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. IÂ 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.