Sudden onset indigestion/acid reflux - gone in 5 months

I hope this is the optimistic upbeat post someone is looking for. I'm writing it because there was nothing similar for me when I suddenly (overnight) developed acid reflux (acid high in the throat, rather than the mid chest pain). I'm not overweight, stressed etc. In fact, I'm vegetarian and virtually teetotal . Doctor couldn't offer any cure (or even any reason for it) only acid suppressant (Omeprazole 20mg) to control the symptoms. I felt I was on my own. I couldn't find any good news stories on the internet of people who'd got better, just loads of people who'd had it for years and were suffering. If you are in the position I was in, take heart - I did get better! It took 4 and a half months from start to finish. I've never been ill for so long in my life! (I'm 50). I reckon the last month was simply about getting off Omeprazole and if the doctor had given me better guidance on how to do that, I might have come off it even sooner. When I first tried to come off it he suggested I just skip the tablet every other day. Big mistake! After a day or two the acid reflux comes back even worse. Much better for me was to open the capsules and roughly divide the contents and take a half dose every day for a week. The next week take a quarter dose every day. Then try a week of no doses at all. At the end of the third week, I was off Omeprazole with no symptoms. The Omeprazole took about a month to kick in and even then almost never took away my symptoms completely. I tended to have a slight sour taste most days, but once that symptom was stable (ie nothing worse than that for two weeks) I started coming off Omeprazole. I found chewing gum gets the saliva and digestion going and fennel/licorice tea helped to cover up the sour taste (but steady on the licorice tea as it can increase blood pressure) and I ate a lot of kiwi fruit, banana and pineapple which are supposed to have enzymes in them.. As I was coming off Omeprazole, I also took lycopodium, a homeopathic remedy which of course I don't believe in. (How could it possibly do any good? The science is non existent.) But I wouldn't be giving you a complete story if I didn't include that bit of information. Also, keep a detailed food diary. It will make your doc realise that you aren't eating junk and it makes it easier to judge if some foods make you reflux worse. I gave up tea, coffee, chocolate, hot spicy food, fried food, butter, fat in general, but have now reintroduced all these into my diet with no ill effects. Now, I might get a slight sour taste maybe once a day or less, readily relieved by a simple glass of water. But maybe that's not necessaily abnormal and I'm just hypersensitive about it now - it might just be slight dehydration. I consider myself "cured" anyway. I do hope this story gives hope to anyone newly suffering from this symptom. There's a reason why they want you to wait 6 months before they put a tube down your throat to have a look - you never know, you might have got better by then.

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