HT,
No words of wisdom other than to say that used to often experience the same symptoms until I learned not to eat so much.

It is an extremely bad habit that I have and it seems ironic that it is taking this disease to make me diet as I should. Haven't loss enough to get down to normal but intend to take advantage of this until I do.

I do not like the IPF symptoms that I experience when I over eat. I have tried to eat better but not as much and every thing seems to work better that way for me.

Happy New Year, I'm still on vacation in Virginia, driving back to LA via Texas and won't be back until around the 22nd of January

Best regards,
Peg Leg Pete

I think that eating a heavy meal is a common problem in most people that have a lung illness. I was told that when one eats a large amount of food all the oxygen and blood provided by the heart and lungs goes to the stomach to help digest the food, so the lungs are burdened in the effort to breathe. Anyway, sounds reasonable to me. I usually eat my primary meal by 5 pm, and only have light snacks the rest of the evening, then I can sleep and breathe better. I'm usually housebound, but occasionally go out to lunch, and then I enjoy a full meal, although I still watch not to over-eat a lot. Some say just eat lots of small meals during the day, but that sounds like a lot of work to me. I've learned to listen to my body, which doesn't seem to do well with cold drinks, ice cream, chocolate, and a few other things I used to eat prior to getting sick with my lung problem, but am finding ways to enjoy some foods that work better. If you have weight issues that might add to your breathing problems, however, when I got sick I lost a lot of weight and have trouble keeping it on. I was told that due to a lack of oxygen my organs fed on my bone and muscle mass .. so now I have to eat enough to keep weight on .. go figure, everyone's experience is tailor made for them I guess, but watching the size of your food portions should help. Take care and best wishes.

Thanks so much for your experiences ... sometimes I just need a little reality check to make sure I'm not going crazy. :)

I am forever trying to figure out when I feel better and when I feel worse. I am sure it is certain foods and that it is overeating; also the weather seems to have some bearing. I am not sure whether it is where I live or everywhere. This summer I thought I was going to die at times. We have a lot of humidity. I try to keep up my social activities and there were times when I felt I should have stayed at home and maybe it will come to that. I can be ok sitting still, but any activity takes all I have; lots of pauses and deep breathing before I can get where I want to go.

Dear human touch my husband has PF and I am a RN. There are two things about eating the first when you eat at night or a big meal you are more likely to get acid reflux. You then go to sleep and since you are lying down the acid comes up in your throat and cause you to cough the worse thing is you can breath the acid into your lungs "that is why you cough it is your body way of keeping it out of your lungs" that acid will make your PF worse, so get ahold of your Dr. and get on something for the reflux and dont eat at least three hours before going to bed. Also overeating causes more acid and will cause you to feel short of breath for two reasons one is the acid irritates your throat and it swells and makes it harder to breath but mostly your stomach sits right up against your diaphragm and your diaphragm helps you breath which is also right under your lungs and the more food the bigger the stomach the less room for your lungs to move.