Reflux (in adults) - does diet help?

[Bproud]

I take lanzoprozole for reflux which is probably caused by a small hiatus hernia, and am usually fine, but suffer relapses, resulting in reflux in the form of constant burping (very embarrassing) and pain in my chest and oesophagus. Has anyone found that changing their diet has helped? I don't smoke or drink alcohol and avoid fruit juices at the moment. Any suggestions for managing this would be appreciated.

have you had an endoscopy?

tomato based food, onions ,cheese, garlic products, fatty products like pizza, chips ,crisps and dried fruit give me pain so i avoid them.

i personally find that as long as I take Omeprazole every day without fail, I am fine so long as I don't over eat! With me it seems to be the amount of food, rather than the actual food.

In general, don't overdo anything. If its flaring up avoid the obvious things like fizzy drinks and spicy food. If you are still struggling to pinpoint your triggers make sure you are eating smaller (but perhaps more frequent) meals for now.

I have also found tea (or perhaps I should say hot drinks) can set my reflux off if its not under control

btw - I have had no endoscopy etc.

I chose to change my diet rather than taking the medicine (lanzoprazole etc) because I found the pills were doing something which left me deficient of some vitamins etc.

Now I know my trigger foods and my limits, tomatoes are my main ones but there are some others. When I am on the correct diet I feel brilliant, no bloating, no pain, no acid, no excess wind from either end. Because if I don't eat right it hurts, then it helps me stay on the straight and narrow.

Well mostly.

Some tips here - avoid overeating etc
www.webmd.com/heartburn-gerd/ss/slideshow-heartburn-foods?ecd=wnl_wmh_092514_tod_9am&ctr=wnl-wmh-092514-tod-9am_ld-stry&mb=vOnxNr5l1nnufRn60S0BeShonS%2fH3cwycwBSsA%40%40PCE%3d

Thanks for your comments, I had an edoscopy, they found the hernia but said it was not worth operating. I think you are right about the foods like crisps and nuts, I don't have many tomatoes and try to eat healthily generally. I will have a look at the Great taste no pain, that sounds interesting..

I've had the operation and you have to change your diet after anyway so it's definitely worth the change at this stage instead.

My reflux was pretty horrific, I regurgitated constantly. It was seriously embarrassing ;). I found blander foods helped, I call it the white carb diet. So not a salad at lunch but a sandwich, mashed potato and chicken with well cooked veg.

I avoided foods that would create too much gas. Although chilli and cheese was fine strangely! Coffee is bad, so it chocolate for a lot of people as they both relax the valve at the top of the stomach allowing acid back up. Chewing gum is not a good idea either as it encourages you to swallow air.

I had to travel to london for tests to assess if the condition was serious enough for surgery, it was a tube that I had in place for 24hrs that monitored the flow of acid up the gullet. Has this been suggested? The endoscopy can't see that bit does check for barrets. I didn't have any inflammation despite having severe reflux so the endoscopy would have ruled me out of surgery! If it is having a bad impact or gets hard to live with push for more support. People who don't have reflux can't understand the impact of it.

redcherries Thank you so much for that information, I will certainly bear it in mind for the future. Can you eat whatever you like now that you have had the op?

I am doing some food combining ATM and the symptons do seem to have eased a bit, I'm not sure my life is worth living without chocolate though