Hi Jackie,
I really believe you will overcome this too, and in the meantime, it will lessen and lessen and become more manageable :) I will pray for you too :)
I did not take any medications. When I did research about it, I found that the medicine kicks in, in about a half an hour, and usually that's when the panic cycle subsides on it's own. So, for me, personally, I thought why take something when the panic will be over by the time the medicine kicks in. I'm sure there are a lot of people who have different opinions and that's okay, it's just what worked for me. Each person has to decide for themselves. And, I'm certainly not knocking medication or people who have used it. I found that, for me, what worked was writing down positive truthful statements on a paper and pulling them out when I felt panicky and reading them out loud, and by the time I was at the bottom of the page, the panic lessened and stopped before getting full blown. I would say, "This is just a temporary uncomfortable feeling. There is nothing bad happening. It's just a false alarm and it will go away soon. Everything is okay. I am fine.", etc. And, the key is, I believed it. So, logically my mind accepted that what I was telling myself was true (and it was) and so I would calm down and not panic. It took practice and hard work and time and patience, but eventually, I didn't need the paper and could talk myself down from panic. I don't have panic attacks anymore, but I do get anxiety and I can talk myself down from that also. I have the same anxiety about taking, even, over the counter medications, too. So, I take vitamins and herbs, the latter more for when I have a cold or allergies. I wish I could tell you the vitamins that are supposed to help anxiety, but we're not supposed to mention them on the site, but you can google search the info. and find the information there. Davit uses lemon balm tea and has mentioned it on the site. I found a flavored water drink that has lemon balm in it and it has a calming effect. Re: acid reflux, some antacids are just calcium. I'm sorry I don't know what I can say and not say about it. But, you are doing great and stick with the program and you will get better!
Shari