[HN Gopher] Simple exercise to eliminate gastroesophageal reflux...
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Simple exercise to eliminate gastroesophageal reflux (2022)
Author : drones
Score : 428 points
Date : 2023-05-24 15:12 UTC (7 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
| notjonheyman wrote:
| Luckily mine just goes away with some milk. I also seem to get it
| a lot less now since I cut back on sodium and generally eating
| healthier overall. I shall add this GERD yoga gymnastics to my
| regimen.
| BaculumMeumEst wrote:
| Is it normal to publish a personal anecdote in this manner? I've
| never seen something like this on pubmed.
| amelius wrote:
| Yes. It is normal and they're called medical case reports.
|
| See:
|
| https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5686928/
|
| > A case report is a detailed report of the symptoms, signs,
| diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up of an individual patient.
| Case reports usually describe an unusual or novel occurrence
| and as such, remain one of the cornerstones of medical progress
| and provide many new ideas in medicine.
| chrischen wrote:
| I cured my acid reflux by taking antibiotics to kill off an H.
| Pylori bacterial infection, which apparently affects 30%-40% of
| the US population.
| MattSayar wrote:
| Do you remember what the antibiotic was called?
| jb1991 wrote:
| It is a widespread infection across the world, but for most
| people there are no symptoms. It is not usually the cause for
| reflux symptoms.
| seabrookmx wrote:
| When I started having these symptoms it was the first thing
| my doctor tested for though, since it's such an easy fix.
| Unfortunately for me that wasn't the issue.
| groos wrote:
| I suspect the anti-acids they gave you along with the
| antibiotics helped heal the esophagus.
| GoodOldNe wrote:
| Yes but it is the cause of many gastric ulcers and is
| undertested for at least in my community. Where I can easily
| do the test in the ER, I diagnose and treat many people with
| previously-unexplained epigastric abdominal pain syndromes.
| yamtaddle wrote:
| > Gastroesophageal reflux results from weakness or relaxation of
| the lower esophageal sphincter (LES) [1]. Personal experience
| with this problem lead me to think about it, repeatedly.
|
| LOL.
|
| More seriously: Is there something about a modern diet or
| lifestyle that tends to cause this weakening? Or have
| anatomically-modern humans just always had a similar rate of
| reflux, for this reason?
| letsdothisagain wrote:
| It turns out drinking 4 cups of coffee a day for a few decades
| isn't great for your esophagus.
| ProfessorLayton wrote:
| coffee doesn't have to be scalding hot, or even hot at all to
| be enjoyed.
| dangwhy wrote:
| even cold decaf coffee causes reflux.
| yjftsjthsd-h wrote:
| I thought it was a reference to PH, not temperature?
| TheFreim wrote:
| > LOL
|
| What's funny...?
| recursive wrote:
| Presumably the understatement of it.
| yamtaddle wrote:
| > Personal experience with this problem lead me to think
| about it, repeatedly.
|
| It's a comically-understated way to say "I kept having acid
| reflux, just, _so very many_ times, and it hurt like a
| motherfucker so I became preoccupied with fixing it ".
| antisthenes wrote:
| Some of the most significant progress we made as a species
| was because some relatively smart and lazy person got
| _really annoyed_ with some kind of problem.
| marstall wrote:
| OP deploying a bit of wit with the comma and the word
| "repeatedly" at the end. I don't what you'd call it exactly -
| gallows humor?
| dolni wrote:
| I have recently had a significant improvement in acid reflux
| symptoms. The key for me was to just eat less.
|
| I am not morbidly obese. I have a pretty small frame and am
| about 5 ft 6 in tall. My BMI before cutting my portion sizes
| down was on the upper end of the normal weight range (24.9).
|
| I tend to be a fast eater, and I think that did me no favors.
|
| It makes a lot of sense in retrospect. But when you're not
| obese, cutting your portion sizes is not the first thing that
| comes to mind as a method for improving health.
| tacheiordache wrote:
| > I tend to be a fast eater, and I think that did me no
| favors.
|
| Chewing thoroughly until the food almost liquefies helps the
| stomach digest faster and empty its contents into the
| intestines.
| atentaten wrote:
| So you weigh about 154.32 pounds?
| dolni wrote:
| You got it.
| rybosworld wrote:
| Anecdote: I used to suffer from very bad reflux in my early
| 20's. I tried all sorts of things. Today I no longer suffer
| from reflux at all.
|
| The following either didn't work, or only reduced the severity
| of my reflux:
|
| - Medicines were helpful but not an outright fix.
|
| - Dietary changes did not help at all.
|
| - Sleeping upright helped but only so much. And my sleep
| quality was terrible.
|
| - A medical device that applies light pressure to your Adam's
| apple. This actually helped a lot, but was not fun to sleep
| with.
|
| The two things that I think actually got rid of my reflux for
| good are:
|
| - Intermittent fasting
|
| - Vomitting cat exercise
| tantalor wrote:
| Say more about "Vomitting cat exercise"
| rustyminnow wrote:
| Web search says it's an abdominal breathing exercise where
| you are positioned on the ground on your hands and knees
| (similar to "cats and camels" for those familiar with that
| one).
| rybosworld wrote:
| Step 1: Sit on all fours like a cat/dog.
|
| Step 2: Suck in your gut and arch your back like a cat does
| when they are startled.
|
| Step 3: Exhale
|
| There is also a variation where you don't arch your back:
| https://hiitacademy.com/hiit-exercise-how-to-do-cat-vomits/
|
| I basically found myself running out of things to try. My
| poor sleep quality was especially affecting me and I was
| desperate to get the reflux under control. And so I spent a
| _lot_ of time thinking deeply about what could be causing
| my reflux.
|
| It's difficult to explain why I thought to try this
| combination (fasting + cat vomitting exercise). It was sort
| of like I suddenly understood where the weakness was in my
| esophagus, and that this specific motion/exercise, in
| combination with giving my esophagus a break for 10
| hours/day would relieve the reflux. I fully committed, and
| in not very long (3-4 weeks if I remember right), my reflux
| was mostly gone. Only had a few memorable reflux instances
| in the months that followed and now its been years since
| I've had any issues at all.
|
| I still practice intermittent fasting 5 days a week but I
| don't do the cat vomit exercise. Part of me feels strongly
| that if I hadn't done both those things at the same time, I
| wouldn't have fixed my reflux, but obviously I have no
| evidence to prove that.
|
| I also feel its important to mention that reflux has
| different causes. I felt like what I was experiencing,
| combined with all the reading I did about reflux, allowed
| me to settle on this particular regimen.
|
| I am definitely not trying to suggest that this is some
| secret magical cure that big pharma doesn't want you to
| know about.
| langfan wrote:
| Sounds partly like marjari asana of hatha yoga.
|
| Cat pose or cat cow pose.
|
| Google it.
| nradov wrote:
| Obesity and a sedentary lifestyle will cause mitochondrial
| dysfunction throughout the body and prevent muscles from
| working effectively, including the esophageal sphincter. I
| don't know that causality has ever been directly proven there
| but it seems likely.
| candiddevmike wrote:
| I think sitting all day causes it
| samtho wrote:
| Sitting all day is just one of many things that likely cause
| it. Sitting pushed organs around in a different way from
| standing or laying down.
| the_only_law wrote:
| This explains a lot. I've done nothing but sit for months and
| I can't eat anything even remotely acidic anymore.
| subsubzero wrote:
| I have had GERD since 2012 after a surgery and it has been
| extremely unpleasant to say the least. The author mentions
| Rantadine which I also took but the problem with that drug was
| it was found to contain carcinogens and I promptly stopped
| taking it. I now take pepcid AC 20MG daily and would love to
| find a way to stop taking it altogether.
|
| In case you are wondering(and I have been to the Dr many, many
| times about this), triggers for GERD are stress(for me it is
| the strongest trigger) caffeine, heavy fried foods, spicy
| foods, cabbage and soy. Methods to avoid acid reflux flare ups
| are eat slowly(I eat really fast!) eat at least 2-3 hours
| before bed, and also avoid huge meals. I am truly thankful to
| OP for this article and will apply its techniques right away,
| hope the stuff I mentioned helps others as well.
| sirwally wrote:
| I suffered from this in my teens and early 20s. It was pretty
| terrible, and I'd often vomit. Turns out not eating like shit
| fixed it.
| drones wrote:
| Yep, I had a terrible diet a few years ago which flared up
| some moderate acid reflux whenever I had certain sugary
| drinks. Fanta and Coke were the worst for me. I think the
| likely culprit was the aspartame. I very rarely drink those
| types of beverages now and I don't have acid reflux anymore.
| tsunamifury wrote:
| Oily greasy food, not exercising, extra weight on the chest,
| and alcohol that further relaxes the muscle all contribute in
| my experience.
| vidarh wrote:
| Among many others, obesity is a big risk factor.
|
| It's not just weakening that's the problem, but also more
| pressure from below, and obesity can cause the stomach to be
| pushed up.
|
| I have a hiatal hernia, where there's a too large opening
| allowing part of the stomach to slipe through the diaphragm,
| and that massively increases my acid reflux if I don't take
| medication.
|
| Weight changes dramatically affects the strength of my
| symptoms. As I've lost weight the symptoms have largely
| disappeared again.
| programmarchy wrote:
| We eat a lot of processed foods which are softer compared to
| chewing tough meat for example. This is known to affect jaw and
| palate development (which in turn affects teeth alignment,
| tongue position, and even breathing). [1] Seems like it could
| also affect the esophagus.
|
| [1] https://news.stanford.edu/2020/07/21/toll-shrinking-jaws-
| hum...
| mschild wrote:
| Fascinating link thanks.
|
| I had a small hunch that it could also be related to how
| thoroughly we chew. I've noticed over the years that I chewed
| less and less while eating and started swallowing most pieces
| whole. Since a few months ago I started to make an effort to
| really chew on my food until it's properly minced.
|
| According to the link that seems to be part of the problem.
| dangwhy wrote:
| Insulin Resistence. Almost half the people with diabetes also
| have GERD.
| kevinmchugh wrote:
| GERD is multicausal, which is why there's so many responses
| already. Personally I went from occasional heartburn to GERD
| during a period where I was eating spicier food more often,
| eating more overall, and consuming more alcohol. The latter two
| are modern problems, spiciness might be as well.
| atentaten wrote:
| I think tons of anxiety and stress can also weaken the muscle,
| which can make it more susceptible to been weakened by an
| external physical trauma.
| anonuser123456 wrote:
| I would posit that chronic inflammation of the stomach mucosa
| due to the SAD diet could cause neuromuscular problems in the
| regions that control the LES.
| zzzeek wrote:
| hiatal hernia runs in my family, so it's genetic for me
|
| not sure where you're coming from but LOL for a disease that
| definitely leads people to die of esophageal cancer on a
| regular basis not to mention makes living and exercising
| difficult seems....inappropriate ?
| mackieem wrote:
| Their "LOL" was in reference to the author's statement of
| "...personal experience led me to think about this,
| repeatedly" (which is the author presumably making a joke)
| codegladiator wrote:
| There is an episode in Andrew Hubermans' podcast which goes
| into the details of this. Overall if you are keeping your
| digestive track in "digestion mode" frequently thus not letting
| it rest will eventually building up constant acid (to digest
| the food) resulting in reflux. The digestive track goes into
| "rest mode" about 3-4 hours after your most recent food intake.
| throwuwu wrote:
| We don't drink directly from streams or pools of water. Pre-
| technology humans would have had to use their hands to scoop
| water to their mouths and it's more efficient when your mouth
| is closer to the water source since you don't lose as much on
| the way up. We also just don't spend much time bending over
| anymore which is probably another source of resistance that is
| missing.
| meekstro wrote:
| [dead]
| ac2u wrote:
| I've read a theory for acid reflux in older people that it's
| caused by _not enough_ stomach acid.
|
| One research I was listening to said that it doesn't make
| intuitive sense that we make less acid in our stomachs as we age
| and yet the occurrence of reflux increases in older populations,
| and yet we prescribe proton pump inhibitors to reduce acid
| production.
|
| Therefore the suggestion was that the lack of acid caused food to
| digest slower and for fermentation to occur and aggravate
| whatever acid that is there, upwards.
| abecedarius wrote:
| The lower acidity also favors any H. pylori infection you might
| have (i.e. makes life easier for the pathogen). It was
| suggested to me that that's the main problem with antiacids and
| PPIs.
|
| (IANAD. I had GERD for weeks after a surgery but avoided PPIs
| for this reason.)
| spondylosaurus wrote:
| PPIs suck big time (going off omeprazole was hell), but I've
| had good experiences with famotidine, which is actually an
| antihistamine! So if the GERD menace ever comes back I
| recommend picking up some Pepcid.
| abecedarius wrote:
| Thanks -- that's good to know.
| tambourine_man wrote:
| I need images to understand how this person was eating.
| adventured wrote:
| It should look a lot like the Muslim prayer position (sujud):
|
| https://i.imgur.com/Ih1Nfzh.png
|
| Food goes on a slightly elevated tray off the floor for hygene
| purposes. Put your face relatively close to the food as you
| consume, to maintain the premise. Prop your body weight up with
| hands and elbows (in a way that makes sense for your
| body/strength). Some things would be fairly easy to eat this
| way, others would be quite difficult.
|
| You could increase the angle by adding a platform or step to
| it, where your knees/body area is elevated and there is a drop-
| off where the face/food area is located (in this case you'd
| want to have enhanced traction I imagine, grippy shoes and or
| rubber mats).
| e40 wrote:
| No need to put the food near the floor. Take a bite, assume
| the position (while chewing) and then swallow.
| [deleted]
| adamgordonbell wrote:
| Jumping off this topic.
|
| I have GERD. It sucks. Reducing alcohol seemed to help a bit. A
| daily pantoprazole pill for it really seems to work, but has side
| effects.
|
| What should I try? What has worked for you?
| 762236 wrote:
| How did you jump off the topic? You asked a question that the
| exercise described above is designed to solve. There is no
| other known solution if you have a failing LES.
| vidarh wrote:
| Losing weight has significantly reduced my symptoms (my
| symptoms are pretty unambiguously down to a hiatal hernia). If
| you haven't, you may also want to get tested for H. Pylori.
|
| Depending on what kind of pill you take you might want to try
| an alternative. E.g. ranitidine vs omeprazole or other proton-
| pump inhibitor.
|
| But I presume you've seen a doctor? Because there are some
| really serious issues that can also trigger it and suppressing
| the symptoms can mask issues like stomach cancers so you don't
| want to self-medicate without at least checking with a doctor
| first.
| adamgordonbell wrote:
| Yep, like someone else mentioned, mine wasn't classic
| symptoms but throat and sinus issues. He prescribed
| pantoprazole but said I could stop taking it after a while.
| I've found that not to be the case.
|
| He also said it was odd to have it at my age and weight but
| I've since found others in my family have it as well, so
| maybe genetic?
| diehunde wrote:
| I did a month's course of Omeprazole in the morning and Pepcid
| before going to bed. It got much better, and now I rarely have
| to take something. Before that, I was taking sodium bicarbonate
| every day, which is apparently bad for you and can worsen the
| symptoms over time.
| BaculumMeumEst wrote:
| I had unbearably bad heartburn for years, especially at night,
| which made it difficult to sleep.
|
| I started avoiding trigger foods like dark chocolate and
| started front-loading my meals earlier in the day. Still drink
| lots of coffee.
|
| I now have my final meal about 4.5+ hours before bed, and it's
| usually small.
|
| My new routine became habit and all symptoms and suffering
| completely disappeared. And it's not like my body changed,
| because if I do eat too late, I get bad heartburn like I always
| have.
|
| Also worth mentioning that I have a very slim build and have a
| diet high in fiber with minimal processed foods which probably
| helps too.
| tomtheelder wrote:
| Do you drink coffee or some other caffeinated beverage? For me,
| caffeine is THE trigger for reflux. Secondary trigger is
| portion size. If I don't drink caffeine and I keep my meals
| relatively small I'm generally fine.
| adamgordonbell wrote:
| That could be it. My mom had reflux and had to stop coffee.
| I'm pretty hooked though. I guess I should try stopping.
| dolni wrote:
| I shared my experience above
| (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36060204).
|
| This improvement for me has been really recent. Maybe it helps
| you too. Good luck!
| abecedarius wrote:
| My experience fwiw:
|
| A wedge pillow helped a little. Keeping some alkaline water at
| my bedside to sip helped more. These were to ameliorate the
| symptoms to give my body a chance to heal on its own (over a
| few weeks). I didn't want to take omeprazole, and without these
| ameliorations I might've been driven to that. I followed a
| carnivore diet.
| rngname22 wrote:
| If you experience dramatically worse symptoms at night when
| attempting to sleep and therefore laying down flat, first:
| sleep on your left side. Due to the physics/geometry of the
| esophagus, sleeping with your left side facing down is the most
| helpful in terms of preventing acid from being able to work its
| way up the esophagus. Don't quite get why, but it just works.
|
| Second, investing in a full length bed wedge that goes either
| under your mattress (and extends the entire length of the
| mattress from head to foot) or the same but as a memory foam
| topper, it really does alleviate the night time unable to sleep
| problem. I used one made by Avana comfort with a ton of
| success. The partial bed wedges or pillow bed wedges are too
| uncomfortable for me personally but the ones that go from head
| to foot at a gradual gentle incline are fine.
|
| Figuring out dietary triggers is also a huge factor for many.
|
| For me, I discovered if I eat any tomato at all, even tiny
| pieces - I will have acid reflux symptoms for like at least 12
| hours. So I just don't it anymore except at a rate 11am lunch
| and even then I still often suffer.
|
| For me, cutting out coffee is the other biggest solution, but
| I'm an addict and can't stop permanently, but I've found that
| cold brew (NOT hot brew over ice - aka many 'iced coffee'
| methods) - with specifically those labeled Dark Roast - to be
| the least aggravating (because both the cold brew extraction
| method and the darker roasts have a lower amount of acidity)
| and adding milk to make it less harsh as well, for me I do a
| 1:1 ratio between cold brew and almond milk, and finally only
| drinking it first thing in the morning as soon as possible
| after a breakfast, is fine.
|
| I don't need the bed elevator/wedge if I follow my proper
| dietary alterations (barring certain late night alcohol
| situations).
| ompogUe wrote:
| Sleeping on my left side is what really helped me.
|
| The esophagus approaches the stomach from the right side,
| then hooks in to meet it. When you sleep on your right side,
| and the sphincter muscle is weak, the fluid just goes down
| like a drain. When you sleep on your left side, even if the
| muscle is weak, the fluid would need to go up, or the stomach
| be entirely full, to get into the esophagus.
|
| Pictures to aid understanding:
| https://www.google.com/search?q=esophagus+stomach&tbm=isch
| catboybotnet wrote:
| Exercise/weight loss or a diet change seem to be common fixes.
|
| Laying off of greasy foods has helped immensely for me.
| Reducing alcohol (as you mentioned) has also been a minor
| improvement, though definitely not as much as what I mentioned
| prior.
| acallaha wrote:
| I've been on and off Omeprazole, which helps immensely but
| makes me paranoid about long term effects (like a decade+ - I'm
| in my 30's).
|
| One thing that has helped a ton is Gaviscon Advance imported
| from the EU, which contains Sodium Alginate. This was
| recommended to me by a GI specialist at MGH; the sodium
| alginate floats to the top of the stomach and forms a sort of
| physical barrier for a few hours to prevent acid from coming up
| (alongside other antacids like you'd find in tums). For reasons
| I don't understand almost nothing is marketed in the US
| containing it.
|
| The tablets like these
| (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08GCN88WX/) are honestly
| pretty palatable - I chew them a couple times and then wash
| down with water, and it avoids some of the gumminess reviewers
| describe.
|
| There's also a liquid that I think might find a bit more
| effective, but less palatable and convenient on-the-go
| (https://www.amazon.com/Gaviscon-Advance-
| Aniseed-500/dp/B01N4...).
| dasil003 wrote:
| In the US I was recommended this: https://refluxgourmet.com/
| and have to say it worked reasonably well for me.
| tomfanning wrote:
| Speak to a specialist about the Stretta procedure. Application
| of RF energy to the lower esophageal sphincter in a short
| outpatient procedure. More effective than PPIs, but less so
| than fundoplication, which is much more invasive and permanent.
| amelius wrote:
| Would eating during bungee jumps also help?
| seattle_spring wrote:
| EXTREME eating!
| realjohng wrote:
| Need more ppl to try it out (safely) and report back here
| guybedo wrote:
| a few routines to help w/ barret's esopahgus and gerd:
|
| https://routineshub.com/public/popular/tags/Barrett's%20Esop...
|
| https://routineshub.com/public/popular/tags/Gastroesophageal...
| yeureka wrote:
| I had severe GERD for years. On an off PPI's for almost 5 years,
| several endoscopies, pain 24h per day. It was so the bad I almost
| went for surgery. Then I tried the low fodmap diet and it went
| away. Now I only have to avoid alcohol, onions, garlic and sweet
| fruits to keep it at bay.
| mickelsen wrote:
| A few friends who started reporting GERD all the time at the
| start of the pandemic, didn't make the connection between
| working and eating in bed or the sofa at times, and the gradual
| worsening, compounded with the usual inflammatory foods and
| sleeping on the wrong side or without any inclination, the
| body's buffer depletes so to speak and those issues appear more
| frequently.
| abotsis wrote:
| As someone who has gerd it's worth a shot. Little bummed to see
| there was nothing about controlling for at least diet.
| mrcode007 wrote:
| In case this helps someone, GERD can be caused by a bacterial
| infection by H. Pylori. (According to the Wikipedia, the
| frequency of infection is at >50% but most people never
| experience any symptoms.) It was getting worse after eating a
| lot, eating certain foods , just like for many other commenters
| here. After getting rid of the infection the symptoms disappeared
| and never returned.
|
| https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helicobacter_pylori
|
| The link to the diseases caused by the bacteria has a crazy
| discovery story I encourage everyone to read
|
| https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/2005/press-releas...
| pkorzeniewski wrote:
| Note that there's also a less known type of Acid Reflux called
| Laryngopharyngeal Reflux (LPR), also known as Silent Reflux,
| which doesn't manifest with "usual" symptoms like heartburn or a
| sour taste in mouth, but instead with symptoms like sore throat
| or hoarseness. For a long, long time I didn't understand why so
| often after eating my throat was full of phlegm and I had to
| constantly clear it, I thought it has something to do with
| paranasal sinuses because I rarely experienced symptoms commonly
| associated with Acid Reflux, but after some research I found out
| about the Silent Reflux so I modified my diet and the symptoms
| mostly disappeared.
| personjerry wrote:
| How did you modify your diet?
| pkorzeniewski wrote:
| Diet in GERD/LPR is a quite tricky and complex topic, when
| you start reading what types of food and drinks should you
| avoid it can easily overwhelm you, because besides obviously
| unhealthy stuff there's also a lot of healthy stuff
| (including many vegatables and fruits) that you should avoid
| and a lot of "basic" things that many people will find hard
| to eliminate like chocolate, coffeine, milk, cheese, butter,
| pepper, mint and many, many more. The thing is that there are
| certain types of food and drinks that will most definitiely
| cause acid reflux in anyone with GERD/LPR, but there's also a
| lot of stuff that possibly could cause acid reflux, but you
| must check yourself if it's good for you or not. Personally
| in my diet I have heavily reduced stuff like whole milk,
| cheese, eggs, pepper, chocolate, onions, lemons, oranges,
| tomatoes (including ketchup), anything spicy or fried, soft
| drinks - at first avoiding all that stuff is burdensome, but
| with time you get used to it.
| messutied wrote:
| How long does it take for you to realize if cutting
| something off your diet helps?
|
| Since I feel like some foods can take days to affect my
| GERD it can be difficult to tell what helps and what
| doesn't.
| pkorzeniewski wrote:
| I've started changes in my diet with an "acid reflux
| detox" for a month, which meant eating a very limited
| group of foods that most definitiely shouldn't cause acid
| reflux and drinking pretty much only water, after that
| I've started slowly introducing stuff that potentially
| could cause acid reflux and observing how I feel, in my
| case I get acid reflux almost immediately after eating
| something that I shouldn't, so it's quite easy to
| eliminate.
| amluto wrote:
| Some of the complexity (I think) is that there are at least
| two different things going on:
|
| Some foods might increase the extent to which the contents
| of one's stomach end up in their esophagus.
|
| Some foods might increase the extent to which it is
| unpleasant if or when the contents of one's stomach end up
| in their esophagus.
| e40 wrote:
| One thing people can do is to never eat chocolate or take
| ibuprofen (and many drugs like it) before laying down. These
| things relax the sphincter at the bottom of your esophagus.
| If you pay attention, you'll often notice an immediate burp
| when you eat chocolate.
|
| I restrict chocolate to nothing after 2pm (ish).
|
| My gastroenterologist told me to treat my stomach like a hot
| cup of coffee. When it is full, be very careful to tip it
| over, otherwise you will get burned.
| r0m4n0 wrote:
| I battled what I believe to be silent reflux for years. For me
| it started out as a weird persistent sore throat. Then after
| months I started getting bouts of nausea and a feeling of
| swelling in my ears and throat. After a lot of doctor visits
| (who kept repeating GERD) and various medicines, I totally gave
| up coffee. It wasn't immediate but after a few months I felt
| better and after a year I was totally back to normal.
|
| In case someone out there is searching for a success story.
|
| It was really hard because nothing worked immediately. I still
| can't be completely sure it was the coffee but I feel better
| now and will never go back to try again.
| archagon wrote:
| Ugh, I've had this for over a decade. It's a real bummer.
| Unfortunately, neither diet nor medicine seems to help mine, so
| I just constantly feel like I have a mild cold, even if I'm not
| eating anything.
| switch007 wrote:
| I'm pretty sure I'm suffering with that. Sore throats so bad I
| can't sleep. Mucus feeling at the back of my throat.
|
| It seems to goes away if I use Gaviscon, have my last meal at
| 5pm and avoid spicy/fatty foods.
| spondylosaurus wrote:
| > Mucus feeling at the back of my throat
|
| This is a textbook GERD symptom for me... took me a long time
| to recognize it as such, because I thought it was just a
| post-nasal drip, but it was so bad it would wake me up in the
| middle of the night.
|
| Drinking a couple sips of Alka-seltzer always fixes that
| choking feeling and lets me fall back asleep.
| e40 wrote:
| I had (have?) this, too. I went to my doctor because I was
| clearing my throat all the time. This was the diagnosis. This
| actually scares me, because I believe it's likely (I'm not a
| Dr, so this is a guess) that having silent reflux for a long
| period of time could cause esophageal cancer.
|
| I understand there's lots of caution in this thread about about
| this paper/post. It's definitely worth a try and it seems like
| there couldn't be much of a downside.
| tayo42 wrote:
| Ive been wondering if I had this, since i get cold symptoms and
| my gf that i live with never seems to catch them.
| apomekhanes wrote:
| Clever & sensible.
|
| One potential concern with this would be the possibility of
| 'upper airway obstruction(s)' (aka, choking). Not necessarily
| because this position is inherently problematic*, but because it
| would be a novel position to consume food** in (to presumably
| most people) and it's a position that most people are likely not
| used to in the present day, period (i.e., we usually sit up, lie
| flat, etc., we aren't typically in orientations like this for any
| real length of time, if at all).
|
| Seems like a clever way to exercise an area that is not easy to
| exercise in any typical way, but I'd strongly advise caution and
| awareness of potential aspiration / choking issues if trying it
| out, at least in initial trials.
|
| * In any anatomical way I can think of off the top of my head
|
| ** I would avoid trying to consume liquids in this position, at
| least initially - aspiration is far easier with thin liquids etc.
| The author seems to focus on food, in any case.
| ricardobeat wrote:
| Could drinking water in this position be a potentially safer
| alternative?
| fnord77 wrote:
| so basically eat upside down?
| surume wrote:
| Personally I found that the following caused reflux: fiber
| consumption, drinking tap-water that hasn't been boiled,
| consuming lentils, consuming too much red meat - e.g. 2 x large
| steaks a day. FYI.
| lacrosse_tannin wrote:
| i need something similar for my eustacian tube dysfunction.
| tacheiordache wrote:
| Try to shut your nostrils with your hand and blow your nose as
| if you want to remove mucus on a tissue. Another thing to do is
| to do tongue exercises, keep your tongue on the roof of your
| mouth and stuff like that...
| randcraw wrote:
| AKA the Valsalva maneuver:
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valsalva_maneuver
|
| I've used it to gently raise the pressure of my inner ear.
| (My eustacheans often clog up due to allergies.) But make
| sure you know what you're doing. It can drive mucus _into_
| your inner ear.
| tacheiordache wrote:
| Oh yes, I forgot to mention to clear the mucus first before
| doing that. I didn't know it was called the Valsalva
| maneuver, thanks.
| th0ma5 wrote:
| I've had a lot of luck with sodium alginate... An acquaintance
| mentioned doing diaphragm / breathing exercises helped him.
| derefr wrote:
| > sodium alginate
|
| Now you've got me wondering whether the problems of "cattle
| producing too much methane" (which sodium alginate is a
| treatment for), and "humans producing too much stomach acid"
| have some strong link. Maybe _every_ feed supplement that the
| agro industry has invented to lower methane emissions in
| cattle, is actually also a treatment for GERD?
| candiddevmike wrote:
| 1 tbsp of apple cider vinegar in a glass of water during meals
| works for me
| unsupp0rted wrote:
| Sodium alginate didn't help me at all (same as OP- weak LES
| muscles).
|
| I've been taking Nexium for 15 years and recently tried
| stopping, while replacing with sodium alginate. Sure I'd expect
| a few weeks of withdrawals, but even after over a month the
| reflux was still absurd. I was popping sodium alginate and
| calcium carbonate (TUMS) throughout the day.
|
| No, I had to go back to Nexium. All reflux symptoms stopped the
| following day.
|
| I do suspect it's long-term Nexium that's causing 5 years of
| foot whip in my gait, but I have no way to prove it (MRIs are
| normal, neurologists don't think it's Parkinsons/MS/ALS). While
| I was off Nexium that month the foot whip seemed to almost
| disappear. Now it's back full strength.
|
| Magnesium on my bloodwork seems on the low edge of normal
| range. I'm gonna redo my B-12 serum levels next week and check
| if it's low.
|
| Can long-term PPIs cause foot whip on every walk (after 1000
| steps or so)? I haven't seen any literature on this.
|
| But it's clear to me I can't easily get off long term PPIs.
| Nemi wrote:
| Rebound on PPI's is ridiculously bad. I made a video on how I
| weaned myself off of them
|
| https://youtu.be/jMUKsFgKfXg
| derefr wrote:
| > While I was off Nexium that month the foot whip seemed to
| almost disappear.
|
| Your gait problem kind of sounds like a weak form of some
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metabolic_bone_disease -- i.e.
| bone wasting due to lack of vitamin D (or its transports,
| like magnesium) -- leading to bones becoming _softer_ and
| even slightly _bendy_ [gradually, under load]. Think
| "rickets", though there are many metabolic bone diseases
| (really: bone formation _syndromes_ ) that can arise from the
| same metabolic causal factors.
|
| (Something extremely well-documented on the Internet that you
| can look at, is metabolic bone disease _in reptiles_ --
| commonly observed by pet owners due to inadequate terrarium
| setup: when these animals don 't get enough UV light to
| produce Vitamin D, their leg bones soften so much [or stay so
| soft during development] that they buckle under their weight;
| their legs can end up literally _curled_ due to this.)
|
| My speculation is that that PPIs can negatively impact bone
| formation -- possibly by suppressing vitamin D uptake into
| bone cells. (So your bloodwork wouldn't say your vitamin D
| levels are bad; in fact, your _blood_ vitD levels would be
| _high_ if anything.) The power of this effect would be
| magnified by having already-low magnesium levels.
|
| And Wikipedia says that some doctors share this speculation:
|
| > High dose or long-term use of PPIs carries an increased
| risk of bone fractures which was not found with short-term,
| low dose use; the FDA included a warning regarding this on
| PPI drug labels in 2010. [...] A study from 2019 showed that
| PPI use alone and together with histamine H2-receptor
| antagonists was associated with an increased bone fracture
| hazard, which was amplified by days of use and earlier
| initiation of therapy. The reason is not clear, increased
| bone break down by osteoclasts has been suggested.
| DonHopkins wrote:
| To extrapolate this technique to its logical extreme, does this
| mean pooping upside down strengthens your rectal sphincter?
| ravedave5 wrote:
| Well what the heck, I've been working on handstands and my GERD
| went away. I also lost weight so I attributed it to that, but
| this might be part of it. "after beginning daily LES exercises, I
| noticed that I could bend over at the hip and pull weeds in my
| garden without acid running into the back of my throat" - At the
| start of training headstands I'd have reflux so I had to do them
| at the right time of day to not make it terrible. Over time this
| went away and I'd have to eat a full meal right before to feel
| the same now. I wonder if I trained this muscle similarly.
| drones wrote:
| Clearly you need to add an "oesophagus day" to your training
| regimen.
| MengerSponge wrote:
| PHOUL?
| hinkley wrote:
| Never skip stomach day.
| m463 wrote:
| I used to get a strange reflux from sleep apnea (which can be
| mitigated by exercising and losing weight)
|
| Basically, when you are sleeping and your throat collapses, you
| breathe in, and instead of pulling air via the throat, your
| lungs pull stomach fluid up your esophagus and sometimes into
| the lungs. I would wake up sometimes with GERD feelings, and
| sometimes as I was throwing up into my mouth.
| FrustratedMonky wrote:
| [flagged]
| valianteffort wrote:
| Way to denigrate a group of 1.2 billion people based on the
| actions of a minority. Would you generalize all jews for the
| actions of israel towards muslims? All christians by the
| actions of Westboro Baptist Church? Chinese by the actions of
| the CCP?
|
| People are free to believe whatever they want and it doesn't
| need to fit your worldview. You're welcome to disagree, and try
| to change their mind if you care to but speaking that way seems
| to only perpetuate hate.
| tomr75 wrote:
| is just joke why be mad
| pmarreck wrote:
| https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/2018-05-17/ty-
| artic...
|
| > Islamic scholars overwhelmingly teach that same-gender sex
| is a sin.
|
| It is this fundamental belief that permits extremists to act.
| If you are uncomfortable with that simple fact, that's your
| problem, because the fact of the matter is that if the holy
| book taught acceptance of all consensual sexualities, anyone
| defying _that_ would be the "extremist"
|
| So who exactly is perpetuating hate, again?
|
| Incidentally this also applies to every Abrahamic faith
| except perhaps Judaism, which in practice at least is not
| homophobic. I don't mean to single out Muslims, here; this is
| a problem with many Abrahamic cults such as the hundreds of
| Christian sects, as well as Roman Catholicism, which is at
| least slightly more progressive in practice.
|
| > Would you generalize all jews for the actions of israel
| towards muslims?
|
| There are hundreds of examples online of Muslim leaders
| speaking in front of hundreds of the faithful, calling for
| the death of all Jews. I implore you to find them, and then
| to search for a number greater than zero of Israeli or Jewish
| leaders calling for the death of all Muslims.
|
| These are not remotely the same. Israelis and Jews are
| secular and in fact often atheist; Muslims, like Christians,
| largely do not encourage debate and tolerance and preach what
| their book says above all reason or enlightened ethics
| valianteffort wrote:
| > There are hundreds of examples online of Muslim leaders
| speaking in front of hundreds of the faithful, calling for
| the death of all Jews.
|
| And there are thousands of instances of israelis (jews)
| killing innocent muslims in a land they stole. When Russia
| stole land from Ukraine by claiming it always belonged to
| them, which side were you supporting?
|
| The quran says a lot, and it's unreasonable to assume every
| muslim agrees with everything it says; same goes for any
| other group.
|
| > Muslims, like Christians, largely do not encourage debate
|
| Haha! Sounds like you've never been around two muslims at
| the same time. Muslims have been debating interpretation of
| everything since inception.
|
| > I implore you to find them, and then to search for a
| number greater than zero of Israeli or Jewish leaders
| calling for the death of all Muslims.
|
| AIPAC does almost nothing but lobby the US to enter war on
| their behalf, and it's almost exclusively against muslims.
| I have certainly seen videos of jewish scholars calling all
| non-jews cattle, and saying they exist purely to serve
| jews. This stuff is in the talmud so, you're kind of
| proving that you were singling out muslims. Atrocities
| committed by jews or israel just don't get the same media
| attention as those by muslims or christian radicalist.
| FrustratedMonky wrote:
| All Abrahamic would be included, grouped. It can't be denied
| that modern US 'Christians' are pretty anti-gay, and not
| opposed to 'beating them up a bit'. It wouldn't take much of
| a shove to turn a US 'Guns and God' Christian, to be a mirror
| image of a Taliban.
| atentaten wrote:
| The poster was simply saying how old wisdom may get
| incorporated into a religious practice. The hypothesis being
| that the posture in Islamic prayer may have been part of
| something secular, yet helpful before it got incorporated
| into the religion. No one is being denigrated.
|
| Update: I missed that last sentence, so It's understandable
| why you would see denigration.
| FrustratedMonky wrote:
| Yeah, I suppose the main point, about religion
| incorporating real wisdom, like meditation, or not eating
| pork (parasites), was subtracted from by the last sentence.
| I agree.
|
| I think there is something to look at here. What if
| Muslims, through bending over for prayer, did have less
| gastric distress/acid reflux. That would be interesting to
| see with this study.
| e40 wrote:
| I wonder if drinking water in that position would work as well as
| food?
| boomskats wrote:
| I'm sorry this comment doesn't add much to the discussion, but
| all I can think of is the South Park episode where Eric eats with
| his butt.
| catboybotnet wrote:
| that was my immediate reaction, too
| aio2 wrote:
| That's pretty cool.
| tasty_freeze wrote:
| I remember being a kid and thinking that animals that bend down
| to drink from a pond must be forcing the water to travel up their
| esophagus. Hmm, I wonder if humans can do that. So I filled my
| mouth with water, did a head stand, then swallowed. Yes, no
| problem. Newfound respect for my body that day.
| litoE wrote:
| My 8th grade science teacher showed us this back in 1960: he
| had one of us do a handstand and drink water from a cup using a
| straw with no choking or gagging.
| tshaddox wrote:
| Also, astronauts can eat and drink in zero gravity.
| arghwhat wrote:
| Zero gravity is easier than opposing gravity in this case.
| hinkley wrote:
| It's literally half as hard.
| yjftsjthsd-h wrote:
| Sure, but it still means that your body has to force the
| food/drink down (er, or "in" if you're in space, I guess)
| rather than just letting gravity do the work.
| killjoywashere wrote:
| Uh, there's likely more than a few confounders here, which are,
| at a minimum, undocumented in the report. Intuitively, one would
| expect lower caloric consumption with altered eating habits,
| which would lead to decreased fat and decreased intra-abdominal
| pressure. There's also no test of LES function prior to
| initiation of the experiment, so no delta was actually measured.
|
| There's also a bit of misunderstanding, I suspect, in the
| pathology report: 0.2 x 0.5 x 0.3 cm is a perfectly reasonable
| size for an esophageal biopsy, and it was almost certainly
| measured with a ruler like (1) or (2).
|
| I've passed this to a GI friend to get their thoughts, but
| suffice to say, more study is required before making this any
| sort of recommendation.
|
| (1)
| https://www.neobits.com/thermo_fisher_scientific_nc9759439_r...
|
| (2) https://www.aaawholesalecompany.com/fis-s40641-pk.html
| conformist wrote:
| It's great that he wrote it up in such a nice format so others
| can now run more sophisticated studies.
|
| Imo journals should encourage such articles along the lines of
| "here's a neat idea that we tried and that appears somewhat
| plausible, and we're not even going to pretend to do
| statistics".
| Eisenstein wrote:
| I look forward to hearing what your colleague reports.
| killjoywashere wrote:
| I quote: "Just what everyone wants upside down LES kegels
| <laughing to tears emoji>"
| basiskarten wrote:
| Valid points but strategies with low or no risk can be
| recommended to try even with very little evidence.
| jader201 wrote:
| The important bit:
|
| > _The resistance was provided by positioning my head below my
| stomach in a kneeling posture. This required food being swallowed
| to be pushed up an incline. I began eating part of each breakfast
| (oatmeal) and sometimes lunch (a sandwich) in the exercise
| position. I would kneel on a platform (which happened to be 6
| 1/2" high), take a normal mouthful, chew it as needed, and
| prepare to swallow. I would then lay my forearms and the backs of
| my hands on the floor, rest my head on my hands, and complete the
| swallowing process. With a little practice, I was soon able to
| initiate and complete the swallowing process with my head resting
| on my hands on the floor. I did not attempt to determine what the
| optimal height of the platform might be or if, indeed, any was
| necessary._
| dorfsmay wrote:
| I'm still unsure about the position, they should have added a
| drawing.
| xsmasher wrote:
| Kneel; now put your head on the ground. (I am guessing, I
| don't have extra knowledge.)
| stavros wrote:
| The author is kneeling on a 6.5 inch platform, he says.
| ddmichael wrote:
| How on earth can you eat like that?
| beezlebroxxxxxx wrote:
| > "This required food being swallowed to be pushed up an
| incline. I began eating part of each breakfast (oatmeal)
| and sometimes lunch (a sandwich) in the exercise
| position. I would kneel on a platform (which happened to
| be 6 1/2" high), take a normal mouthful, chew it as
| needed, and prepare to swallow. I would then lay my
| forearms and the backs of my hands on the floor, rest my
| head on my hands, and complete the swallowing process.
| With a little practice, I was soon able to initiate and
| complete the swallowing process with my head resting on
| my hands on the floor. I did not attempt to determine
| what the optimal height of the platform might be or if,
| indeed, any was necessary."
|
| How it's described in the article.
| cardiffspaceman wrote:
| Take a bite and chew, but don't swallow. Then assume the
| position. Then swallow.
| [deleted]
| plutonorm wrote:
| I learned the same a few years ago. I have voluntary control of
| the lower sphincter and clamp down on it when I feel my stomach
| contents rising or am getting heart burn. Now that I use it more
| I can mostly control my heartburn.
| buggythebug wrote:
| Does anyone here get a low level nausea from their GERD but
| almost not other symptoms?
| ta123456789 wrote:
| I think it is impressive he figured this out as a layman. This
| article is from one year ago, it would be interesting to see a
| response from some researchers. For example, have there been any
| studies to see if this method is valid?
| lukko wrote:
| Hmm seems he is a retired researcher, although it doesn't
| mention his background. The problem is it's quite a step up
| from anecdotal evidence from one guy, to doing any kind of
| trial involving volunteers, and it would need momentum and
| money behind it.
|
| It does seem there is some evidence already on breath re-
| training / diaphragm strengthening:
| https://www.europeanreview.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/4547-45...
| jancsika wrote:
| > It also remains to be seen if any contraindications exist for
| the LES exercise.
|
| Exacerbating the condition one is trying to alleviate comes to
| mind.
| Wiki39366 wrote:
| I fixed it by drinking concentrated lemon juice (one lemon in one
| coup) thirty minutes before every food. There were not enough
| stomach juices for proper digestion, and stomach tries to push
| undigested food out after while. Lemon juice triggers stomache
| juice excretion and helps to start it. It has to be concerned,
| mild will just dilute juices.
| casperlk wrote:
| I am prescribed hydrochloric acid supplements for the same
| reason. They've eliminated reflux for me and have helped my
| digestion.
| ynab4 wrote:
| [dead]
| l72 wrote:
| I've had reflux for 10+ years, and noticed that in the last 2
| years, it hasn't really bothered me. I was attributing it to a
| dietary change (went from mostly vegetarian to vegan), but at the
| same time, I also started working out with a personal trainer. He
| loves to have us doing plenty of things with our feet above our
| head (push-ups with feet up on a bench, burpees, but kicking up
| on to a bench). My reflux bothered me during workouts at first,
| especially if we worked out in the afternoon instead of first
| thing in the morning. But, now I never have reflux issues working
| out, and rarely have them when sleeping...
| medler wrote:
| There are several studies showing that "inspiratory muscle
| training" can be effective for GERD. Basically you train by
| breathing in through small device that makes it harder to inhale,
| and that strengthens your esophageal sphincter.
|
| I did this for some time and anecdotally I do believe it helped
| me. There are several studies showing it to be effective, but the
| big caveat is most if not all of these studies were small and
| were funded by PowerBreathe, the company that manufactures these
| devices.
| [deleted]
| TurkishPoptart wrote:
| This is brilliant, but do we have to eat in this pose? I'd rather
| just do a stretch X times a day and try this out.
| taeric wrote:
| Isn't a full solution, but changing from belt to suspenders helps
| an unreasonable amount for me. If folks want other things to try.
| langfan wrote:
| Amalaki (Sanskrit) / amla (Hindi) / nellikai (Tamil) / Indian
| gooseberry is said to be good for acidity in Ayurveda. The fruit
| part of the plant, phyllanthus emblica, IIRC. Very widely used in
| India in different forms for many ailments. There is amla eaten
| raw, amla juice, amla murabba (a sort of sweet dried or wet
| candy), amla in honey (just had it today), in triphala, etc. Rich
| in Vitamin C and has many benefits.
|
| I use it.
|
| Triphala, another Ayurvedic remedy, is said to be a general-
| purpose cleanser / gut detoxifier/ digestive tonic. Very commonly
| prescribed by Ayurvedic doctors.
| ilyagr wrote:
| I wonder how big the risk of choking with this exercise is. Be
| careful!
| iamthejuan wrote:
| What cured my GERD is, I only drink one hour before and one hour
| after the meal. I don't lie down or put myself in incline
| position. Fruits and vegetables.
| avgcorrection wrote:
| This is awesome. I'm gonna try this.
|
| Is there some way to train other sphincters?
| lemonberry wrote:
| This is one of those posts that could change my life. Thanks for
| sharing. Sorry to not add to the discussion but I have terrible
| acid reflux and sometimes it feels like it runs my life. I often
| don't sleep well because of it.
|
| I'll definitely give this a shot.
| bionsystem wrote:
| I have a serious case of acid reflux, I eat 4-6 maalox a day
| and sometimes another one or two during the night if the pain
| wakes me up. It never goes into my mouth or throat but the
| stomach pain is really annoying.
|
| Will try this as well although pictures of the positions would
| have been welcome.
| ChillyWater wrote:
| I had acid reflux from the time I was 15 years old. By the
| time I was 22 it had eaten holes almost through my esophagus,
| so I had Laparoscopic Nissen fundoplication surgery. They
| basically wrapped part of my stomach around the valve and it
| tightened it up. No more heartburn.
|
| On the down side, I no longer can vomit, so there's that.
| (Confirmed after the not-so-smart decision to try every booth
| at a chili cook-off.)
| tacheiordache wrote:
| You may not have acid reflux if it acid never gets into your
| throat. I have at least a yearly episode of waking up choking
| and the epiglottis is stuck shut protecting my lungs from
| acid. It's horrible to wake up like that but am always fine
| after the episode and yet every time it happens I can't shake
| off the sheer panic I'm in. I could say I got used to it and
| yet when it happens it's horrifying.
| jmartrican wrote:
| wow, I have the same issue but not related to acid or GERD.
| mine is triggered by water or saliva. My throat would close
| up, and I couldn't breathe. It has a name, and on YT, you
| can see a video of an episode happening. it looks and feels
| like an asthma attack. And even though I'm always fine, I
| still fight back the panic. I have gotten better. I can
| quickly close part of my throat before the water or saliva
| touched the part of the throat that triggers it. I also
| learned not to fight it. do not try too hard to breathe,
| especially through the mouth. instead, I breathe slowly and
| gently through the nose. I then relax and maybe let out a
| cough or two, then I can breathe again.
| fakedang wrote:
| You should be taking omeprazole rather than antacids.
|
| For those not in the know, antacids control the acidity
| levels. Omeprazole signals to the stomach receptors to
| reduce/stop producing the acid in the first place. The
| difference is that, when your body senses a pH change upon
| taking the antacid, it provides some intermediate relief, but
| eventually the body senses the reduction and produces more
| acid to compensate for the shortfall, resulting in an even
| greater amount of acid. This can turn into a very vicious
| cycle very badly.
|
| Ideally, you should be taking both Maalox with each meal and
| omeprazole on a regular basis every day, till your physician
| directs you to change course. 4 Maalox a day is actually a
| lot.
| raarts wrote:
| Stomach acid exists for a reason. I worry a lot about the
| long term effects of suppressing it. Gallbladder problems
| are often mentioned.
| vidarh wrote:
| Proton pump inhibitors like Omeprazole does have issues,
| but trying to mitigate GERD symptoms with antacids and
| failing to suppress it fully cauaes worse issues. It
| takes massives doses to significantly suppress the
| stomach acid - typical doses just reduces it a bit.
|
| If you need PPIs for extended periods of time you
| absolutely should talk to a doctor to rule out
| potentially serious possibilities, though.
| 762236 wrote:
| Doesn't maalox cause your stomach to generate more acid? That
| is counterproductive.
| basisword wrote:
| Why don't you get proper medication to deal with this as
| opposed to antacids? I also had bad reflux and Omeprazole
| took care of it pretty quickly. OTC antacids were no help
| really.
| zwily wrote:
| Proton pump inhibitors and friends have their own side
| effects. Protonix, for example, made me shaky for some
| reason.
| withinrafael wrote:
| There aren't any proper medications that I'm aware of.
| Proton pump inhibitors have documented long term use
| downsides.
| jbaber wrote:
| Taking a PPI (I think it was generic protonix) truly cured
| very severe heartburn I'd developed from eating a funny
| diet. After a few months, I got my doctor to prescribe me a
| half-size pill, then tapered off and I've been permanently
| free of heartburn. Maybe footnotes to
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proton-
| pump_inhibitor#Indicati... explain why. But I remember
| reading that the PPI permanently shut down a bunch of acid
| production in your stomach, so after a while, you may be in
| a good state.
| TheIronMark wrote:
| Same. I've had GERD for a looong time and I'm tired of taking a
| pill for it.
| fillskills wrote:
| Taking Mint, in form of raw washed leaves, in tea form or even
| in capsule form (pudin hara) has greatly reduced my acid
| reflux. Might be worth trying.
|
| Strength: Capsule > Leaves > Mint tea
|
| Usually we eat the raw leaves. They are tasty! You can make a
| salad out of it.
|
| At night drink some mint tea.
|
| And in emergency take a capsule.
| jschveibinz wrote:
| Mint is actually bad according to my GI doctor because it
| relaxes the muscle and allows more acid into the esophagus?
| yeureka wrote:
| For me mint was a trigger of worse reflux, but apparently
| it helps some people.
| mackieem wrote:
| A book I read recently called "Why Stomach Acid Is Good for
| You" has a section on bitters (which I believe would include
| mint) are good for reflux - their prescription is chew/eat
| bitters ~5 minutes before a meal.
| paulirwin wrote:
| Same, I'm going to give it a shot as well. 20 years of GERD
| with 10+ years of daily medicine that I'd like to stop taking.
| I wonder if a yoga downward dog position might be equivalent?
| [deleted]
| wonderwonder wrote:
| In hopes that this helps others. I have had terrible reflux for
| the last ~10 years. 10-15 tums a day every day for years. About 4
| months ago I started taking a scoop of glutamine (the workout
| supplement / amino acid) powder in water at night before bed (not
| sure if the timing of when it's taken matters). 2 weeks later and
| my heartburn/reflux was essentially gone and has stayed gone. I
| take maybe 1 tums a week now. Many weeks it's 0.
| mihaifm wrote:
| One likely cause that's not mentioned so far, is that
| paradoxically the stomach doesn't produce enough acid. The
| sphincter usually closes when the stomach begins digestion, but
| this only happens if a certain pH threshold is reached. There are
| some receptors in the stomach that detect this pH level and
| signal the sphincter to close. The lower acidity output is
| typically caused by unhealthy diet and frequent meals. To fix it,
| apart from reducing the frequency of meals, you can ingest more
| acid, in the form of vinegar or lemon juice. This is
| counterintuitive but I can confirm it works, it helped me a lot
| to mitigate the problem.
| ricardobeat wrote:
| So the one-spoon-of-apple-cider-vinegar-everyday people might
| be onto something?
| zethus wrote:
| Title isn't completely accurate, as the author states they were
| kneeling bent-over, creating an incline for the food to travel
| up. That being said, I've never thought of the esophagus was a
| muscle that could be trained. Very cool!
|
| Edit: there's a 6" riser that the author describes kneeling on,
| while their head is then lowered closer to the floor, supported
| by their arm(s).
| mcv wrote:
| Maybe I should try this. I've been having trouble with this
| lately.
| drones wrote:
| >The incline is established by kneeling with the head bowed
| lower than the stomach
|
| Shouldn't it be upside down if the head is below the center of
| mass?
| 11235813213455 wrote:
| when you have a high fiber diet, this is never an issue, it's
| like a sponge in your digestive system retaining water and stuff
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