Plus one! D3 swimmer and D1 cross country runner here. We encouraged the kids to drop their sports when it became obvious there was no “chemistry” between them and the coaches. The swimmer went on to play club water polo and now does triathlons. The runner has been running halfs and full marathons. Don’t let the sport define you. It is a hard decision to drop something one has been investing yourself into for so long, but it can be the right move.
Hugs!!!
I’m here with another vote for gallbladder. My symptoms started out as reflux but due to my 22 year old daughter having her gallbladder completely shut down (like 100% shut down), I asked for an ultrasound of my gallbladder.
My PCP did an ultrasound and found a 1 1/2 cm stone that was blocking the ducts so they removed my gallbladder. The GI found damage to my throat due to the reflux caused by it.
Ask your PCP for an ultrasound on the gallbladder. Get the ball rolling. It can eliminate the gallbladder.
I think that all options can be on the table.
Hugs to all of you. College is such a time of change. I’m sure her identify is her swimming and she loves it.
But I guess she needs to decide what she wants to do. As parents we can only help guide our kids and get them the best help we can.
I’m not one to tell my kids (or my mom because I’m in that position of life also) what they should do. But let them figure out if the pluses outweigh the negatives.
There is a big jump even with a very competitive and strenuous sport like swimming from high school or clubs to college.
Just feeling the pressure you as a mom must feel and how overwhelming a medical situation is.
ENT’s also see a lot of GERD issues. Might be another option of someone to see for these issues.
@caz0743 I also mentioned EOE earlier:
Could she have eosinophilic esophagitis? That can link with asthma. To help, you swallow a very small amount of what is usually an inhaled steroid. Diagnosis is by biopsy.
Doctors are more aware of this but some aren’t!
If your daughter had injured her shoulder you would not be questioning her participating in her sport while it is diagnosed and treated and resolved. Well, her gastro issue is the same. She should take a brake from swimming until the cause is figured out and the problem is solved. It is affecting her performance just like any other physical injury and should be treated as such.
This! I’ve had migraine issues since I was 9 and reflux/nausea/pain/vomiting off and on. I have autoimmune issues, so that plays into it as well. I went to Hopkins migraine clinic in my 20s; switching my diet worked better than anything. I get regular endoscopies; they always come back normal. My gastro does blood work every 6 months and monitors my symptoms; omeprazol has helped somewhat with the nausea/vomiting, not so much for the reflux. Mine is bad if I attempt running; thankfully it’s something I can easily avoid 
caffeine makes mine worse; tomato based sauces are bad as well. I’ve recently started chewing crystallized ginger. I don’t use NSAIDs, avoid all carbonated drinks and don’t drink alcohol. The only habit I haven’t kicked is coffee; that’s a hill I’m willing to die on though 
Yep, D20 develped VCD her junior year of HS. She did breathing therapy for awhile, but in the end her sport was causing her too much anxiety; she had to stop all dryland exercises and eventually stopped competitive swimming. Once she stopped the stress of competition, her VCD slowly went away.
Thank you everyone for your support and advice! There is so much here to digest- no pun intended.
She will finish her season in a couple of weeks and then take a break. Focus on enjoying college without worrying about her sport!
This isn’t such an uncommon problem.
Many, many articles on this subject.
Before overdosing on all the med recommendations here, have her talk to her swimming coach to refine her breathing techniques for swimming and talk to a dietician at school combined with her going to see a GI specialist.
Caffeine can be a culprit and young college students live on coffee and caffinated sodas. It’s also probably the timing of when she eats and swimming. Again, it’s more common in her sport and her coaches shouldn’t be surprised by this.
Good luck.
Flip turns were the worst for me and D20. They were the first thing to go in practices when she started therapy. Easy for me to give them up, not so easy for her. D20’s therapy group in Charlotte had several swimmers from her team with the same issues; her therapist was a Master’s swimmer, so she was able to work on head positions and breathing into turns with her. She also helped her with pre-race breathing techniques.
Glad that worked out. My daughter was a singer at one point and had to take meds otc daily. It’s common in singers also.
Thank you so much for the articles! I think I was searching for GERD and swimmers so hadn’t come across those articles. I will share them with her. She has spoken with her coach and I don’t think he knew much about acid reflux.
She doesn’t drink coffee or caffeinated beverages as caffeine is a link to migraines so she avoids it already. Which makes those early morning practices very hard!
Thanks again!
I thought the Needed for Health article was especially helpful. I could imagine eating two hours before swimming might be helpful, but would never have thought about a tight swimsuit! Hoping the articles posted by @Knowsstuff nowstuff were helpful, great research.
Both my niece and nephew had Gerd, one with migraines and both had gall bladder surgery, so definitely see what the docs see. The question is… Does the Gerd go away if she stops swimming? Does it come back when she starts?
The worsened acid reflux started during orientation before she started swimming.
Thinking back to last year, she ate really slowly so she was probably having symptoms then.
But her symptoms definitely worsened when she started college. I think it was the stress of the unknown, being far away from home, and not enough food in her stomach. And then when classes started, trying to be the perfect student like she was in HS. She is working on this with her therapist.
Thanks for your help!
Many students are stressed but don’t have these GERD, vomiting and other issues. Maybe once swimming is over she could try eliminating dairy and gluten. Hope the GI doc is helpful. Docs sometimes say GI issues are “psychogenic.” But keep going!
Apologies for the OT sidetrack but were your athletes recruited? Happy to take this to a private conversation, but fit within a team is very much part of our discussion right now so I would love to hear more.
Our experience was ages ago… I am an oldie here in the cafe. 
there are no scholarships in D3, so it was “soft” recruiting, and the D1 athlete was not on scholarship (encouraged by one of the team coaches to walk on). You might want to start a new thread on athletic recruiting so folks with more relevant/recent experience can provide their insights.