Why GERD at this late stage?

New to the forum, and in fact new to GERD. Brief history—

I’m 63 y/o and never had more than occasional brief heartburn, maybe 2/month, never took so much as a Tums. Six weeks ago after a dinner at a friend’s place I had an extremely painful episode that night which subsided the next day, came back a week or so later, off and on, and by now I seem to have hardly any pain-free/acid-free hours. I’m on Prilosec, think it helps a bit but hard to tell for sure. Endoscopy negative except for “small” hiatal hernia.

I’ll probably have lots of questions in future but for the moment I’m feeling a little overwhelmed by the problem and amazed/bewildered by the zillions of remedies people have organized, herbal, etc. If I want to try alternatives, where do I start?

Also, I’ve seen other posts from folks who experienced such an abrupt onset – anyone have any explanation? Was it that one extra stupid meatball?

Thanks in advance.

SpiritsUP, I had an attack like that a few wks ago and I have Big hiatal hernia and am to have surgury very soon, what I do every day and have for several years is take 2 tea spoon gaviscon liquid 4 times daily and it has helped me, I also take nexium,but I have so many upper and lower GI problems, yesterday I had esophageal manometry, thats when they run a tube up your nose and down throat and into tummy to see how well u swallow, after that I dont have any problems ha, no sedation nothing, I hope this little info helps you love bimbo

I'm new to GERD as well so I really don't have much advice as to what to use in regards to alternatives. But even though I'm not as old as you are, I had a sudden onset with mine as well. I'm 38 and with no warning, my stomach rebelled on me literally overnight. I always prided myself on having an iron stomach but one day I woke up, had my coffee and I could barely swallow, I had a painful lumpy feeling in my chest and severe stomach pain. I hardly ever get heartburn though. So maybe I have a combination of GERD and Gastritis. Don't know but my GI just threw me on Prilosec and it seems to be doing the job. I made the mistake of forgetting to take it for about a week and boy was I in pain! So at least for me I know it is working.

So as for the sudden onset, maybe your stomach and esophagus just got too weak to handle the contents of your diet and/or medications. And it said, enough is enough! :) I am just guessing here because I don't know much about it really. All I know is that it is miserable!

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Thanks, Red_34 and bimbo --
So far my symptoms just seem to get worse, plus I feel deprived of my addiction to exercise, which also aggravates etc. etc., you know the story.
Glad this sturdy supportive collective is here, guess that's a silver lining.

Hi everyone.....my Gerd started suddenly also, just all of a sudden I felt this squirt of acid come up in my esophagus almost 2 years ago and I've had it every since.  I have no hernia that they can see so I still don't know why it happened.  I'm 62 and the doc says that it's a mechanical failure of the Les junction for some reason...with no hernia, it is even more of a mystery WHY!

Spiritsup....I've tried all the alternative stuff out there and the one that works the best for me is called Heartburn Free from Enzymatic Therapy.  Get it online and it's less expensive otherwise in a health food store it's $30 for 20 day supply.  I also take Nexium which doesn't work as well as it used to...our bodies begin to build a tolerance to these drugs...at least I do.  I know some people who have been on one Prilosec or Prevacid for years and it does the trick. 

The most important thing is to change your eating habits..figure out what your trigger foods are and stay away from them...biggies are caffeine, alcohol and sugar products for me.  Elevate the head of your bed or sleep on a foam wedge to keep acid down, don't eat 2 or 3 hours before bed and sleep mostly on your left side which keeps the stomach lower than the esophagus.  Stay away from all the hype fixes that you hear about, they don't work usually.  

Hi, sillylilly, thanks for your support and suggestions. Yes, I'm trying to figure out the trigger foods, or even if there are any, since it often hurts even when I haven't eaten. I'm trying faithfully to sleep "lefty" too, though it's not in my restless nature.
Hmmm..I've only posted 3 times and it looks like I'm mostly complaining. This is new to me, I'm still chasing the doctors for "the Answer." Most of the time the Answer is , "welllll ....."