update 4/2018
the below is an old post
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What I did when I was suddenly awoken with a volcanic Reflux eruption.
In the worst case eruptions the pain, symptoms, and fear is impossible to describe but I will do my best.
I would suddenly awaken with a sense of choking, burning, heart racing, and sweating. I would literally jump out of bed coughing and trying to catch my breath. Sometimes it was so bad I would feel the burning from my stomach into my mouth, sinuses and lungs. It became that each breath was a painful experience and sometimes thought I had to get to the hospital.
I would quickly take two Gaviscons, go down stairs get cold water and when things settled down I would eat some light bread to try and absorb some of the acid. I would drink cold water but my stomach and throat kept causing me to cough and bring up some sputum, which I sometimes spit out.
I realized each time I swallowed the sputum it probably burned on the way down and added volume to the stomach. At this point my night and next day was shot. I would be up for at least 2 – 4 hours suffering. I would keep coughing; my teeth, sinuses, lungs, and throat was burning. I just did whatever I could do to distract myself and suffer through the pain.
Unfortunately with more experience I tried something a little disgusting and not exactly comfortable speaking about but will if it helps others I will. I would sit up In me recliner with a cold bottle of water and a cup to spit out sputum with every cough I could. I realized that when I did this the terrible pain subsided much quicker where I was able to go back to sleep in an hour or so but first took 2 more Gaviscon.
I theorized that with each sip of cold water it felt good going down, which added volume to my stomach and in turn caused another round of spitting up. I believe I was slowly removing the offending content from my stomach and replacing it with a less acidic nature, while at the same time soothing my esophagus which was going through major trauma. Ultimately I believe this mitigated my pain, suffering and damage to my body.
