reflux, and the choking feeling and pressure in my throat. The vagus nerve controls a lot of muscles, organs, and processes in your body (look it up). It's clearly the cause of all of my pain and discomfort when it's being irritated by the hiatal hernia. Stress also triggers it, which is not helpful since these symptoms cause me to panic a bit when they happen at the same time, especially chest pains. 

I was wondering if anyone else has any of these problems and what you do to relieve the pain and discomfort or avoid it all together. I've kept a list of all the foods that trigger my GERD and other symptoms to avoid them, eating smaller meals, not eating at least 3 hours before lying down or going to sleep, lose weight if you're overweight. 

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