Hi Cindy. I don't know if this will help or not. I used to have bile come up at night fairly often (caused terrible burning & coughing), but it seems like I've mostly eliminated it by food choices. I avoid oranges or anything with orange in it (like some chinese foods), tomato products (bar-b-q sauce, red sauces, etc), coffee, tea (decaf and regular), chocolate, etc. I don't eat within 3 hours of going to bed. Our bed is raised at the head on a couple blocks of wood, and I use a wedge with a pillow. I really think the food choices are the key. It has been many months since I've had an episode. (knock on wood :-)

Cindy - it is so strange that you wrote about your reflux being bad during the night. I made an appointment with my GI dr today as I have been experiencing the same thing for the last 2 weeks. I too am almost 3.5 yrs out from surgery (Nov 2009).

I wake anytime between 1 & 2 am with a terrible burning sensation which is acid and the only relief I get is throwing up. As usual nothing comes (nothing ever does) but I do get some relief and then it'll happen again a few hours later. I seem to be doing all the right things like having the bed raised etc but this is driving me nuts and is also hurting me like dickens .......

I try not to eat after 6 pm, don't have acidic or spicy foods, no sodas and take a Nexium in the morning and just before bed.

You'd think that after all this time recovering things would be starting to settle down........ guess not.

If you find anything/any way to combat this please let me know. I will wait and see what my GI dr has to say see if he wants to scope me.

Praying for everyone who is dealing with this horrible disease.

Cheers Annie

Hi guys. I know we're all different in some ways, but this is just my experience with it. I don't sleep flat, period. I pile up the pillows and sleep inclined to some degree. I'm not sitting up completely, but definitely have my upper torso and head inclined. I've heard just inclining your head doesn't do it. I don't have any problem being flat for a cat scan, etc.

I was told by my surgeons I'd not need to take anything for acid reflux after my surgery & I haven't. I never feel any acid reflux problems. Mine used to be like a squeezing feeling in the middle of my chest.

I think what comes up is bile (in my case) & I've read on "here"...that due to our surgery we can't sleep flat as there's nothing to keep it (bile) from coming up when we're flat for time. This, I'm getting off the board - not from my Drs.

I can eat anything I want. I'm a night person, so usually call it a night around 2 a.m., so that's pretty long after dinner, but I snack, etc. Probably try and make a conscious effort to not eat anything a couple hours before going to bed.

I would say in the 4 1/2 years since my surgery I've had it happen about 5-7 times total. I was sleeping with a wedge and would slide down during the night. The burning and taste is enough to make you never want it to happen again, in my case, anyway. I haven't had it happen for a long time (knock on wood) :-) as Dan says :-) But I never take any chance of not sleeping on lots of pillows. The last time it happened it made me take a coughing spell and worried me that it was aspirating to my lungs, so....I don't want to take any chances. I really don't know if that was what was happening, but it passed. On those occasions I would take a piece of hard candy to try and make the taste leave and my throat feel some relief from the candy.

Cindy & Annie hope you both get some answers to your issues. Wish just sleeping inclined would be the answer, but we all know how important it is to get things checked out too.

Brenda - thank you for your concern. Have just spoken to the nurse at my GI dr and he said to stop taking Meloxicam which I have been taking to help after my back surgery. He's also called in a script for Reglan to be taken just as I turn out the light.

So for me it looks like it may have been medication which has been causing me total discomfort the last couple of week. That's a huge relief !!!!!!!! And he says he doesn't want to scope me either woohoo.

As you said Brenda it's better to get these things checked out rather than woryy about them.

Cheers Annie

Thanks for responding everyone, Annie everything you said is right on with me, I will bring it up at my next appointment, is reglan an antacid? Maybe I will ask about it..

Cindy...your situation absolutely parallels mine. I've done great in terms of the disease...next week is 4 years from diagnosis...but I have terminal reflux. Only happens at night..but happens about every other day. I've been through the prilosecs and nexiums with no relief. Its really a mechanical problem at this point because we are missing the flaps that keep things down. There is a medicine called Carafate that helps some people. I'm currently on something called Chloestrium(sp.?) which is a cholesterol medicine but doubles as a bile blocker. Its a yellow powder you mix in water and take twice a day. I'm grateful for where I am in this process...but with all the sleep interruptions...by the end of the week I'm beat. Good luck...ML.

Cindy - the Reglan is to help reflux, nausea, vomitting etc but all of these types of medication don't seem to help. It's as Martin says removal of the sphincter valve just lets all the reflux back up.

My GI dr gets annoyed with the surgeons when they remove this valve as he said I just wish they could make another one or do something to stop this problem.

Martin I am going to ask my dr about the 2 medications you mentioned maybe they may help me, but I guess this discomfort is better than the alternative :)

Praying for all of us....

Cheers Annie

Cindy - like Brenda, I've only had a dozen or so episodes of early morning reflux, but having two pillows on top of a wedge form has worked quite well. A few months ago, while sleeping on my right side (I can never sleep on the left side without acid back up), I slipped down and awoke with that god-awful acid burning, so I decided to sleep only on my back. I find it pretty strange, but I go to sleep on my back and never move an inch all night long. I thought everyone changed positions numerous times during the night, but I awaken in the very same position I fell asleep in! It helps that my cat has a habit of curling up on my upper chest every night, I suppose. About Carafate: it costs a fortune and didn't help me at all. About Reglan; I've read/heard so many side effects from this med that my docs have said it's a last resort. Please read about it before making a decision to try it!