Anyone suffers from GERD/Acid Reflex?

[Dillon]

Hi, so I am curious if anyone has experienced or currently has problems with GERD (Gastrointestinal reflex disease)? I’ve been having problems in keeping foods and liquids down since the beginning of October. At first I thought I was maybe dehydrated and thought maybe increasing my water intake will settle my acid reflex symptoms but apparently it has not been working out. I don’t eat a high fat diet nor any greasy foods and I also stay away from sodas the majority of the time.
I haven’t had any acid reflex problems in more than 10 years when I had my gallbladder taken out as a kid and now suddenly it’s been progressing to the fact over the past couple weeks I’ve been losing my appetite. I am also have bone pain in my legs as of the last few days that have been coinciding with my GERD symptoms which I think is just strange.
I am on zofran as of two weeks ago which that’s what my primary care doctor prescribed me but I am finding that now having very little affect in helping my GERD symptoms.
I hear that GERD is common for those on the spectrum but it’s find it werid in this instance as it is apparently coming back after all these years along with extreme fatigue for some reason.

I do see a gastroenterologist on Monday to see what the deal is and hopefully it can all get figured out.

 

[Judge]

Since 1993.

 

[Dillon]

Since 1993.

I’m sorry to hear that. What helps you if you don’t mind me asking?

 

[Judge]

I’m sorry to hear that. What helps you if you don’t mind me asking?

Most of all to remain both knowledgeable and vigilant over what I call "trigger foods".

However it doesn't always work out that way. Sometimes I just simply forget or misunderstand about something heavy in animal fats and grease, and I pay for it. And to accept how precarious it can be just to eat at a mainstream restaurant, where the odds are that fat is increased for flavoring purposes. Pleasant for most customers, but death to people you or I.

Just another reason I finally bowed out of celebrating Thanksgiving altogether. That with the average turkey dinner with all the trimmings, I'm likely to get ill eating any number of such foods.

Though if I really have a desire to set aside one day of the year and risk eating a trigger food I miss so much, I'll go on Nexium's 14-day regimen that can sometimes allow me to eat such foods in moderation without too much pain.

 

[Jumpinbare]

GERD for decades. Actually got aspiration pneumonia after waking up choking on my stomach juice. It was sort of like drowning, and my trachea was so irritated I was coughing for the next hour. When I woke in the morning, I had a high fever. Since it was still early, my doctor worked me in right away and sent me home with an antibiotic prescription with orders to to not sleep flat for a while, and to get a lot of rest. I currently take omeprazol. If I miss it more than one day, the GERD hits. Otherwise, I'm good.

Do take the GERD seriously.

 

[Outdated]

It's very rarely that I ever had any issues myself but my father had his gall bladder removed when I was a kid and ever after he couldn't eat chilli, along with a few other foods. He still liked chilli but chilli no longer liked him.

Something you've probably looked in to before, but how healthy is your gut's germ culture? That can play a role as well.

 

[Dillon]

It's very rarely that I ever had any issues myself but my father had his gall bladder removed when I was a kid and ever after he couldn't eat chilli, along with a few other foods. He still liked chilli but chilli no longer liked him.

Something you've probably looked in to before, but how healthy is your gut's germ culture? That can play a role as well.

I guess by my germ culture it’s relatively healthy for the most part. I usually eat meals that consist of cultured products such as fat free yogurt such as the okios brand of yogurt that has some good beneficial bacterial strains. Yeah stay a relative healthy weight although the past week or so my belly has been getting kind of distended and a little swollen. Not sure what that is about?

 

[Dillon]

GERD for decades. Actually got aspiration pneumonia after waking up choking on my stomach juice. It was sort of like drowning, and my trachea was so irritated I was coughing for the next hour. When I woke in the morning, I had a high fever. Since it was still early, my doctor worked me in right away and sent me home with an antibiotic prescription with orders to to not sleep flat for a while, and to get a lot of rest. I currently take omeprazol. If I miss it more than one day, the GERD hits. Otherwise, I'm good.

Do take the GERD seriously.

Most of all to remain both knowledgeable and vigilant over what I call "trigger foods".

However it doesn't always work out that way. Sometimes I just simply forget or misunderstand about something heavy in animal fats and grease, and I pay for it. And to accept how precarious it can be just to eat at a mainstream restaurant, where the odds are that fat is increased for flavoring purposes. Pleasant for most customers, but death to people you or I.

Just another reason I finally bowed out of celebrating Thanksgiving altogether. That with the average turkey dinner with all the trimmings, I'm likely to get ill eating any number of such foods.

Though if I really have a desire to set aside one day of the year and risk eating a trigger food I miss so much, I'll go on Nexium's 14-day regimen that can sometimes allow me to eat such foods in moderation without too much pain.

I had been on nexium for quite a while after my gallbladder removal but I didn’t end up on any anti acids or proton pump inhibitors for years onward as I never needed them. I had a nissen fundoplication where it made it impossible for me to vomit and even burp but for some reason I’ve been able to do that for quite a bit lately.

 

[Outdated]

I've just been reading up on GERD, or as I just found out, called GORD in Australia. (oesophageal)

A lot of the treatments sound worse than the illness when you consider all the complications possible, but there's one suggestion I thought would have been obvious and it's not in there - Milk. Drinking full cream milk increases the mucus layer on the surface of the esophagus and lungs giving them better protection against irritants.

I learnt about that when I first started printing. Back then most print shops had a small lead smelter in a corner of their floor and by law I was required to drink a pint of milk every day to protect from lead fumes. The employer had to supply the milk and the supervisor had to sign the health and safety book to say that they'd seen you drink it.

Lucky for me that I always liked milk.

 

[Roisin]

I have GERD for a few decades also, I'm on esomeprazole for it and to help heal stomach inflamation.

My diet is like above, low fat and low trigger foods, like most of the tasty stuff... garlic, onions, spice, alcohol.

My exception is coffee, I'll give everything else up except it, until I can get an ADHD diagnosis and related medication!

 

[Neonatal RRT]

Mine, I think, is more age-related. I never had an issue with it until I was in my late-40's. What I do know, at least in my experience, is:
1. No eating past 6pm
2. If I do eat past 6pm, I take an over-the-counter acid inhibitor.
3. Keep my weight in check. If I start to put on any belly fat, my reflux symptoms increase. I think it pushes upward on my stomach, especially when I am lying down in bed.
4. Excessive sweets and/or spicy foods. I love them when going down, but I hate them when they come back up. All things in moderation, and eat them early in the day.

 

[MildredHubble]

I get acid reflux too. It's pretty awful when it occurs in my sleep and I start choking. I find the antacids can help and not sleeping on my right side where gravity can cause the reflux. It can happen at any time though and it's awful.

The thing that made matters worse for me was that I didn't know what was causing it. When I informed my GP they told me I was having "panic attacks".

 

[NDR2]

It was suggested to me by my ear, nose, and throat specialist that I had acid reflux in 2020. My current gastroenterologist agrees I do. The thing is there’s no official test to prove someone has acid reflux/GERD other than putting a camera inside them (which is quite a severe procedure).

I’ve mentioned about my stomach issues numerous times in the forum, about how certain foods (even ones I’ve eaten all my life) and quantities cause me pain. My current diet is extremely limited and there are many things I have to take before and during meals. It could definitely be more than just acid reflux. But right now nobody’s been able to pinpoint exactly what’s wrong and/or there are opposing opinions about it.

The strange thing is that the weekend before I saw my ENT (I originally went because I had an ongoing sore throat), I was eating everything like I normally did before (orange juice, tomato sauce, etc.), and I didn’t notice any pain in my stomach. I started noticing it after my appointment.

 

[Jeff T]

My general practitioner suggested that I may have it, but no tests so far. About twice a year I'll have a noticeable glurp of nasty acid dissolving my throat. Usually after I have a lot of hot enchilada sauce. Other than that I haven't noticed anything, my stomach seems pretty content. What would you guys suggest- should I have more exploration done regarding it?

 

[Dillon]

It was suggested to me by my ear, nose, and throat specialist that I had acid reflux in 2020. My current gastroenterologist agrees I do. The thing is there’s no official test to prove someone has acid reflux/GERD other than putting a camera inside them (which is quite a severe procedure).

I’ve mentioned about my stomach issues numerous times in the forum, about how certain foods (even ones I’ve eaten all my life) and quantities cause me pain. My current diet is extremely limited and there are many things I have to take before and during meals. It could definitely be more than just acid reflux. But right now nobody’s been able to pinpoint exactly what’s wrong and/or there are opposing opinions about it.

The strange thing is that the weekend before I saw my ENT (I originally went because I had an ongoing sore throat), I was eating everything like I normally did before (orange juice, tomato sauce, etc.), and I didn’t notice any pain in my stomach. I started noticing it after my appointment.

There are certain foods I stay really limited on such as spicy items or chocolate (I can’t stand the texture of chocolate).Citrus in the form of juices like orange juice gives me bad indegestion. Regularly I eat a really low fat diet and high protein meals. I find kiwi fruit really helps in my acid reflux symptoms.

What’s strange is that I was diagnosed with GERD when I was in middle school and the throwing up and abdominal pain stopped when I had my gallbladder removed and now more than 10 years later I now have GERD coming back and placed on medications like Pepcid and zofran.

 

[Judge]

What I continue to find bizarre is how I am able to consume more spicier foods when they are processed as opposed to freshly cooked in a restaurant. Particularly when it comes to poultry items, served like in a can or frozen version of of Chicken A La King, or a frozen turkey dinner or pot pie. Occasionally they can give me reflux, but not often.

And this includes most fast foods as well. The only beef I consume is ground beef, preferably with no more than 15% fat content prior to cooking. But then regardless of the fat content, I militantly use paper towels to suck up as much grease as I can. A piece of rare beef dripping in its own juices may sound appetizing to most people, but for me it's the "kiss of death".

And meats like roast beef, even in a frozen dinner more often than not will be so painful to consume that I simply no longer bother to try eating them. I just limit my meat consumption exclusively to ground beef or in rare instances ground sausage.

As for greasy vegetable fats, onion rings dripping in their own grease have no effect on me at all. That my issues are confined only to animal fats and grease. Go figure. But knowing what your personal trigger foods are and having the discipline to stay away from them are the difference between a satisfying meal or snack, and total agony.

 

[NDR2]

What I continue to find bizarre is how I am able to consume more spicier foods when they are processed as opposed to freshly cooked in a restaurant. Particularly when it comes to poultry items, served like in a can or frozen version of of Chicken A La King, or a frozen turkey dinner or pot pie. Occasionally they can give me reflux, but not often.

And this includes most fast foods as well. The only beef I consume is ground beef, preferably with no more than 15% fat content prior to cooking. But then regardless of the fat content, I militantly use paper towels to suck up as much grease as I can. A piece of rare beef dripping in its own juices may sound appetizing to most people, but for me it's the "kiss of death".

And meats like roast beef, even in a frozen dinner more often than not will be so painful to consume that I simply no longer bother to try eating them. I just limit my meat consumption exclusively to ground beef or in rare instances ground sausage.

As for greasy vegetable fats, onion rings dripping in their own grease have no effect on me at all. That my issues are confined only to animal fats and grease. Go figure. But knowing what your personal trigger foods are and having the discipline to stay away from them are the difference between a satisfying meal or snack, and total agony.

There are a lot of inconsistencies about the foods I can handle these days, too. For instance, I can handle half a bagel, but not a baguette. With beans, I can handle lentils, black beans, and pinto beans, but not kidney beans.

 

[Judge]

There are a lot of inconsistencies about the foods I can handle these days, too. For instance, I can handle half a bagel, but not a baguette. With beans, I can handle lentils, black beans, and pinto beans, but not kidney beans.

Yep. Making avoidance something less than an exact science.

 

[Dillon]

Maybe an unrelated symptom but has anyone experienced weight gain with GERD? I somehow gained 5 pounds between 1-2 weeks when in fact I work out daily and don’t eat much.

 

[stevens]

I had been on nexium for quite a while after my gallbladder removal but I didn’t end up on any anti acids or proton pump inhibitors for years onward as I never needed them. I had a nissen fundoplication where it made it impossible for me to vomit and even burp but for some reason I’ve been able to do that for quite a bit lately.

Besides being a treatment for hernia, in the old days before the drugs fundoplication was used quite often for reflux. Anecdotes from people I know who have had it suggest that it can work quite well. These days drugs are the usual treatment. Health insurance these days seems to like pharmacists a whole lot more than surgeons.

I wanted to answer, because for years I was on Omeprazole, which worked pretty well although some indiscretions in choosing the worst trigger foods could overcome it. I decided to give H2 blockers a try and did some experiments with (famotidine, ranitidine, and cimetidine). These are first generation drugs that have been around for 40 years.

After going off Omeprazole, I found that famotidine on an as-needed and scheduled basis worked pretty well for me. When combined with a good antacid (I use Gelusil) in the case of excess foods. "As needed" means preventive. I split a bottle of 20 mg tablets in half, and generally will take 10 mg after or during a typical meal. Before bed, I usually take a 20 mg. tablet. My usual daily intake is 25-40 mg (you could take up to 80 and be within the acceptable range). Since I started doing this, I find that it works better than Omeprazole. I haven't had one case of reflux that resulted in aspiration or waking up in the middle of the night. Unlike Omeprazole, H2 blockers work fast and can be used to anticipate acid problems. Famotidine is a safe and effective drug, and it won't raise your potassium levels like PPI drugs do.

As others have noted, we all seem to have different triggers for this. In my case, the absolute worst is any dairy product combined with sugar, or things like pies, cakes, etc. Greasy or spicy meals don't really bother me that much. And so I add the rule--none of these triggers within six hours of bedtime. One last thing: It sure helps to elevate your head and upper body when sleeping. I use a special pillow for this.

Some of this duplicates other answers, so for that I am just adding another vote.