When acid reflux feels like a knife in your chest.

Hello all (: Thanks for reading in advance.

I'm 22,And have had GERD for about four years. Lately ive noticed its been really good ,I noticed I haven't felt any pain (really because I haven't been eating,Ear infection ) so that was a brief,pleasant surprise. Anyway,So today I finally felt well enough to drink and eat things. Silly me had something that is probably the worst thing I could have..

Coffee.

Not long after the stabbing under my breast bone/left breast area started every time I inhaled. Its awful. Its been on and off for hours now. Gas,back pain,anxiety.. All with it.What exactly causes that feeling? Trapped gas?

Does anyone else get this stabbing in the chest? Can I fix it with anything at home? My doctor doesn't seem to think much about it since "I'm so young" and just prescribes me prilosec which make me get hives...sigh haha.

HI, yes wind can do this, I thought I was having a heart attack and had so many tests.  I also have had GERD for many years.  Get some windeze or wind settlers from the local supermarket or if in UK £1 shops sell them, they are little green pills that work like magic and yes coffee is hell but I love it LOL. 

I had this exact symptom after starting Omeprazole.  4-days into taking the drug, I experienced a sharp, knife-like pain into my lower left rib cage, right at the top of my stomach.  Doctor had no clue, and simply ignored it because I wasn't in any high risk category.

Here is what I think happened.  I think the meds drastically reduced my acid, thus forcing the stomach to try and contract to help disolve the food.  This in fact put a lot of pressure on my LES and caused the equivelent of a pulled/strained muscle.  Everytime I would take a deep breath (or attempt to sneeze) I would feel the pain.  I immediately changed my diet to softer foods, dropped the medication, and removed all acidic foods.  It took about a week for the pain to start to subside.

Unfortunately, ever since that day I now burp a lot when I eat or drink, and my Silent-Reflux had gotten a lot worse.  I feel the drug combined with undigested food actually compromised my LES and damaged the top area of my stomache.

I have been almost three months to bring it back to the condition it was in by using a strick diet.  I still burb, but not nearly as much, and my reflux symptoms have been reduced, and I'm no longer on Omeprazole (what a poison that drug is).

Hi. I have just been reading about your experience with Omeprazole. I too was on this for a few months 20mg a day. I was at a consultants appointment and mentioned that I had to keep clearing my throat. He looked down my throat with a camera and said that my larynx was red. He felt it was because of acid so suggested I put up the dose to 40 mg. I did this for a couple of days and I have not been right since. I had liver inflammation. I think like you said there was not enough acid to combat and the liver reacted. I now am on ranitidine again and it suits me better. However I have got pains in the stomach and have back pain in the rib area. I have had a blood test after what happened to check the liver function. I'm just waiting for the results. I agree with you I don't think Omeprazole is a wonder drug at all. The reaction I had was as if my liver was going to burst.

Helen.