I suffer from acid reflux and after I eat a meal...

[craigdwarner]

...I feel as if food is caught in my chest. What causes this? I take Nexium for this which helps most of the time but the food caught in my chest and throat feeling is really bothersome. I want to know what actually is happening that would cause this feeling.

[Zplaran]

When you suffer from acid reflux, the acid coming up from your stomach causes damage (very slight swelling) to the passages it touches. What this does in turn is constricts the supply of food passing from the mouth down to the stomach, which makes it seem tight. It is an excrutiating feeling, since I too suffer from acid reflux, and use an alginate medicine (Gaviscon) for immediate relief, and have been on Zantac 75 for the last 5 years.

[David B]

Some folks with acid reflux can develop a thing called a peptic stricture. That means the chronic irritation of the esophagus leads to the formation of scar tissue that keeps foods from slipping down into the stomach. Common foods includes meats, vegetables and dry breads. A gastroenterologist can sedate you, examine your upper GI tract, and stretch the narrowed area with special devices. This would be called an EGD with dilitation.

[gla46]

I get ranitidine tablets but if the problem persists please see your doctor.

[George P]

Generally this is caused by a hiatal hernia. You need to have endoscopy to determine if this is the problem. Check it out on the web and see what you can do with regard to lifestyle changes to help this. Also, if you raise the head of your bed about the height of a 2x4 (2" higher) you will see a great deal of improvement with these symptoms very quickly.