I appreciate your response.

As far as I know I don’t have GERD, as I haven’t had the symptoms associated with it. I’m just puzzled why I’m not seeing any improvement since the injury after following a strict soft diet and chewing anything somewhat harder into a soft consistency.

What’s strange is I’ll often wake up first thing in the morning feeling pretty good with minimal to no symptoms. Then it flares up with eating something as simple as a scrambled egg or hummus sandwich on wheat bread that I chew thoroughly before swallowing. I almost wonder if I need to go to a full liquid diet and blend anything firmer into a palatable consistency.

I plan to keep my existing appointment 5 weeks from now while seeing if I can see another ENT sooner. Someone recommended also looking into a gastroenterologist as an alternative to take a closer look, so I plan to give that a try as well.

Trying to avoid an expensive ER visit if at all possible (I’m in Washington state). Meanwhile it’s hard not to worry about something more serious is going on, like a perforation.