Hi
Medical technology has come on a long way but for my relative, the cause of the GERD was discovered by endoscopy and the liver damage discovered by ultrasound and biopsy.
Firstly, I am not a doctor or work in a hospital but over the years I have seen the dreadful pathway that alcohol consumption can take as I watched it destroy a relative's life within no more than 4 years of being told that they had a scarred liver which was extensive and that the only way to have any sort of well being was to give up alcohol completely which they only did a tiny bit but not completely. In the first instance, the symptoms of GERD occurred first, type 2 diabetes, then water retention in the legs, then yellowing of the eyes, very large bruises on the skin, blood not clotting correctly, then bloating of the stomach with internal bleeding and then body shutdown. Harrowing to say the least........... Although you are not experiencing the onward signs of liver damage yet, there is a good chance that you will.
Please don't end up like my relative Calum.... get some help if you need to..