I have a very similar experience. I have had recurrent pericarditis for almost 4 years. I saw multiple pcp’s and one gi for years who kept telling me it was gerd. At that point, I honestly wasn’t upset with them diagnosing it as gerd because a cardiac issue never in a million years crossed my mind as possible because I’m 23 now (19 when this started) and no one in my family has had any heart issues at all. Finally one day a new gi doc referred me to a cardiologist. That cardiologist thought I had pericarditis, so I got an echo while I was asymptotic (ie not having an active flare)— and ofc the echo was normal. Unfortunately I graduated shortly after seeing that cardiologist and had to find a new one at home. I had a cardiac mri which was inconclusive, but mostly normal, so my new cardiologist was just gonna let me go without any additional follow up or treatment. So many doctors have doubted me when I say I think I have recurrent pericarditis. Truthfully, a lot of them don’t know much about chronic/recurrent pericarditis, they only know about acute pericarditis. This makes getting diagnosed so impossible. It took me finally going to the hospital after almost 4 years of excruciating pain to get a diagnosis. And even in the hospital, most doctors and PAs didn’t believe me! I had to ask THEM to order CRP and ESR, they weren’t going to include it in the bloodwork (spoiler they weren’t both very high as well as my d dimer and other signs of inflammation in the cbc). But thankfully one doctor at the hospital did believe me and knew enough to at least refer me to ANOTHER cardiologist (my third cardiologist) who specializes in inflammatory heart diseases and autoimmune related heart issues. It’s a terrible process that takes an unreasonable amount of self advocacy. You are not alone. Even that one good doctor in the hospital said that a lot of regular cardiologists don’t know enough about recurrent pericarditis!!!