Acid reflux seems to be extremely commom. Does anyone have this problem? What do you take, if anything? What seems to trigger it for you?

Louisa

My whole family has problems with acid reflux. I had severe problems many years ago, had to raise the head of my bed up on bricks, and still have to use several pillows sometimes at night.

Mine was/is stress-related, and once I learned how to manage my stress, not to eat heavy meals too soon before going to bed, and to avoid the biggest triggers, it eventually subsided into a minor nuisance.

I still have to watch those things - stress, no heavy foods before lying down, and avoiding my triggers (like caffeine and heavily acidic foods) - or it comes back.

All three of my brothers have it, one takes prescription medication for it and the other relies on Gaviscon. The third was recently diagnosed with diabetes and Hodgkin's disease and had to alter his diet and that seems to have alleviated his acid reflux symptoms.

I think the two key culprits are stress and lying down too soon after eating.

Acid reflux is something that can cause other problems, much more serious. My unlce had cancer of the esophogus (sp) and his doctor told him all he had to do was take meds for his acid reflux and it would have never developed into cancer. Serious stuff there.

I have it, along with GERD. Certain foods such as Mexican foods, salsa's (which I love) and caffeine, especially chocolates, trigger a bout with AR...and GERD.

Oreo's don't help, either.

I use to take Nexium when I had insurance. Now I take Prilosec. Over the counter stuff. Maalox, Pepto...etc.

Mostly it's triggere by stress and I don't have it as much since I work from home. Go figure!

JJ

When I first had it I took something that I can't remember the name of. It didn't help much. Then the doctor gave me some samples of Nexium which I was afraid to take because I was on digoxin. The cardiologist said it was ok when I asked him and he took me off the digoxin anyway so I took the Nexium. That one helped it. I took it for about a month. Then my doctor got sick and stopped working. I asked the one I switched too if he would prescribe Nexium if I needed it again. He told me the co-pay was very expensive. He said to get Zantac over the counter. That seems to help but I only take it when I need it. Like today! I thought I'd post about it and see what others do.

I think you're right about the stress, JJ. When I go to Disney, I don't have it the whole week. When I get back to work, wham. The worse part is this horrible taste I get. It seems like I can taste anything I've eaten for days. If I burn a piece of toast a little bit, it kills me.

Louisa

This may sound odd but I just read one of my Grandmothers very old (100 years) medical journals, she was a midwife and kind of the village doctor in the small town in Italy she migrated to America from....It said, start your day with a glass of cold water, it gets the metabolism working and always drink a glass of just plain water 'after' each meal. NO liquid with the meal and never eat after 5:00 P.M. but drink a glass of water an hour before retiring....Hey what can it hurt to try? Its free too!!This is suppose to keep heartburn, gerd, bile backup whatever we call it, away...

Hi Ladies,
It all started having food getting caught in my throat.I was not choking. Food like chicken would ball up in my esophagus and it was hard to get it to go down. I told my DR. and she sent me for a test where they put a tube down my throat to see whats going on ( I was asleep). They found because of acid reflux I had a hernia which had narrowed my
esophagus.They duilated my esophagus twice and I am on Prolosec (sp) for the rest of my life and now the food is not getting caught in my throat

I can't believe how many people suffer from this to some degree. Chatty, I can't not eat after 5. I wouldn't get any supper since I work until 4:30 and don't get home until 5. If I don't eat the reflux gets worse. Your grandmother's journal must be very interesting.

I took a Zantac at work about 9:45 this morning before my snack. I took another one before I ate supper tonight. It has helped. Maybe if I take the med twice a day like he told me, it will help more. It's just that I get worry about taking too many meds. I'm on a thyroid med and two heart ones.

Louisa

GERD is really awful. I have been on protonix for over a year. Works like a charm. Also....yoga helps alot. Its great for digestion. If I miss the protonix here and there, I have not had any problems. Protonix is prescription only. The over the counter stuff never did the trick for me...

I just remembered the first med I took for it, Aciphex. It was a prescription one, but it did not help me much at all. The Nexium did and the Zantac (ranitidine) seems to work if I take it like I'm supposed to.

Louisa