Anyone Else With Reflux?

I used to get it quite bad. Was on medication for a while to reduce acid production, but didn't like the idea of messing about with my body's natural procuction without detailed tests.

So I was popping antacid tablets by the score, well 8 or 10 a day anyway.

Then when I lost weight it all stopped. I haven't had an antacid tablet since August, and do eat spicy food and drink coffee.

My guess is it's to do with internal fat and now that's gone so has the heartburn.

So keep at it, as Fabulara says this site will help and you will reach a tipping point and with luck the pain will disappear.

I understand,,,,too well. I used to get it every night, for a long time,,,, when I was trying to sleep. Ive lived on ppis and tums for years. Did the whole gastrenologist visits , every year....he would say the same thing,,,,lower your fat and lose 50 lbs. Someone already mentioned,,,,the cure,,,,weight loss. I havent had any reflux since I joined MFP and changed my eating habits. Number one offender for me, was high fat.

I used to have wicked reflux and took some kind of med twice a day to help, as well as drinking baking soda with water when the med didn't control it. Less than a week into tracking my food with MFP it just went away, except for meals that have a high tomato content. I haven't taken Zantac or Pepcid or any other med since January.

I will second and third and fourth that starting a weight loss regime has helped my reflux. I used to have to take a lot of pills to keep mine at bay because all my favourite foods were triggers. (I love coffee, alcohol, and spicy things!) Since I started MFP a couple weeks ago I've only had to take pills a couple of times instead of a couple times a day.

It's helped that I've been avoiding alcohol but you can't keep me away from my coffee!

Peppermint tea and Camomile tea!!! They are a god sent. I suffer from acid reflux. At one point I had two stomach ulcers (I had lost 60 lbs in 3 months.. 180 to 120.. I looked sickly) my dr put me on Prilosec but I hate pills. I started drinking camomile tea and peppermint tea and I now rarely if ever have acid problems. I have noticed my bfs fav cookies trigger my acid reflux but if I have tea right after it is avoided. Also..avoid laying down for at least two hours after eating.

New to the boards, but I'm a refluxer as well, all my life. Even as a kid, I would "revisit" whatever I'd eaten (not vomiting, just burping it up). Sorry for that image!!

As an adult, I've had heartburn for decades. At times I've "controlled" it with just Tums or other calcium antacid (great when I was pregnant - needed the calcium then anyway!) but it's worsened over the years to the point where I started taking omeprazole daily, a few years ago.

Lately it's worse even with the omeprazole - mainly severe hoarseness and seemingly-worse asthma. The asthma's been ruled out, as well as a couple of other likely "asthma mimics", so all this got me a trip back to the gastroenterologist and another endoscopy which fortunately "just" revealed worsening reflux-related damage - no Barrett's etc., phew!!

I'm hoping the weight loss will help, though when my weight was down a few years ago it didn't seem to make much difference. I'm doing the usual lifestyle changes (don't tell the doctor I was eating a bowl of chili as I wrote this!!!) - not avoiding spicy foods etc. entirely but trying to eat them earlier in the day, and making dinner something less challenging. No desserts in the evening either, sigh, as that's one thing that made me reflux very very obviously.

Right now I'm also on a different PPI - not sure if it's stronger, per se, but it has immediate and delayed-release components. Obviously long-term PPI use isn't ideal given what they're finding these days.

Something else to look at is whether anything else you're taking might worsen reflux - I've been on an older asthma medication for, well, decades, and it's a known aggravator. I don't know if I'll be able to stop that long term, but am trying a dosage reduction for now.

Apple cider vinegar used to work for me, though I know it doesn't work for everyone. It depends on what's causing the problem.

http://www.livestrong.com/article/272447-acid-reflux-remedies-with-apple-cider-vinegar/


My reflux problems went away immediately and entirely when I began my diet, and I realized later (much later) that it was because I'd quit eating potatoes. I've added all of the other major groups of carbs back to my diet, no problem, but still can't eat potatoes without that old pain coming back. I never get a hint of heartburn otherwise.

I'd recommend the liquid type of antacid - like gaviscon - as they actually have a secondary action* and are far more effective than the plain chalky chewy stuff. Tastes like soap though.

But exercise and losing weight really does seem to be the best cure. Like so many things.




(*they have an alginate component that forms a "raft" on top of the stomach contents to stop it sloshing back up.)

I'm on omeprazole (Or however you spell it!) but a couple of little things that help me are:
Little sips of water throughout the day. It sounds so obvious, but it helps me a lot and makes me avoid the coffee a bit more.
Sleeping on my left side. Again it sounds like a daft thing, but it works. It's due to the stomach leaning over to the left. If you sleep on the left hand side the opening is higher and so there is less likely to be "leakage" (Eeww!)

As with everyone else, I find as I lose weight, the symptons affect me less and less.