Unexplained nausea/gagging and throat tightness truly related to GERD?

Hi Jar, Yes I could have written your words myself. Same symptoms and many more. It's surprising how many symptons that can be attributed to this ailment. Things you would never think would be related . It's a horrible thing to have. It takes over your life in a way that people who don't have it could ever understand. The lump feeling in the throat is caused by your body trying to be on the defensive. It's too long to explain but that's the reason for the tightness and golf ball like feeling in your throat. All you can do is see a gastroenterologist and then go from there. I feel so nauseous all the time that Im beginning to wonder if there is another underlying ailment. I cant eat, im afraid to eat actually. And as you say its all very random. One day I felt well all day and then that nite it came back outta nowhere. I get sooo nauseous, dizzy, humming in my ears, sinus pressure, abdominal pain, lower back pain , and that stupid dreaded lump in my throat.

As Cheryl said..your not alone in this .

I've been experiencing the gagging and moments of nausea every day for the past three months and I've read and read online about it so much. Honestly, I feel it has a lot to do with anxiety. I suffer horribly with anxiety and it makes me want to gag and feel sick. It's like I constantly think about throwing up. And just like you, it's so much better on days I can stay home and rest. But because of it I now have panic disorder, which is a type of anxiety where you panic over things that aren't happening but afraid they will which allow the symptoms to come back because you are constantly thinking about them. That is also the shaky and nervous feeling you get. Anxiety. Maybe try an anti anxiety medication. I'm definitely looking into this. I just started taking a small dose of a off brand of lexapro. Good luck to you!!!

Hello jar0081. It seems you were exposing my case. I also started with the gagging without vomiting 2 months from now. Went to the docter, who precribed amoxicilin for the throat. Felt better but not 100% good. 2 weeks latter i went to another doctor who thought it was laringitis, and prescribed another antibiotic. Still didn't work. with all this I lost some appetite. Finally, went to the emergency room, who send me to the ENT who made a Laryngoscopy and saw inflammation on my larynx due to LPR. Never in my life felt heartburn symptoms. Been on Nexium 40 for 2 weeks, with stricht diet. Gags are almost gonne and my appetite is getting back to normal.

As you say, i also felt some king of dull pain around my neck. Do you fell post nasal drip?

If it is LPR I dont think antibiotic are really usefull, since there's no bacteria.

Prior to that, have you been taking any king of anti inflammatory non esteroids (ibuprofen or naproxen)?

Hope to know from you!

Hii jar0081, hope u r feeling better. My mom is suffering from pretty much the same things... It all started towards the end of jan this year, she kept on complaining about feeling nauseas all the time accompanied by unclear vision, lump in the throat & a bitter taste in the tongue. Heart-burn and sometimes a burning sensation in the whole body. She has digestion related issues, hence she is herself very strict with her diet always. Her food consists of plain rice and curry without any seasoning. We went to a gastroenterologist 1st and he diagonised mom with GERD, initially the medicines seemed to be working but after a few weeks the nauseas feeling returned and her condition seemed to be deteriorating. We have consulted a number of doctors both homeopathic and allopathic and have done almost every test required and all her reports are normal. Most of the doctors have dismissed her claiming that she is suffering from anxiety and nothing else. The last doctor we went to gave her lanspro 30 (which he has now sked to stop taking further and has given a multivitamin instead) and referred her to a psychiatrist. It's been 4 months now since she is undergoing psychiatric treatment and honestly she has improved a lot but the nauseatic feeling persists along with the lump in throat and bitter taste in mouth (although these two symptoms do disappear sometimes). She takes a medicine called zofer for the nausea as the psychiatrist has said it's ok to take 1 or 2 zofer tablets regularly and that eventually she won't need them anymore, while mostly the other doctors have disapproved of taking this medicine on a regular basis. After reading your story now I'm confused whether it is all because of GERD and whether we are going with the right treatment!

P.S.- oh and about her unclear vision which we initially thought was related with this gastro problem of hers, it was due to cataract and now after surgery she is fine thakfully.

Well it has been quite some time but I am finally able to post an update about my situation. 

Long story short, I am feeling much better from the 5 months ago which this was posted. 

Bigger story: it has never been confirmed or fully confirmed what was or are causing my problems. 

Over the past 5 months I have visited numerous doctors and specialists, undergoing numerous scans and medications. It got to the point where I was experiencing a sharp stabbing pain in my stomach and because nothing could be found, I was admitted into the hospital for 2 weeks and put on two types of antibiotics. 

I was told I was being treated for a stomach ulcer. But at age 19 that felt weird. I'm not the doctor though. It could've been possible. 

I got scans of my chest and stomach area including my face/sinuses and neck. The only thing found was a "lump" or "indent" in my lower trachea area but there was no explanation. The doctors here could only tell me that something was there, but they could not explain what it is or if it could truly be causeing the problems. They only said that I should be careful to chew my food well because food can get stuck on that lump. "It does not look like anything dangerous or cancerous." was what they had said 2 months ago. 

So for a good update I will just say how I feel now. I still have a bit of tightness or "stiffness" in my throat and neck that has never fully gone away, but it is definitely less and I have gotten so used to the feeling that I am starting to think of it as "normal". It clearly does not feel normal though. I still have gagging most days and nausea. But on a much lower level. Some days I can go without a single gag, other days it doesn't seem to stop. It comes more when I am talking to someone or drinking something. My gag reflexes seem to have increased significantly as well. Sometimes just opening my mouth wide causes me to gag or just putting a spoon or toothbrush inside my mouth, near the opening, will trigger the gagging. (usually only going near the uvula would cause this). 

So after being in a hospital and stuffed with antibiotics, omeprazole, cimetadine, and whatever else. I can say I am better. But nothing has been explained. I do not think I truly had GERD. And I do not know if I can relate my symptoms to GERD or LPR because most of the throat burning and nasal drip has almost all but subsided. I do not go near soft drinks, coffee, alcohol, or spicy foods. That has been the biggest change in the past 5 months. I stopped all of those foods completely. Maybe that played a role in my improvement. To be honest I am actually just nervous about trying any of those things again lol. 

So, still gagging some days, still thick tight throat, and now the stabbing stomach pain has been returning. I feel the stomach pain every time I burp or belch. Which is even stranger. It is like a tearing or stabbing pain in my stomach every time I do that. The doctors in this 3rd world country are incompetent so there is nothing else for me to ask or search. Most have told me everything I feel is in my head and after all tests they say the last thing  I should do is see a psychiatrist or neurologist for possible answers. 

I do not know if this is related to anxiety, as I still gag or have slight pain on my most joyful and carefree days more than my "down" days. And these feelings are no longer in my mind, I do not think about them or worry about them, they just randomly happen. 

One last thing, I have been told I MIGHT have developed some form of lactose intolerance after all my procedures as well. I now cannot drink any form of lactose or full cream milk without falling into fit of gagging and nausea. I have yet to actually vomit in these 5 months, but I don't know if this information will be useful but it is my update. Milk, especially full cream, has become one of my strongest and most serious gagging and nausea triggers. I have been enjoying milk products all my life, so this sudden change makes no sense to me as well. 

I can go weeks with no milk or milk products and still gag heavily on certain days. 

As for omeprazole and cimetadine, I actually stopped taking them one day because I felt as if they were doing notihing but actually making my feelings, throat burning and stomach pain worse. After stopping them completely I started to focus less on the pain so I could live  with it and about 2 weeks later saw my throat burning slowly settling down. 

I am sorry that this update has no answers for anyone. But every post about these symptoms sounds so similar, yet no one has a great explanation of what migt be the real problem or root cause. I am no different. And it annoys me, but I have readied myself to live with it until something suddenly pops up, I do not have much of a choice in this country and living in fear will make my feelings worse. I don't know if my age had any role to play in my "recovery" as well. 

 

Hello

I have read a lot of your posts and can say from experience your not alone it does suck and honestly they probably will not find a reason. I suffered from chronic nausea for years and years. I stopped eating going places and always worried about when and if I was going to get nauseous It becomes quite depressing. I had every test imaginable done. Upper GI BLOOD gallbladder scan. Intentional functioning test. You name it I had until the dr finally just said we do not know what it is and out me on a lifetime supply of compazine which is a anti nausea drug.

I have since gotten 99 percent better. Looking back I can say that it was all triggered by stress and anxiety however during the time I never once thought I felt stressed or had anxiety but I always had a lot going on and things that I thought was handeling good really was causing me unknown stress. And anxiety from just always being sick didn't help the case.

I know it may seem far from the case but looking back at it all now I can say that 95% of it was unknown stress related and the other 5% well gave up figuring that one out. This all started when I was young about 19 years old. I'm now 39 and haven't had the constant attacks now for about 4 years. I still take a pill now and again and usually it is triggered by some stressful event or a lot going on where I feel kind of out of control with life.

I hope this helps. Best advice I can give is find ways to reduce stress. Even when you think your not stressed. If your always worrying about work or bills or a girl or guy. This is stress that you just aren't aware of. That is why I was so blind to it all before. Anyways I hope this helps some of you. Peppermint helps as well. I always had peppermint frost handy to suck on as that is natural stomach calming.

It does get frustrating and feels like your alone banging your head against a wall of doctors who don't know anything but it's honestly because they don't. If one of you finds one that does. Let me know hahah good luck and relax and soon this will pass.

I have similar symptoms and would also like to figure out what causes it and how to get relief.  Out of nowhere, sometimes multiple times per day at random times and sometimes I have gone days with no symptoms.  It usually starts with coughing, usually first feels like a tickle in my throat.  I can't stop coughing and start to feel nauseas, like something in my throat is causing a gag reflex.  I can sometimes fight it off, but more often than not, I will cough up saliva and mucous and then sometimes (maybe 25%) of the episodes result in this strange instant vomit.  One minute I think I have it under control, then next it's out.  That's as graphic as I am going to get.  What I want to share is that one day I noticed I would not have it as much in one room and it seemed to activate in a room where I had a fan going.  I had been having some excessive and somewhat painful earwax issues, so on a lark that day I stuck some rolled up paper towel pieces just into my outer ear to block the wind from my canal and low and behold, the gagging stopped immediately.  By the way, this all happened today.  I immediately went out on the web to research ear issues and came across a few interesting articles about nerver interconnection and the ear canal.  I had been having a lot of strange nerve related twinges and pain which seem to be subsiding.  By the way, I was diagnosed hypothyroid many years ago and find that I have similar tighten around the throat as you describe.  I am not saying your problem is in your ears, I am actually asking you if you would be willing to try putting ear plugs or something safe in your ears just to block wind or potential stimulation to the ear canal to see if you experience any change at all.  My thought is that I don't have one simple issue, but maybe several and some resulting from years of thyroid issues.  If you do experience a change, please report back and if you do, check out ear canal pressue and gagging or anything related to the ear canal, pressure and nerves near the middle and inner ear.  Good luck and I hope you will try this and post if it changes anything for you.