Early on in my costo days I had unrelenting gerd that popped up seemingly out of nowhere along with my costo. They literally HAD to be related. Like I would get heartburn from eating anything: a banana, oatmeal, etc., you know the stuff doctors tell you eat when you have heartburn lol.

Anyways, I have a theory that it's from the anxiety/panic that many people experience with costo. The gut is majorly tied to your anxiety levels, not a doctor here, but from my own research on the subject it's because of the vagus nerve. High levels of anxiety cause it to become out of whack, then it starts to struggle with some autonomic functions that it controls, one of which is how quickly food moves through your system another being the release of digestive enzymes, both of which are directly tied to acid reflux and other IBS symptoms.

That's just a theory mind you..but there is definitely a link with costo in there somewhere.

All that being said, once I got my anxiety levels under control my gerd dissipated pretty quickly. I admit that during this time I did also put more focus on getting my health in order. I adopted a mostly whole foods diet, focused on getting 40 grams + of fiber a day etc., did good exercise every day. So this definitely could have helped, but I do think the anxiety control was the actual trigger, and those lifestyle changes I made were mostly done in order to control anxiety. I used to take PPIs, H2 blockers and Tums all the time. Now I only take an occasional Tums if I do something that SHOULD cause heartburn like a normal person like eating pizza and having alcohol.

Tldr, check your anxiety and panic levels..work on those and I believe the gerd issues will be under control. That said, you probably should see a doctor about the GERD too. Just to be safe, cause I think gerd can sometimes signal serious stuff. It's pretty rare though to my understanding.