Reflux

Are you allowed to experiment with adding any of these back to your diet?

I have reflux, and with eating better if late, have reduced my ranitidine (zantac) to 150mg/day vs 300 previously. However, I have caffeine and lemon or lime juice daily, I eat natural pb and pistachios, raspberries, strawberries, onions, tomato stuff, and the occasional carbonated beverage. When my reflux was at it's worst though(4th pregnancy), I couldn't have the tomato, citrus or fatty stuff.

Some of the stuff on that list I've never heard to avoid with reflux, mainly the pb and nuts, and I've had reflux to some degree since my first pregnancy in 2000. It got worse with each. Thank you, children!

I have reflux as well, though it's gotten better after some weight loss and a reduction in fatty foods. I wouldn't count everything on that list as an absolute no because even among reflux sufferers some react differently to different foods.

Before I lost weight and changed to lower fat options, I stayed away from all kinds of hot salsas and peppers. But now I absolutely love them, and they never give me heartburn. I use onions constantly in my cooking, and frequently have green smoothies with berries. Things that do give me heartburn? Greasy, high fat/oil meals and meals with far too much garlic.

Just experiment a bit, allowing yourself small amounts of the stuff on the list one at a time until you figure out which ones aggravate your reflux. You might discover that you can eat some of them after all. But always remember to eat in moderation, a few onions to flavor a meal would probably be perfectly fine, but if you slap some butter on a whole onion and microwave it, you're bound to get heartburn.

Wow Jacqueline,

I was just diagnosed with the same thing last week. Mine is Laryngopharyngeal Reflux Disease. Still reeling from the list, i.e. coffee and chocolate being two of my favorite food groups as well as Mexican food. Sigh.:grumble: :sad:

I think my biggest issue was with mint. I used to basically eat breath mints. I never realized mint could cause reflux. Years ago I read that peppermint can ease an upset stomach! LOL... "of course it must be true, I read it on the internet.." I think my love of salsa is an issue too. I'm willing to give it up and the rest but I'll be durn if I give up my coffee! It's practically the only vice I have now. I have cut back to one cup a day though. My ENT has LPR as well. He takes one expresso shot a day-even he couldn't give caffeine entirely.

It's my understanding from the handout my Dr. gave me that if you have some damage from the acid reflux, it will resolve with treatment though it might take a few months. I would think that your doctor will be seeing you at regular intervals and let you know how that's going. I'd stick with the list till you find out how your healing is going. Then see if you can add back things. My list did not include blueberries or strawberries or cream cheese.

This is still new for me too and I'm trying to work around it as best I can. I wonder if in maintenance mode you could add more protein to help you get more "good" calories in? And maybe a little less exercise. Ha-that ain't happen to a Zumba instructor, is it? You have no choice but to dance, dance, dance, huh? So you are going to have to up your calories some how. A lot of advice about handling this is geared toward losing weight... not what you need at all. It's going to be challenging I know.

Here's something I found on WebMD -a book by dietitian Elaine Magee, MPH, RD. Magee is author of Tell Me What to Eat If I Have Acid Reflux. Haven't checked it out yet but it might be helpful.

Hope this gets resolved quickly and you can get back to some normalcy.

Ann

Hang in there my friend! I was recently diagnosed with a sliding hiatal hernia & reflux and they told me the same thing about a strict diet. I currently take Zantac in the morning & Protonics right before dinner. I can tell you it does get better with time though I do splurge with a glass off red wine every now & then, followed by an 8 oz. glass of water which seems to help with the acid

Anecdotal only but I used to have reflux every single night-so bad that I couldn't sleep well without being on Zantac. SInce losing 35+ pounds and changing up my nutrition to eat more protein (and thus minimizing carbs) I've been almost entirely reflux free. If I go crazy eating lumpia or something I'll have it but I don't even know where my antacids are now.

ETA : I eat all the things on that list except not very much fried food. And I don't smoke either.

I was diagnosed with silent reflux several years ago. I found (once the reflux was being controlled) that I was able to add back in several of those items. I can't have a day where I have more than a few things on that list though. And at first it was a bit of trial and error on what I could and couldn't have.

You are lucky it's only temporary. There is no cure for acid reflux, the esophagus muscle is basically dead allowing stomach acid to creep up. I was diagnosed with acid reflux when I was 20. (now I'm 49) I have chronic sore throats and heartburn. As a young person, I had terrible throat infections that wouldn't clear up, now I have damaged vocal chords because it remained undiagnosed for years. For me, I have to keep my weight down, when the belly gets big, it applies pressure to the esophagus causing heartburn. While I do have a prescription, the condition is manageable by staying away from all of those foods on your list and especially eating smaller meals. Someone mentioned carbs, I had no idea this triggers heartburn, so I'll watch out for this.

Hi Rockstrong,

It's sad that it took so long to DX your problem. I feel for you. That's a long time to be miserable. I hope your condition improves with additional attention to carbs. Bread/carbs weren't on my list of things to avoid either.