Good advice about the other threads, wish I had read the last few posts before I read those particular threads. I have found this board to be really useful as my doctor doesn't know much about acid reflux. It's good to know that it can be controlled even if it can't be cured. Determination is the key. Hope you are both well today.

Chel 666 and Vicki,

I have been really busy but glad you have found it all helpful. I agree some doctors dont understand it all and we all have different symptoms. You really understand it if you have it!

I will have more time on the weekend.

Vicki, I responded to you in the gallstons section a couple of nights ago.

I hope you are feeling good too. I am very good now after that inhaling my food episode!

Dear Lesley. I'm glad you are better. I had a bad day on Thursday started with the bad acid reflux in the am like before. It was so painful of course it was from me not following the rules on Wednesday. I had hot chocolate mid afternoon and was thinking the whole time I should not be drinking this oh and my son made dinner on Wed, and am thinking it was the pepper he used on his meat transferred to my meat due to using the same pan. I'm a lot better now but of course I'm back to the baked chicken and mashed potatoes and mixed vegetables, wow i really have to stay within those rules or else. I've been eating every night by 6:30 so I'm doing really well with that.

Also thanks for reading my other post, boy I think I need to start looking for another gastro doctor next week. The feedback I'v gotten from you and a few others has been very helpful and I think I've decided to go with a different doctor. So okay just want to say thanks for everything and hoping you are having a non acid day.

Oh and hope you not too stressed out by being so busy, which is easy now a days, okay talk to you soon, Vicki.

Hi chel666, I'm glad you are getting good information here, Lesley has been invaluable to me and it's made a difference in my symptoms. Like you said determination is key. I hope you are doing well and let us know how your doing with your acid reflux, Vicki.

The past few days it hasn't been that bad. Used lots of pillows so my head is raised at night times, this isn't something my doctor told me about and it is helping.

Hi chel666, I'm glad your having some good days the pillows will make a difference. The wedge pillow is the best for our condition but I still have not gotten mine. I use 4 pillows plus a little square pillow on top of those so that seems to be okay for right now. Hope you day is a low heartburn day

Thanks, I am having quite a good day with it so far, I have pillows piled on top of each other to 30cm, think I will have get a wedge pillow, see if that works more effectively.

Hi to both of you!

Vicki, oh dear but I know you are good at getting back on track!. You sound like you only have heartburn in the morning?? Is that the way it is for you? You didn't have any after the chocolate or meat? You were right about what you were saying to yourself when drinking the hot chocolate.lol

I think in our minds we are hoping it won't cause a problem and then keep testing it, still hoping. .Like chel said earlier it is a trial and error thing but some things are a guaranteed problem until it is way better then you can treat yourself carefully. I still totally avoid onion and garlic powder and the real thing as well. Black pepper is the other one. No matter how good I am I have to avoid it.

It is an up and down process in the first year. It takes time Vicki, just keep doing the best you can and in another few months you will be having fewer and fewer bad days. You are in the learning curve part and will be for a while. At some point you stop testing and just have a list of what you stay away from. I can treat myself to chocolate when all is good but it is known to be a MAJOR reflux food. You just have to get yourself to the point of no heartburn for a good 3 weeks and then it gets better all of a sudden but you have to keep sticking with it. It took me a while to get that!

Chel666 you seem like you are having more good days than bad, which is great! Keep at it! Soon you will have a week of no heartburn!

Vicki, the doctor part is hard but you will find one! Thanks Vicki for thinking about me and my busy schedule! I am tired today but good! You are also a great support!! Oh ya, I meant to tell you, I went in the hiatal hernia area and it made me feel terrible. Everyone seemed to be in such a bad state! That is why my gastro said mine was really small. I learned how it can be with a bigger one! I don't have the problems these people do. Thank God! I have to be careful with weight lifting forever!

I hope we all have a no acid weekend! I set goals with it and then keep extending it. it works!

Stay determined!!

I will be back soon!


Lesley

Hi chel66, I am so glad it does not seem to be bad for you right now. I know it can be frustrating having to adjust to a new diet and lifestyle. Hang in there and keep it up you can do it!!

Hi Lesley, yes that does seem to be my situation though I did have it through out the day on Thursday due to Wednesdays miss steps lets say.lol. I do know I can not have any onion or garlic and last but not least pepper, pepper is my enemy right now. I bought some crock pot mashed potatoes the other day thinking that would not be an issue, you know the kind in the tub, well upon closer inspection noticed pepper in them and quickly threw them out well, after I ate them on Wednesday which I think contributed to my bad day on Thursday.

I've also been to the hiatal hernia area before thinking I may have one I actually have an umbilical hernia. It's so hard to read some of those comments and how bad it can be.

Yes please be careful when lifting it's really hard because the benefits of lifting are tremendous yet you have to be careful.

I will be looking for another doctor in the coming weeks. The first thing I have to do is get another referral from my reg doctor and that will be hard but know it needs to be done. Can I just go back a couple of years before all this stuff started that would be so much easier. haha I hope you guys have a great day!

Dear Vicki,


It is a tiring process. I could tell you are feeling really bummed. I have felt the same way! The whole thing I find can be exhausting! I have been worn out by it! I am sure you are too. It does getter better but unfortunately it takes months but you have to do it now to get yourself to that point. Remember the baby steps thing. It took me a year to get really good at it! You are just starting on this journey but it will get better. You are doing better than I did in the early stages of this problem.The whole thing sucks! I felt the same way. At times you wish you could go back. I have wished I didn't use the ab machines at Goodlife but I cant do anything about it now. The acceptance part is a hard stage but once you get past that stage it gets better. You have to keep working at it and you will accept that you always have to be careful with your diet. That is one of the key issues that is not easy at all! Going out for dinner etc is hard as well. It is a lifestyle change and it isn't an easy one!

I think chel666 and I have had this issue longer than you have so we are further ahead in the learning curve. I am at a different place with this issue now. You will be too but it takes time. Remember I said patience and I have also felt very impatient with this problem. I have been in tears over this issue. Flareups drive you to that point because you go forward a few steps and then you go back again. Once you get out of it, you will feel so much better. Time, discipline and patience are the only things that make it better. You can always try the dexilant to get you further ahead more quickly. It makes you feel normal almost immediately.
Dont expect you will be at the same place as Chel666 and I are. It is a 1 year process but you will get there sooner than I did I bet!


I find I cant buy anything already prepared at the stores in a flare up. It just is a problem but after you have been out of a flareup for a while you can do that but pepper will always be an issue. I find in California they put pepper in everything! That's how I got myself into my last flareup. Eating in California!

So you mainly have the burning the day after?? It sounds like you don't have reflux when you eat the food but you only have it at night and then you burn all the next day, which can happen. That still sounds like a more mild case to me even though you don't feel it is at the time you are having the burning. Again that is a good sign to me. You are at the early stages of this issue. So I would try and emphasize that positive point and keep it in mind. When I compare what your symptoms are like and what others have I am pretty sure, you are in a very early stage of this issue. Which is really a positive, you can stop this from becoming a chronic issue. You just have to move into acceptance and do the work on it. You can do it and it is OK to cry over this damn issue!! You will feel better after! I was angry too for a while, just don't give up! Even though you feel like it!

I know EXACTLY how you are feeling.. do that talking to yourself when you feel discouraged because it will happen with this issue but it gets way better! oh and your hernia. It is a common type as well. Some of my fitness friends get that type and it is pretty uncomfortable. Aging sucks, doesnt it! They had the surgery for it after many years of having it but I am thinking you have enough to deal with right now! Just take it one day at a time.

Just do the best you can and remember to keep hope with you everyday. Try and eat really plain and stick to the rules for a week, you will notice a difference. When I am in the early flareup stage everything I eat bothers it but when I get really careful it all goes away and I can eat a lot of those things that bothered the issue 2 weeks earlier! You just have to be consistent. I make those plain soups and whole wheat noodles, plain whole wheat bread with honey etc and eat like that for 2 weeks. That's what you have to do.

I will be thinking about how you are doing.

Lesley

Pepper is on my list too. I have had it a year now, I find if it flares up at night then I have it the next day. This weekend I haven't been that, hope I can continue into the week without it. It is annoying having to change your diet. Before I got reflux I was eating more fruit and vegetables as I had lost weight and wanted to be healthier. Many types of fruit are on my food to avoid list. I haven't been able to gain weight since I got reflux though. Christmas is going to be a struggle because a lot of festive food contains ingredients that make it flare up, but I will try not to consume many of them.

Dear Lesley, yes it is a very tiring process indeed. I am feeling frustrated but know I have to adjust my way of life so that's always clear in my head. I do know patience is key also and with that in mind I will get better.

My heartburn originally started a few years back when I noticed I could not eat anything spicy or any onions so have not really had any of those types of food for quite a while, oh and those foods did cause me heartburn right away so I knew that's what it was. I had no idea though that eating late at night or eating muffins would cause other issues for me like the diaphragm hurting early in the morning was due to that just did not connect the two for some reason. Of course I know now with your help.
I have been doing so much better in the last few weeks I just get so frustrated when my family gets to have fast food and there I am with my chicken and mashed potatoes but at least it's filling for me so that's good. Oh and like you I did notice I could not eat out or I would have bad heartburn right away and my stomach would hurt. The burning is random so I was not even connecting that until I read up on that a few months ago. Oh and by the way I always had a chocolate muffin late at night and would go to bed no wonder I would be in pain in the morning.. Yikes

Hey Lesley I hope you doing well today and having a low acid day and thanks for all your support you have inspired me to keep up the hard work, though a little tough at times I know I can do it. Much thanks, Vicki.

Hi chel666, I hope it continues for you too. Sounds like you may have some control over it and that is great. I agree Christmas is going to be tough I have noticed cantaloupe is a trigger for me of all things. I will also be diligent as well since getting advice from Lesley I have felt so much better not eating late at night is a big one for me, I hope you day is going well with no acid problems, Vicki.

To Lesley, I also wanted to say that I am awed by your perception of these issues including me being down in the dumps about it all. I am sure this will pass soon.

Thanks, Vicki.

So far this week I haven't had it bad, although last night I had some chest pain and felt the heaviness in my chest this morning.