I’ve been suffering with an intermittent sore throat since the summer. All of my family on my mum’s side suffers with acid reflux or ‘silent reflux’ (not that I know what that is), so I’m guessing it might be my turn now.

This morning I woke up and within minutes I developed some cracking indigestion type pain – it was like somebody flicked a switch and with that a wave of discomfort spread across my chest. Eugh.

I’m quite keen to try and manage this without having to resort to medication, however I know nothing about what to look out for. My diet is low in gluten and dairy, and I actively avoid sugar as much as possible. I do have weaknesses though, they are coffee and red wine and I suspect they might play a key part. I will probably start a food diary and look out for patterns.

My main question is this. How long does it typically take for certain foods to cause symptoms of reflux? If I develop symptoms in the morning, how do I work out which of yesterday’s meals could be the culprit?

Apparently the issue is that there is not enough acid in your stomach to activate the closing mechanism at the opening. I have heard that you should take some sort of hydrogen peroxide supplement with your food.

Try googling it

I obviously don’t know what age you are but as one gets older then one tends towards low stomach acid. It may not be food that is causing it and sounds as though you’re doing a really good job with diet.

For a while I was using apple cider vinegar (the best one is with the ‘mother’) but then it stopped working.

Currently using this, take first thing in the morning, mixed in orange juice, before eating or drinking anything:

http://www.avogel.co.uk/food/molkosan-digestion/

I’m 33. I’ve not heard of low stomach acid before – I’ll look into that as a possibility.

Or it could be GORD which also tends to be worse when lying down.
It is probably worth a trip to the doctor as untreated it can cause stomach ulcers. It could also be caused by H.Pylori infection which will need treatment.
There’s information here which also contains some dietary advice.

Gastroesophageal reflux disease

When I get it I sip a small glass of milk over several minutes to wash down the throat. If it persists I swallow a few largish lumps of mild Dutch cheese to act as slow-release relief.

I suffer, I went through all sorts of tests 10 years ago, turns out I ate too much in one sitting and was advised to graze rather than feast and take Gavison not Rennie’s.

I cut all sorts out of my diet to compensate, main thing for me was Bread/Cheese/Dairy related, cut that out and voila!

Though not a help in your situation as its hereditary but for years I suffered from reflux (medication and daily over the counter pills). I didn’t realise it but my love of baked beans was the trigger. The only trigger.

15mg of lanzaprazole here. It’s the most amazing daily preventive for me. Without it I can barely eat anything.

I’m 35 and have been suffering with acid refulx since I was about 15. Lanzaprazole is the only thing that works for me.

Later in the new year, once my imminent house move and job change have happened I’ll finally look into a more natural solution.

Good luck, it’s a pretty miserable condition

Oh god, I love baked beans…

The link above makes reference to alcohol, coffee and chocolate. Time to eliminate all three just to check if it’s dietary.

The nausea could just be because you are hungry. This is how my symptoms manifest – get hungry, feel sick, don’t eat and the cycle continues. Regular meals and snacks are key.

Chewing gum, fizzy drinks, fruit juice (particularly orange) and milk can be instant nausea/reflux death for me.

Is there any reason why you’re both gluten-free and dairy-free? Obviously you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to?

Ive eaten baked beans all my life then probably about 10yrs ago I suddenly started getting wild indegestion. The first time I got it I thought it was a heart problem, then it got worse and worse. One day I’d had beans for breakie and within 30mins of pedalling it flared up after days of nothing. Thats when I made my connection. I’d become allergic(!!) to beans. Its been 5yrs of normality again. Not one episode. Last week I fancied fish fingers and beans and had a small tin of beans- BOOM!

Is there any reason why you’re both gluten-free and dairy-free? Obviously you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to?

I’ve never really got on with milk. Small amounts of cream, cheese or yoghurt seem to be ok but milk – forget it. The gluten thing stems from me noticing how bread made me feel – foggy, achey joints – so I decided to cut out all gluten. It’s amazing how much better I feel in general, and even on the bike things are easier. Having read up about it, there is a bit of evidence to suggest gluten intolerance and sensitivity to dairy protein are often connected (not that I’m certain if it’s the protein or the lactose in dairy that my tummy doesn’t like).

Have you been to the Doc just for confirmation? Reason I ask is that my symptoms were quite bad so I went along and ended up having a camera shuved down my gullet. I now know that I have stretch marks all down to my stomach, I was told it’s inherited (fanx Dad) and a weak diaphram hence the small amount of Acid breaking through causing agrivation on these stretch marks…

Also, I was told to only drink good quality alcohol which at the time I was teetotal…

Also tomatoes, I couldn’t eat one, be near one, smell one even to the point of seeing one would set me off but once I’d cut down on bulk eating and cut out dairy (not all, but most of it) I found I could eat tomatoes all over again, been one of my favorite foods ever since.

It seemed to take about 3 months for me to adjust and I would say heal from the condition, then about 6mohts for it to embed.. I still on occasion get indegestion so a small pack of Gavison can be found very close by.

30mg daily of Lansoprazole here for life.

Mam and Dad on Omeprazole / Lansoprazole so it was pretty much a given for me.

One off episode of now so don’t worry about it. If it becomes a very regular thing then need to visit your GP.

I’d become allergic(!!) to beans.

That’s not an allergy.

Hi Wallop,
I’ve been on Omprazole for 4 years now as my acid reflux was causing my gullet to become inflamed causing problems with swallowing. I got occasional heartburn too, I only take the tablets a few times a week and it’s a low dose but it does the job.
Go see your doctor, I had to have a few consultations at the BRI including a couple of Barium swallows, and having a tube stuck down my through so they could gram some of my stomach lining 😯 – I had to put myself in to a trance to get through that one!
Omeprazole is a very common medicine with very few side effcet – I havent had any.

I’d recommend keeping a food diary as you suggest, or rather a diary of what you ate before you had a bout, to see if there’s any patterns. Helped me to avoid trigger foods, including fishcakes, weirdly. I also gave up caffine which was definately a trigger.
For me, it was usually lying down in bed at night which brought on a bout after a few hours. I was prescribed Omeprazole which I took on a decreasing basis for about 6 months. I would try eleimiating things first though, but no harm in seeing your GP if it becomes regular.
HTH.

Edit – I no longer have to take Omeprazole and I never had to have any cameras poked anywhere thankfully 🙂

Thanks everyone – lots to think about here. Will see how things go.

Go to the doctor – simple as that. Do NOT try to increase the acidity of your stomach until you know what is causing the problem, this could cause you more serious problems. You’ll get a variety of tests but there will be a big onus on you to change your diet/lifestyle regardless of the outcome of the tests and any treatment you get. I know someone who died suddenly from heart problems thinking it had just been heartburn problems, so worth checking out any chest pain in my opinion.

I’ve had acid reflux it for decades and have some damage to my oesophagus or however you spell it, from a weak sphincter (snigger) allowing the acid to rise up my throat. I’m on omeprazole and sometimes need gaviscon etc. Done the camera down throat 😯 and 24 hour tape etc.

Biggest triggers for me are fatty foods like chips, crisps, acidic things especially orange juice (instant death aaargh), coffee, tea, alcohol especially whisky, baked beans, quorn, fizzy drinks like coke… basically all the nice things. I’ve not given up alcohol or coffee, and it doesn’t bother me enough to consider trialling giving up dairy or wheat.

When I was in Australia a few years ago there was a big TV campaign about heartburn, telling people to get it sorted and not ignore as it can cause so many problems later in life. Here it seems to be largely ignored.

I used to suffer reflux as an overweight smoker. I also developed oesophagitis as a result of taking ibuprofen regularly. So part mechanical, part damage due to the long term use of anti inflammatories. I’m currently on 15 mg Lanzaprasole, which does the trick. It also stops me farting, which is an unexpected bonus. Gp will be cautious around PPIs as there is a suggestion they can cause osteoporosis in men. Mine reduced my dose from 30mg to 15, and at the moment I only need two or three doses of codeine, paracetamol and brufen a day as opposed to four when the pain gets unmanageable.

Another Lansoprazole user here. It’s magic.

Red wine that is the killer so avoid that. Then avoid oily food. Coffee is not a problem. A large glass of wine will give me the agony over the next two days.

Stodge, i.e. pies, pasties, too much bread etc will cause me major issues. If I keep my diet relatively good then no problems. Interestingly enough if I have beans too often then that kicks it off too.

Mam and Dad on Omeprazole / Lansoprazole so it was pretty much a given for me.

Could it be dietry then? Do you still have a similar diet to your parents?

I was on and off prescription tablets for years and their effectiveness waned over time, very painful acid, woke me at night and burned the back of my throat on occasion. Diet change did it for me, cut out wheat (the gluten made the acid reflux very painful), alcohol and heavily processed food and now I am as right as rain and can once again eat what I want. It did rear it’s head this xmas but I had been chowing down on everything and drinking most days so not exactly a surprise. If you read the diet section of Tim Ferris’ 4 hour body that will pretty much detail what i followed. Also if you do get acid lie on your left side at night, google an image of the stomach to see why it works.

I slept in a sitting position for nearly two years during my worst acid reflux.

I have been taking medication got many years and in three different countries – so a nice balance of views. Also on lansoprazole. Some advice

Get checked out for L. pylori – it could all be solved with a big dose of antibiotics. If not
Get some on medication. I was told by Docs here not worry and to self medicate when needed. I was told in Switzerland that there is a direct correlation between throat cancer and acid reflux. So I no longer self medicate but take the buggers every night
The things that that stimulate attacks are all the things I like – red wine, hot, spicy food, brandy, bourbon, and some I don’t – lager, bananas, apples
Don’t try and up the acid in your stomach – that is just hippie clap trap. And in your stomach there is a lot of HCl so I’m not sure a teaspoon of cider vinegar will do much.
That said , I am at the stage of avoiding very acidic foods – strongly tomato, tomato sauced, vinegar, preserved with pH etc. that stuff is does not go down well at all,

I had to stop drinking vodka,I only drank it on weekends but was enough to give me very bad indigestion and acid reflux all week,doctor advised and he was right.