Thread: The Torture of Night Time Acid Reflux

You stay away from all food and drink that are acidity , in other words all the good stuff ,

Apple cider vinegar has the effects of a base not an acid..

Apple cider vinegar is a natural remedy for reflux, but just make sure you buy it in a glass container or bottle.

Incidentally, if it's gotten worse recently be sure to get it checked out- a friend of mine started getting severe reflux, then had problems getting anything down, even beer. Pills didn't help- it turned out to be oesophagal cancer.

Maybe an endoscopy would help?

Endoscopy doesn't 'help' anything, except to get to a correct diagnosis.

^
If you are lucky they will give you some midazolam and you can forget about real life for awhile.

Originally Posted by daveboy

Try not being a greedy cnut Tom

Yeah. It hard tho in'it?

No bedtime snacks is a starter

Got there before me Tom, well done.

Weight or recent weight gain can cause/aggravate acid reflux.

Originally Posted by Tom Sawyer

Thanks lads. Yes, I go to the endo every few years. Bout time again. It's mostly eating late at night that does it me to I think. Some of the other meds you mentioned I hadn't tried so may give them a go. I'm in reasonably good shape (BMI within normal range), but the hiatus hernia and reflux are a real pain - literally

BTW not to be pedantic but in the interest of accuracy the term is 'Hiatal' not "hiatus". Those other meds like Prevacid, Omeprazole and similar are only for temporary treatments and not long term without a time break of weeks between treatments..

^
Tell that to a physician.

I think a better approach is to understand what you eat or drink that's causing this problem. My father used to down Tagamets until I asked him to keep a few notes on what was causing his issue. He stopped it, the acid reflux issues ceased, no more meds, better nights sleep.

hi there, latindancer has already given you the best tip, raise the head of the bed, put 2 bricks under it, it is barely noticeable, you don't fall out of the bed or something stupid

what you are doing is enabling gravity to assist you , if there is a slight incline acid cannot flow up as it's doing now, causing inflammation to areas that are not meant to deal with acid as in the stomach

i suffered badly one time for months, raised the bed and that cured it, never had a problem since

Placebo effect? No need to waste lots of money on expensive drugs, the cheapest are the best. The Antacids. The most familiar in Thailand is called Antacil, 10 tablets for 6 Baht. Many years ago an Opium tincture was available in the pharmacies at home, this stuff was brillant. A few drops in a glass of water, down the throat, and the pain vanished instantly when it ran down the esophagus. Like lights that turn off when you walk past them.

Originally Posted by Rainfall

Placebo effect? No need to waste lots of money on expensive drugs, the cheapest are the best. The Antacids. The most familiar in Thailand is called Antacil, 10 tablets for 6 Baht. Many years ago an Opium tincture was available in the pharmacies at home, this stuff was brillant. A few drops in a glass of water, down the throat, and the pain vanished instantly when it ran down the esophagus. Like lights that turn off when you walk past them.

Thanks but no - doesn't work at all for me, I'm well beyond that

and the pain vanished instantly

the pain may vanish, but the cause of the pain remains as does the effects of the pain .... chronic inflammation of the lower oesophagus, which can lead to a pre cancerous condition called barrets oesophagus.

Taxexiles advice is good :

No food for four hours before sleep, go easy on spicy and fatty fried food glass of milk at bedtime, head raised whilst asleep, ie. on a couple of pillows, etc.etc.etc.

also if you have had it for many years, a gastroscopy ( camera check of the oesophagus and stomach) every three years to check for damage to the oesophageal lining (Barrats oesophagus) is advised, as is a helicobacter check for specific bacteria in the stomach.

Not a cure but will certainly help. I had it real bad a couple of months back. Was awoken one night at 3.00 am from deep sleep to 100% awake instantly ( shocking enough ) and was on my knees in bed for half a minute with a throat convulsing with acid making it hard to breath. Totally freaked the wife out.
Since then I've done all the above esp. the high pillow.

On a strange note, if I put a small bottle of lao khao away during the evening...no reflux ??? Should be the opposite I reckon but I guess bile knows when it's met its match.