"chest pain that radiated into my back"

This can be indicative of something else. I need to ask, do you also have severe loss of appetite?

As for everything else, they are classic symptoms of hiatal hernia. You may not have to be on medication all of your life. I had a severe hiatal hernia as well. You know that flap that you were talking about? well, sometimes that flap can fail so severely that your stomach is protruding into your chest, causing these symptoms to get worse and worse. There is a very good surgery that corrects this, that I had to have, and I have never felt heartburn ever since. The recovery time is tough though, about a month, with gradual increase in the amount that you eat, but you lose a lot of weight, heh. Ask your doctor about it.

But, don't forget to tell me if you have severe loss of appetite as well.