Acid Reflux

Yeah I've had acid and heartburn for 6 years and I get a sore throat and chest had scope down three times had barium four times been told it's stress making me have this so now I'm taking meds for this have you had any tests done

Hi Sharon,do you know what your blood type is?

I have noticed in the last couple of weeks I get a lot of acid reflux, especially in the evenings and at night lying down. I have a hiatus hernia, but don't feel it is that this time around. Thinking it is either stress related or hormone related... Its horrible. I already get too many other symptoms

If you have acid reflux in your throat (LPR), these are the things that will help, many of which they never tell you about (I have been dealing with this for over a year):

1. Take Gaviscon Advance from the UK (they sell it on Amazon). This is a totally different formulation from US or Canadian Gaviscon. I recommend the aniseed liquid. The other liquid available is peppermint which can aggravate reflux. The aniseed tasted horrendous to me the first time I tried it, but from the second time forward was fine and now I don't mind it at all, so give it a chance. It is thick and somtimes arrives in the mail congealed (you have to then put the bottle in hot water, as with congealed honey). It forms a physical barrier, rather than affecting the acid content of your stomach as antacids do. You take 2 teaspoons, then don't have anything to eat or drink, including water, because this will break the barrier, so very last thing before bed is best.
2. Do not drink cold water ever. It really aggravates LPR. I drink only warm or room temperature water. After meals, drink some, but not too much, warm (not hot) water, then wait awhile before drinking more. Don't drink too much water with meals either.
3. After meals, do not bend over at the waist (like to load the dishwasher-- get down on your knees or squat to do it, or wait till later).
4. After meals, and possibly in general, don't sit on soft squishy furniture like a couch. I now drag my dining room chair over to watch TV. It really makes a big difference.
5. If you feel your throat is burned, try to avoid acid in your diet for awhile. For me this means I make salads with just olive oil, no vinegar or citrus. I find fresh tomatoes are OK, but I avoid citrus fruits. You have to see what works for you.
6. Eat smaller meals and eat SLOWLY. When I am going through a bad patch, I find a point comes in every decent sized meal when I burp. For me that is the signal I have to stop eating, or I will get reflux. When my reflux was really bad, because of this, I lost weight. I thought, oh, this must be how skinny people eat--they just stop earlier! You get used to it. I eat two breakfasts: oatmeal first and then some yogurt later. Or a light lunch and then a mid-afternoon snack.
7. Sleep on a wedge. It's important to get your entire upper body, starting at your waist, on an incline.
8. Don't exercise on a totally full OR EMPTY stomach. I used to walk briskly for 15 min. first thing in the morning before eating. It turned out this triggered my reflux.
9. I'm off caffeine and for awhile was off alcohol. Now I can have a little wine and it's OK. Hope to get back to tea again one of these days, but I'm here to tell you life w/o caffeine IS possible! Taking a very short nap after lunch helps a lot (like 15 min.).

   Please try these tips. I dealt with this for so long, and my experience is they really do work.