Teen w reflux - how can I realistically help him?

[JustDanceAddict]

Unfortunately DS - late teens - has been diagnosed w acid reflux (silent variety so w sore throat/clearing throat) symptoms. He also has quite bad anxiety/ocd (is having therapy atm privately). GP has prescribed omeprazole which need to be taken half hour or so pre-food at same time each day.
His wake-up times are erratic as he works some days so he can be up any time from 8am-11am if he’s not working. If he’s up early for work he's always rushing & eats first then showers (he could change this I suppose).
Also the lifestyle changes are gonna be hard to implement- no alcohol (or v rarely being realistic), no spicy, no chocolate, no citrus etc. He just won’t be able to do it - I won’t buy it in but I can’t control what he eats when he’s out. Plus he always has a hot drink before bed which isn’t ideal so he might have to drink a herbal drink.
On the one hand he needs to do all this to get better but on the other I don’t want to scare him with the facts that not doing it can make things worse/more ill. He picked up his prescription yesterday but hasn’t taken it yet.
My GORD/reflux started like his w the throat, and I’m still finding it hard to manage doing all the ‘right’ things - PPIs aren’t really effective on me (have had quite a few tests) so I’m really sad for him that he had to struggle too.

It might go away after being a little strict with his diet for a few weeks, you never know! I know people who have suffered with it who took the PPIs/followed the diet, for it then to disappear and they’ve been able to go back to eating whatever they liked.

As for not having time to take it in the morning, it can be taken at night on an empty stomach. I’ve found I get less reflux myself using it that way, when I used to have constant flare ups that kept me from eating.

Experiment with his triggers one by one. He may not be bothered by some of them. I can’t eat citrus or garlic but am fine with chocolate, of all things.

Good luck! It’s a stressful thing to live with but it can be managed.

I take Omeprazole but I take it any old time during the day and it still works fine. Just not to worry about the strictness of timing the tablet it's one less thing to worry about.
The tablet might work fine but they can take two to three weeks to work well so be patient.