Help needed for hiatus hernia heartburn

I enjoyed three wonderful heartburn free days and thought today was going to be another but halfway through the morning I got that familiar feeling in my throat that said its not! I immediately took some cider vinegar with honey but it still developed into a burn. I couldn't think of anything I'd done different at first but then I remembered I'd eaten two maltesers last night! I also ate a banana yesterday and the day before as my potassium levels are low (a blood test I had about six weeks ago showed this).

    Right no more bananas and not even one malteser will pass my lips from now on as I want my life back!

It takes a while to figure out what you can and cannot eat and then adjust your diet to those do's and dont's...no fun! Hang in there.

Thanks Susan, you're right it is no fun and very confusing as it seems so hit and miss - one day something you eat or drink causes no ill effects but then another day it can bring on the burn! I'm wondering if there is a best time to take the Omeprazole? I used to take my Lansoprazole as soon as I woke up as I had to take it between 1/2 an hour and an hour before breakfast but I've been taking the Omeprazole mid morning as it doesn't state you need to take it at a specific time. Tomorrow I'm going to try taking it first thing in the morning to see if that helps. Fingers xxed eh? 

Another miserable day of continuous heartburn! Took my Omeprazole as soon as I woke but it hasn't made any difference. I finally opened that e cigarette my Dr advised n I've been pleasantly surprised and haven't had a proper cigarette since :-). As to how much it helps the heartburn is debatable as after all it's still nicotine but I'm going to stick with it as its still better for my overall health n also cheaper than real cigarettes. Just got to get the other half onto them as his smoke doesn't help my heartburn although he has cut down from over 40 a day to 20/25 but it's not enough. My Dr said sitting in a different room is not the answer as the smoke would still affect me. 

     What I can't understand is last summer cider vinegar really helped but now it's not doing a thing!? I'd be interested to hear of others experiences with cider vinegar?

I've had a better day today, no real heartburn, just that feeling you get in your throat that tells you it's not far away. I decided to take a risk as I can't keep living on rice cakes and soup so I cooked a roast dinner of parsnips, potatoes, broccoli, asparagus, sirloin steak and corn on the cob and enjoyed every morsel. I used next to no olive oil and pressed the parsnips , potatoes and meat between kitchen roll before putting them on my plate. So far so good but tomorrow will be the test as to whether I'll suffer for it! 

     I'd had one cigarette all day and was happily puffing on my e cigarette tonight when it ran out! It just had to be Sunday tomorrow didn't it  - I bought it from Lloyds chemist but they're closed on Sunday!  We don't have transport so I'll just have to get a different sort from one of the few shops where I live, probably Wilkinsons or Martins. Annoying as I've already ordered a starter kit online. I am very impressed with the e cigarette, I'm sure had I smoked normal ones today that threat in my throat would have developed into full blown heartburn. 

    So if there's anyone out there needing help to quit I highly recommend the e cigarette (mine was called Nicolite). Don't do as I did and look at it for a week sitting in the packet, try it! 

This is totally unbelievable - despite eating that roast dinner (the biggest meal I've eaten in weeks) I was unable to sleep last night as I felt so hungry! Normally I can ignore hunger at night (I'm used to having nothing more than a bowl of soup for dinner) and eventually fall asleep but not this time and by 3.30am I told myself that I may as well give in to the call of hot buttered toast as I was more than likely going to have the heartburn the following day anyway because of the roast dinner I'd eaten! So I gave in and had one slice of buttered toast (even though I could easily have eaten 3 or 4!) and three rice cakes, two with flora and marmite and one with organic honey.    Then I took a cup of tea back to bed (my Dr told me no hot drink!) and smoked a real cigarette as my e cigarette was dead. Did I wake up with bad heartburn? NO!!! Have I suffered any heartburn at all today? NO!!!  

    How am I supposed to make sense of this?

NO!! Lol...

That big dinner just opened your stomach enough that it wanted more! I would've thought a (bland) piece of toast would be okay. I haven't heard anything about hot drinks being a problem either, but who am I?!  I have heard that to keep the middle of the night/early morning heartburn away, you should stop eating four hours before bedtime---yikes! That's a hard one...

If you're not keeping a record of all this, you should. It'll come on handy when you go to the doctor.

Continued good luck!

Thanks Susan, your continued support means a lot to me :-). Like you I'd never come across hot drinks being a no-no until my Dr told me but I rarely have them anyway as I prefer cold drinks. But I do like a cup of tea (very weak with lots of skimmed milk) if I eat marmite at night otherwise I'm thirsty all night. 

    Has your heartburn ever affected you at night? Mine hasn't and that's another strange thing about mine - I can have it all day and evening but as soon as I go to bed and lay down to read it stops! Don't get me wrong I'm not complaining as I'm so grateful it doesn't stop me sleeping but I was thinking about this last night n decided next time I've got it bad I'm going to try going up to bed n reading just to see if it eases it. Worth a try eh? I'll let you know. 

    I always thought it was two hours before bed that you shouldn't eat n I even find that hard, not sure how I'd cope for 4 hours! I've always been a nibbler (is why I'm overweight!) n heartburn strengthens the need to nibble, especially on fruit as its the only way to get any relief from that horrible burn. I also find nibbling cockles in vinegar helps a lot.

    Yes I write a diary every day so I have a record of everything but it's not making a lot of sense - I force myself to go to sleep when hungry at night and suffer heartburn the following day but then eat a big roast beef dinner and have a snack in the middle of the night and have no heartburn the next day!!!!

 Last summer when it was bad I remember having a good day n checking my diary found the difference was I'd had crumpets with butter n marmite instead of toast with flora for breakfast. I've had two crumpets with butter n marmite for breakfast every day since then (although on really bad days I'll only have one or even just half of one). 

   I'm hoping I won't have to go back to my Dr with this as that would mean the Omeprazole aren't working. But I had three wonderful hb free days last week!?! Grrrrrrrrrr I'm so confused :-(

Yes, I did have a lot of trouble at night. I bought a foam wedge from Relax the Back ( US only???) that is designed for reflux sufferers. I slept on it for years. I'm thrilled that my hernia repair has worked well enough that I no longer need the wedge.

 You're doing all kinds of things right. It may take a while to figure out what works best for you. But, don't hesitate to go back to the doctor if things don't improve or get worse.

Hang in there! 

Thanks Susan and yes if things don't improve I'll definitely go back to see him - or maybe I should have another roast dinner and middle of the night snack lol 🍞☕️