Tips for acid reflux?

OTC products did not work for me at all. My GP gave me a script for Protonix which really made the difference in pain relief.

I have suffered from severe acid reflux due to years of eating disorders (which tears your stomach up). For a time in my life when my ED was really bad, I could bend over and the contents of my stomach would just run right out... well, chemo brought that fun little experience back into my life... I know a little bit about heartburn! Here's a few tips that may help you - and you are about to read some weird stuff but trust me I have the worst reflux in the world so I have been there.

- Take Omeprazole as directed by your doctor, it really is the best drug. Might take some time to kick in and chemo has a way of burning through it, take it anyway because if your reflux is bad on the Omeprazole it'll be worse without it.

- Drink water like crazy. Seriously.

- Stop eating a few hours before bed.

- NO coffee, NO chocolate, NO tea, NO ginger ale, EVER... not even in the mornings... actually chemo has made me hate chocolate, it hits my taste buds wrong, tea also tastes horrible now, so giving these up was easy for me. i ate a piece of chocolate last night and couldn't finish the bite, it was sooo gross, chocolate may be ruined for me now. Boo! I used to like chocolate.

- No tomato based foods... no tomato soup, no chili, no spaghetti sauce, no tomato base curry... yeah, boring I know! I made pizza a few nights ago but instead of tomato-pepperoni type pizza I did a pesto chicken thing instead. It was ok.

- Limit citrus type foods... this may or may not help... depends on the person... some people can drink orange juice and some can't. But it bothers me so I'm not doing citrus right now, boo.

- Some people say do not eat spicy foods but for me this makes NO difference... hot sauce doesn't give me reflux, spaghetti sauce does... go figure huh!

- I found that white flour exacerbates reflux... Switch to whole grain flours only... the label must read 100% Whole Wheat and do NOT buy any product with the word "enriched" in the ingredients label. I also switched my cereal to plain Cheerios only.

- Eat small servings, chew thoroughly, do not eat until "full". Only eat until "not hungry".

- Ok, here comes the really weird tip... go get you some Marshmallow Root pills in the herbal supplements aisle. No, do not buy a bag of marshmallows, haha, that is just candy and won't help! There is an herbal supplement called Marshmallow Root that comes in a bottle and it stimulates your body to coat your stomach and intestines with mucus, which may relieve reflux. It's a miracle for me. Marshmallow Root saved me from The World's Most Evil Case Of Reflux Ever. I recommend 2 pills 15 minutes before bedtime preferably on an empty stomach but do NOT take with other medication because it will inhibit absorption (so take any other meds like 20 minutes before, or whatever). In fact, my new plan for chemo is to eat a couple of marshmallow root pills right before my infusion to see if it helps relieve my GI symptoms because chemo gives me wicked stomach cramps in addition to the reflux. Only time will tell, it might not make a difference! But if you are suffereing from reflux I recommend giving the marshmallow root a try.

Other things I'm doing... I take liquid Gaviscon, and I also sleep sitting up if it gets bad, I have this weird way of propping myself up on pillows so I don't end up inhaling stomach acid (which is extra special stupid gross). I've done it for years so I'm used to sleeping in my "reflux position" some nights.

Hi CrawfordsMommy,

I read your post on acid reflux. Thank you for sharing your experience. My wife was prescribed Omeprazole to help the stomach defend from a steady daily intake of 3x Aleve twice a day. Recently she was started on oxycodone and morphine for her pain. I have read that omeprazole is an agonist for an enzyme that is necessary to metabolize oxycodone, so I suggested to stop omeprazole and Aleve; the latter she was taking for pain anyway, and morphine is much more potent so I figured that Aleve was not necessary.

Unfortunately she started developing a lot of reflux, nausea and throwing up especially if eating anything more elaborate than simple food. I was wondering if you have any further suggestion for rebalancing the diet.

I am an 8 year survivor of breast cancer and last year my husband was diagnosed with esophageal cancer. What we have found that works for him after his cancer surgery (an extreme example, I know) is 1. elevate the head of your bed. They sell these stands at Walmart which prop up your bed about 6 inches or so. (by the way I sleep in the same bed and don't even notice the incline. You get used to it quickly) 2. Pepcid is better than omeprazole. He couldn't have the omeprazole when he was on a feeding tube, and it turned out that the Pepcid was better anyway. He also swears by mixing some baking soda with water and drinking it. Says it neutralizes the acid. 3. Wait at least a half hour before lying down after you have eaten.

Good luck to you!

Huh. So interesting. I also had an "unintended consequence" of treatment. Due to a post op infection I was placed on very strong IV antibiotics for weeks. Sucked, but in the year following, I found that my rosacea seemed to stop flaring. I had been getting annual laser treatments to control mild facial and ocular rosacea for several years, plus using a topical antibiotic. It worked, but if I skipped more than a few days of antibiotic it would flare; red face, itchy, gritty eyes. In the year and a half since the antibiotics, I have not treated the rosacea at all and so far, no flares. I had read years ago when researching rosacea that it was thought that there may be a bacterial cause, and that oral antibiotics could help, but they never worked for me. My best guess now is that it is bacterial in nature, but that it requires a super duper dose of antibiotics to affect it, something docs won't normally risk unless you are very ill. So at least I got a little rosacea relief from cancer treatment.