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I've had heartburn most of my life, starting in my 20's (I'm in my late 50's). I was diagnosed with a hiatal hernia and GERD in 2000 and started taking PPI's that worked fine. However, in November 2011 I had oral surgery and took <strong>clindamycin</strong> to prevent infection. This also coincided with some fairly severe stress, both mental and physical (I was struck while riding my bike by an SUV).
I immediately had the worst case of GERD I could imagine, almost to the point of going to the ER (intense pain in my chest radiating through to my back). I drank Gaviscon and rode it out. Things settled back down and then I had to repeat the clindamycin in January with the exact same GERD results, only this time I was ready and stopped the meds immediately.

In the sixth months since this all started I haven't returned to my life before the initial dose of meds. I've doubled up on my PPI's (with only fair results), an upper endoscopy that found a very small gastric ulcer and confirmed the HH, but nothing else (incl bacteria that causes GERD). Two doctors completely disregard the clindamycin and stress connection, but I know my body better than that. I'm going to try the massage / weighted-stomach jump routine and see how that works. I do know that the surgery for this condition is a very poor solution (bad side-effects and complications).