Follow up question -- if I know it's stress, what do I even do about that? Like what amount of de-stressing must I do and how long will it take for acid reflux to give me a break :'-) do I just start taking omeperazole and call it a day?

Have you tried elevating the head area of your bed. Like using a couple of books between the 2 mattresses, it will raise you up just enough so the reflux can't come back up to your esophagus. I had to do this with my son.

I dealt with high nausea for 10 years before being diagnosed with reflux due to damage in my esophagus. I find that my triggers are and not limited to; coffee, chocolate, alcohol, banana, tomato, Pineapple, soft drinks, lollies, greasy and fatty foods. I find I can have a small amount of these items when taking my tablets (the same you mentioned above) but cannot have a lot or go two days in a row of having the same item without needing to sleep sitting up in bed. Limiting those food items, exercising more and being on my tablets daily, I'm not suffering as much. I was given a list of "trigger" foods by my GP, and I soon realised that most did affect me, and I soon realised other items did too and added them to my list. I did find that the more exercise I do and eating healthier, had helped so much more. Best to contact your GP to get their advice and then start eliminating foods that way.

Oh man, I empathize with you so much. I hate hate hate when flare-ups come up and it’s not because I’ve been eating or drinking things that mess with it, etc. This isn’t an answer to your question, but there is one thing I always use for handling flare-ups, especially when I get spikes during them: Mix a little baking soda in water. Make sure it’s all dissolved before you drink it. All it does is lower the pH of your stomach acid for a short time (hence why I mentioned using this during spikes), but the relief from it is beautiful, I swear, and it helps prevent damage to your esophagus. It’s not dangerous to do, either. It tastes kind of… salty? Somehow? My mom prefers to really dilute it to where she can’t taste it, whereas I mix it in a much smaller amount of water and just deal with it for a brief moment. (Drinking a lot of water makes my GERD worse. 😓) If I’m having a frustrating flare-up that won’t go away or meds aren’t helping with enough, I’ll put about a teaspoon in my water bottle (20+ oz) to help keep acid from causing damage or making me too nauseous to function throughout the day.

Try to avoid things that are high in acidity. For example: coffee, tomatoes, apples/ apple juice.

Sorry to ask, if you're a female, have you taken a pregnancy test? Women can still have their cycles while pregnant.

When I get in with a cold and have snot, and flem build up

I've been working on not doing stomach gripping ;v; I've done it all my life and I didn't know it was causing me so many issues..

I have found that my trigger foods, I can sometimes have that item once and be fine, but then not fine having two or more days in a row, or just have a flare up on the first day. My flare ups are coffee, chocolate, alcohol, Pineapple, banana, tomato. So I can have a coffee every so often and be okay, but if I dare try have one a few days in a row, I'm taking the risk. So sometimes it's hard to find your triggers because you'll have it once or twice and be fine, and not think it's a trigger. I used to have an iced coffee every day, with Pineapple in my breakfast and tomato in my sandwich for lunch 5 days a week. When I found out that they were triggers, I understood why I was always so sick.. Try eliminating coffee, alcohol, chocolate, Pineapple and tomato (the basics I was informed of when diagnosed) and if you feel better after not having for a week or two, try have one again for a few days and see how you feel. Try eliminate to find your triggers