GERD when lying down in bed

[jbs30]

Around the month of April, 2016 I started to develop some reflux when lying down flat in bed.  I would start having to burp continuously and it would take a long time to fall asleep and occasionally I would not be able to fall asleep and would have to go to my lazy boy recliner with my head elevated and fall asleep this way.  Eventually I was able to fall asleep in the lazy boy but the sleep would be poor in quality.  
Part of the problem was that I had been drinking a lot of chocolate milk during the day and after I work out and a few times throughout the day.  I stopped drinking milk and this seemed to help for a while and I was able to get to sleep pretty consistently for a month or so.  After not drinking much milk I did have a few slices of pieces of pizza with a lot of cheese on them and I had a tough time that night falling asleep so I think maybe I’m allergic to dairy products.  When I was a child (35 yrs. Ago or so I went through allergy testing and dairy products was one of the things I was allergic to).
Then about a month later I started to have some more reflux problems and was having to burp again when I would lie flat in bed.   I would always try to not eat anything at least 2 hours prior to bedtime.  I would also try to take Ranitidine every 12 hours and this didn’t seem to help much either.
Right now I am in day 6 of a 14 day cycle of Prilosec: one pill a day for 14 days.  So far this has seemed to help some plus I have raised the head of my bed about 5” for elevation when sleeping.
Not sure what to do at this point?  I will continue with the 14 days of Prilosec, keep my bed elevated for the 14 days.  And then can I put the bed level again after the 14 days????  Please advise.

[Farrah777]

Hello,
I had chronic cough, mucus in my throat, couldn't sleep when lying down. I found out I had silent reflux through Dr. Jamie Koufman's book. I changed my diet according to this book. Followed it to the letter and my symptoms disappeared in 4 weeks.  I know depending on the severety of symptoms a combination of diet and medication is necessary.  This book changed my life. I had gone from specialist to specialist and no one could figure out what was wrong. I found a Dr. Oz show online with Jamie Koufman being featured in it for silent reflux and did more research.  Basically late night eating, carbonated soda, too much acid in your diet, fatty meals trigger it.  If you look for her online you will find a lot of useful information that I am certain will help you recover.

[selmaS]

  Hi and welcome to the GERD forum.

I would not rush to level the bed, as you may continue to have this issue....and it is possible it is not dairy itself but possibly other foods...with pizza it can be the sauce as it is acidic.

You may enjoy more foods and bevs which may be a source of the problem and until you avoid them or cut back...all the meds you take may be in vain.

Keep a journal of what you eat and how you feel....even stress can trigger a flare up of these symptoms.