You’re welcome! Currently my primary doc has me on an H2 blocker, Famotodine, to help with stomach acid until my Gastro apt in February. I’m afraid it’s not the solution but I think it has helped. She’s talking a PPI if the histamine blocker doesn’t do it. It’s been going on so long she says it will take some time to clear it up. I’ll keep chewing gum in the meantime. And keep my fingers crossed. Trust me I’ve considered the crazy often! But there’s so many people affected by this we are not just crazies. (There’s at least two other boards on this forum that are very similar.)How it fools the experts and tests though I don’t know!

Ok so almost a year has passed since I posted here. Over 2 years since Covid and subsequently long COVID. Nasal dryness, gooey, sticky phlegm in throat, coughing, justness, nausea, onset of upper respiratory and head/ sinus inflammation and excessive mucus production after eating. Cardiology, Pulmonary, ENT, GI specialists all using standard front line treatments. In May, 2024 I finally started getting some relief after seeing Allergy/Immunology. Some allergies, most of which were real minor with the exception of soy which I now avoid. But the real benefit came with CROMOLYN SODIUM oral solution. It’s mixed in water and drank 4x /day, before meals and at bedtime. Most importantly it needs to be taken on an empty stomach. What it does is stabilize mast cells. Mast cells are part of our immune system and they release substances like histamine, cytokine and leukotrine (sp?). They fight irritants and potential allergens or foreign matter. Histamine in the stomach then causes acid release, in the head mucous. Cytokines release mucous in the upper respiratory tract and leukatrines are released in the lungs. They’re all mucous and sticky phlegm. Covid seems to put those mast cells into overdrive.Stomach reacts by producing excessive acid that shoots up and upper respiratory produces excessive leukatrines. What a mess! In my experience it didn’t take long, like a few days to feel moisture back in my nasal passages, sinuses and throat. Hallelujah! My reflux is silent do I didn’t know since I had no heartburn. It started with phlegm production, head/throat dryness, then chest pain and serious upper respiratory inflammation. All the while ENT and Pulmonary have no real findings. It took a barium swallow test to show the reflux (up to the carina) in December 2023. PPIs have been ineffective between then and May, 2024, in fact I do believe they cause an allergic reaction. It was that month once I started Cromolyn Sodium combined with H2 blockers that I experienced relief for the first time since September, 2022. I’m still using it but I’m at least more hopeful then before. An EGD in July did show a dozen stomach ulcers and one in my esophagus right around that carina level (where trachea splits to each lung) but I’m sure they would have been much worse if they’d seen them some months earlier before the Cromolyn treatment. Anyway, sorry for the long post but there just ain’t no way to keep it short!