I had posted this message to another thread but wanted to make sure as many people saw this as possible so I am starting a new one.
I was suffering with gerd like symptoms for about 5 months. I was having difficulty swallowing whereby food seemed to get stuck in my throat constantly. My doctor sent me for an upper GI XRAY which looked normal. He then wanted to send me for a scope to confirm gerd, I was not too keen on this. I had tried many of the common suggestions, raising the bed, not eating late, avoiding spicy foods, apple cider vinegar etc all to no avail.
I spoke to a woman who runs the local Health Food Store and she seems to think she knows what causes GERD. She felt that people with GERD do not have enough of the right enzymes in their stomache acid to properly break down the food that one is eating. This causes food to linger in the stomache which in turn forces the acid back up the esophagus causing the reflux.
She gave me a bottle of Full Spectrum Plant Enzymes. these come in capsules and I was instructed to take on before meals, two if it was a large meal. These Enzymes help to break down the food quicker and move it through your digestive track. I noticed improvements almost immediately. I have been taking these now for about 2 months and my symptoms are pretty much non existent. I have been able to eat what I want, when I want without repercussion. For me there was one exception, I have had to cut down on my coffee intake or I would offen get the feeling of an over strained voicebox while talking. Other than that my life has returned to normall.
I hope that this helps, as one can see by reading through the forums there are a lot of us who suffer from this. I'm hoping this works as well for others as it did me...good luck