Stinging in esophegus.

[purrin]

I have acid reflux. I got diagnosed with it last year. I had an unexplainable sore throat for 3 months and kept getting put on antibiotics and stuff. I was really sick. My doctor was about to send me for lung and esophagus tests. I'm a smoker. WHEN my flatmate suggested it might be acid reflux. Which I'd never heard of. I got something called sozol and took it for a whole month and it all cleared up magically. Then I found every now and then it plays up. So I take sozol for a couple of days and then I'm OK again. Only this time the pain (It's a stinging pain) Is not in my throat so much as my esophogus. AGAIN I had a cancer scare. Even now that I"ve realised it's just the old acid reflux again, I"m beginning to realise there CAN be complications with your esophogus with acid reflux. So still slightly worried. But definitley getting back onto the sozol for at least a week or two or longer to see if that helps.

I grew interested in the raised bed idea as I looked up acid reflux diet on About.com, realised straight away it was totally neurotic and then looked in wiki and found this:

"Diet

Certain foods and lifestyle are considered to promote gastroesophageal reflux, but a 2006 review suggested that evidence for most dietary interventions is anecdotal; only weight loss and elevating the head of the bed were supported by evidence.[20] A subsequent randomized crossover study showed benefit by avoiding eating two hours before bedtime".

So I guess it's really up to the individual to gauge themselves for food irritants. Because I honestly believe lemons are GOOD for you pure and simply.

ANYWAY I also found this in wiki:

GERD is largely preventable through changes in lifestyle, which are also used as treatment (see below).

Sleep on the left side, or with your upper body raised.
    Relief is often found by raising the head of the bed to 30 degrees, raising the upper body with pillows, or sleeping sitting up.[20] The upper body must be raised, not just the head; pillows that only raise the head do little for heartburn and put strain on the neck. Sleeping on the left side also keeps gravity working for you, keeping your stomach below your esophagus.[21]
Eat smaller meals.
    Eating a big meal causes excess stomach acid production, so attacks can be minimized by eating smaller meals. It is also important to avoid eating shortly before bedtime.[12]

Lose weight.
    Gaining even a few pounds increases your risk of heartburn.[20] Exactly why isn't clear, but the leading theory is that more body fat puts more pressure on the stomach, which can cause highly acidic stomach contents to reflux to the lower esophageal sphincter. For the same reason, tight clothing around the abdomen can also increase the risk of heartburn.

Avoid acidic and rich foods.
    Though less well supported by evidence,[20] a sufferer may benefit from avoiding foods that trigger their symptoms. These commonly include acidic fruit or juices, fatty foods, coffee, tea, onions, peppermint, chocolate, especially shortly before bedtime.[22]

Avoid consuming acidic substances that can trigger heartburn symptoms such as caffeine, nicotine, and alcohol

And I am interested int he fact that this came about right when I'd gained 10 kg's. I'm not technically overweight still, I'm just an ectomorph, my bones are quite small which is why I'm usually under the BMI even though I eat fairly well. But the extra kilos do sit around my belly. And boy are they hard to lose. (Never had this problem before never had to diet)!

I also get it during the day. And just then I noticed it was awful when I was lying down.

I can't afford anything like a $3000 matress to go with some embarrassing contraption that no doubt is also very expensive. So I'm thinking the wedges sound like a good option. Especially if it is just to try to see if it helps.

To tell you the truth mine comes and goes and hopefully I'm not developing a complication. As so far it hasn't been that serious, ever since I got the sozol, I really seem to need only to take one or two every couple of weeks or so and that sorts it out. So hopefully it will again this time.  

I"ve had no tests run or anything yet.

But if this stinging esophegos keeps up I"m going to have to of course.

Anyway meanwhile the wedge. Yes would be interesting to know if this helped also to relieve the daytime symptoms.

But I mean it would be nice to go on a journey of healing with this it really would.

All the good things like coffee and tea and ciggies could go, maybe, maybe not.

One thing I"ve found that does help me a lot is a daily cup (or three) of miso. It's good for your gut.

You can read this excellent article about this miraculous superfood here:

http://www.macrobiotic.org/Miso.htm

Meanwhile for those of us who pray lets direct the energy on the poor peeps of this forum and hope for the best shall we.

Hope this cleared a couple of things up for people. Although, we're all still wondering about our matresses aren't we. The bricks! Ha ha.  


This discussion is related to Raising the head of the bed for GERD.

[patient915]

So far, there haven't been any large studies done showing a connection between coffee and preventing parkinsons.  Right now this is just a possibility.  Stopping smoking, stopping drinking alcohol, and stopping drinking coffee are all good for you body to stop, but doing them all at once is going to be a big stress on your system.

Also, you don't need to waste your money on a wedge.  Use bricks or anything else you can find to tilt your entire bed to see if it helps before investing in a wedge.

[purrin]

Oh esophagus I mean lol.

I was actually trying to post in the discussion about the raised bed and gurd. This is a bit confusing. lol, none of this probably made much sense to anyone. Sorry.

[purrin]

http://ezinearticles.com/?Heads-Up!-The-Way-You-Are-Sleeping-May-Be-Killing-You!&id=795155

Hey I found this. It's not so much about acid reflux, but htere may be added benefits to sleeping on a wedge!

[purrin]

Only thing is I was happy with my coffee intake as it prevents parkinsons, And I am at risk. So I'm thinking of having just one cup a day and maybe one afternoon tea, but the rest is the brahmi.

[purrin]

Hey an apple a day, and water, water cleanses the sphincter and causes it to seal up. So I've cut out coffee, and only on enough tea to at present, combat headaches from caffeine withdrawals. Have switched to a beautiful brahmi herbal infusion which I take with a bit of milk and stevia. I am still smoking but am planning on reducing or cutting it out with an ecig soon. I've heard of someone saying their reflux improved tenfold on the ecig. Also I'm having some manuka honey, to heal,  and bicarb in water works a treat as a home made antacid. I'm going to take the sozol for at least a week while I heal. And on Thursday I"m going to try to buy the wedge. Because I definitely don't want that acid in my esophagus. I'm thinking of switching to soft food for a couple of days too. After my bad episode. I'm feeling fine today. It was a bit scary though! Good luck everyone.

[purrin]

YOu know thanks, thanks, well I do seem to take a tiny ring and bangle size and look lean and eat a lot so I assumed it was my build. I'm a female btw.

1956 eh.

Bricks

Embarrassing contraptions

I've had quite a day.

First I discovered the neurotic site banning an array of foods, then I found wiki that said diet 'may' help. Then I think I went somewhere and discovered barretts. Which scared the living daylights out of me.

I have insomnia last night I didn't sleep a bloody wink.

Today my sting was ssoooo bad I tried to give up smoking, and ten teas and coffees a day all in one go.

Today I had schizophrenia, sleep deprivation, a caffiene migraine, nicotine withdrawals, as well as the heartburn. lol.

Meanwhile figuring out how I could spend my electricity bill money on a wedge that I'll probably end up using as a bf.

Then I got furious because my doctor never told me anything at all about gerd, heartburn or anything at all to point me in the right direction. My flatmate diagnosed it actually and then I told my doctor and he gave me some pills and that was that. Originally he was giving me anti-biotics.

It was only today that it got worse that I typed in my flatmates words for this condition acid reflux, and started finding out the truth.

Then I looked at a very useful website http://health.howstuffworks.com/wellness/natural-medicine/home-remedies/home-remedies-for-heartburn.htm

And ate everything that I had in my cupboard that was listed there, after the pills, the mylanta and stuff that I'd tried to no avail.

I was stewing the apples with cinamon and a few other things. Which did alleviate it quite a bit.

A couple of good things did happen, I switched to olive oil instead of butter, found a new tag for my radio station, solved a technical issue and basically had a few laughs.

You know what they say, an apple a day keeps the doctor away.

Come on guys it can't be that bad, it's just some heartburn. Surely we can manage.  

I think I ate some raw shallots last week or something actually, or something silly, because I really hadn't thought about the gerb much before.

Perhaps we can try to make the lifestyle changes, it's only a sphinctre surely it can heal.

Lets work it out.

And thx for your prayers ;-)

[patient915]

Welcome to the gastroenterology community!  I'm glad you've found something that helped with your problem.  I've found that the easiest way to raise the head of my bed is to put three or four bricks under each leg of the top of my bed.  I'd like to clarify a few things though: first off, the old theory of "small-boned/big-boned" is not true.  You might be naturally smaller in size, but your bones are probably the same size as any other male of your same height.  Sozol is pantoprazole (or Protonix in the US) which is a PPI which is very commonly used for acid reflux/GERD.  Have you seen a gastroenterologist about this?