Interesting! I have coughed a lot for many years. I used to occasionally get a very sharp pain around my ribs under left breast. Never knew what it was, but when I was diagnosed with a hernia I realised that it was the sliding type and that that was what the sharp pain was. I was advised to try to avoid surgery. The hernia was picked up more than once. When I went off PPIs and reflux was very bad I thought I would consider surgery and had an endoscopy...they could find no hernia! I had read that there was a technique you could use to try to release the sliding hernia (to pull the area down and away)...and I had been doing that technique...but I was unprepared to find it gone! I have recently had a barium swallow done as well...and the hernia didn't show on that either.