UKC

I've been diagnosed with GORD as the reason for some severe gastric reflux, and medicated up with PPIs to stop the acid reflux.
I've also been told that I've got to stop drinking coffee & tea, alcohol and fizzy drinks, and not eat any spicy food, fatty foods, tomatoes, onions or garlic, amongst other stuff. As that lot pretty much constitutes my main diet, I'm finding it hard, especially the lack of coffee (banging headaches, filthy mood and no energy at all this week).

Does anyone have any survival tips for it, as it looks like I'm stuck with it so need to adapt but really don't want to live without all the delicious stuff I've previously enjoyed.

In reply to Bimble:

First off, i'm not a doctor, so anything of what i say doesn't take precedence to what your doctor tells you. He/she is the one that actually paid attention at school and got himself a degree.

I have had bouts of gastric reflux and since getting a doc appointment where i'm at is harder than getting invited for tea with the queen, i went the self-help approach and tried to identify what foods do it.

Your case may vary, and it would probably be wise to stop everything for a while as acid reflux can really cause damage.

FWIW, for me is when i take in excess fatty dairies (brie, camembert, etc) butter (loads of well lathered toast) and garlic again only when in excess and when mixed with the items above. (i.e. the garlic baguettes you buy frozen will really do me up for a full day).

Everything else in your list i'm personaly fine with. Just normal fresh garlic in food is ok, i drink loads of coffee, put onion on everything, not issues with alcohol or tomatoes either. I don't eat spicy food, so no idea on that.

Good luck

In reply to Bimble:
I have had very bad reflux ever since I had my gallbladder out. I've not found a link to foods, but stress really kicks it off. Bad reflux gives me stress, which makes for a bad day.

Treatment wise I try to reduce the stress, and relax, or change scenery for a while. Failing that I glugg a bit of gaviscon, or if really bad I hit the ranitadine. I try to limit the drugs as I feel, probably wrongly, that if you are inhibiting the body doing something it wants to do, it just tries harder causing reliance on the drugs.

None of this probably helps, but I do sympathise with you.

Edited to add that if you stress that eating something will affect you, it probably will one way or another.

In reply to Bimble:

I was diagnosed with it ages ago and was told the same by the doctor - stop eating and drinking all the fun/nice things and that's just not gonna happen (I do likes my beer). Basically these days I just always have a pack or two of Bisodol on me at all times. I've found nothing else even nearly as good at stopping it. When it's bad I can do a pack of Rennie in a go and it won't even touch it but two or three Bisodol always seems to.

Try them - they're my chalky white saviours.

Good luck

In reply to Bimble:

Caffeine withdrawal is nasty, but you are probably nearly at the end of it.

In reply to Bimble:

I'm not a doctor, but these are the things I've tried - and they seem to work:

If GORD affects you at night, try sleeping on your left side. This works because the bulk of the stomach is hanging downwards, and because the muscle at the entrance to the stomach from oesophagus is uppermost. This muscle gets weaker as you get older, allowing stomach acid into the oesophagus and refluxing into the mouth when the stomach is 'inverted'.

Don't eat your evening meal after 6 o'clock, and have a sugar-free hot milky drink before bedtime (I use unadulterated cocoa powder like 'Bournville' and sweeten it with stevia such as 'Truvia').

I only drink coffee in the morning - tea thereafter.

If I do all these things, I have no need to take medication like Omeprazole or Gaviscon - and I get a good night's sleep.

In reply to Bimble:

Have you had an endoscopy to confirm your condition ?

In reply to Bimble:

In my experience (besides all the aforementioned food choices) the type of tap water you drink can make a lot of difference. Try switching to bottled water or using a Brita type filter for a few months, especially if you drink a lot of tea and coffee.

In reply to muppetfilter:


Not yet, I'm waiting to see the gastroenterologist, I'm just going on the diagnosis of my GP.

In reply to Bimble:


I had an endoscopy this year and it found a hiatus hernia and also damage to my esophagus. The good news is that the Omeprazole seems to completely sort me out and I can still enjoy the occasional curry/beer without any reflux now

In reply to Bimble:

Yep, I had it on and off from 2005, had every test known to man including an endoscopy, was told to avoid everything you were (which constituted my entire diet) and prescribed lansoprazole - which I only took when I needed to. I'm happy to say that despite now eating and drinking exactly what I did before, I haven't had any reoccurrence apart from an occasional night for over two years, and have been discharged from hospital, so in short, don't despair!

JW

In reply to John Ww:

Hallelujah! I'm just about to make a pasta sauce from cauliflower and hearing that sort of thing makes me feel so much bettt that this strictly healthy nonsense isn't forever.

In reply to Bimble:

Heavy puddings like apple pie or chocolate pudding and ice cream may seem soothing, but cause a massive increase in gastric acid secretion moreso than fat and spice.

In reply to Bimble:

No problem - just remember to keep the Gaviscon / lansoprazole next to the bed in case you need it

JW

In reply to John Ww:

I'm on 60mg of Lansoprazole a day at the moment anyway. And just about to investigate a beer....

In reply to Bimble:

I had a bout of this after a stressful period this summer. Went to a specialist, and he said to use this thing we have here called Nyco 3 times a week, stop eating 3 hours before bed, and have some milk as the last meal. Otherwise, keep trucking.

Now I haven't noticed it for probably over a month.

In reply to Bimble:

I had food poisoning in Poland that saw me puking blood for several days. When I came back I had stomach problems for ages until, after a thorough investigation, I was diagnosed with something or other stomachy and given Omeprazole. "The edoscopy was fun!" said no one - ever. I had no more stomach problems but while I was taking the medication I lost all of my toenails (played a lot of footy and squeezed my feet into tight climbing shoes) and broke several ribs and my ankle (footy again) and always had the sneaking suspicion that the omeprazole had something to do with it.

In reply to Morty:

If I ever have to have one of those down my gullet again I'm choosing the sedation option

In reply to wercat:

Me too. The constant feeling of gagging and choking and nurse's joking that "ooh, love, you've done this before!" did nothing to improve the situation. He was very gentle though.

In reply to Bimble:
I was getting gastric reflux a couple of years ago and was told to cut out all the same things. Lanspoprazol did no good and the symptoms got steadily worse.
For about 18 months I had worsening symptoms and 2 endoscopes later I was still struggling and it gradually became harder to get solid food down. Think about not being able to eat anything with bread, potatoes, or needs much chewing. Most meals were punctuated with trips to the loo to throw up. I usually had about 20 seconds notice.
Turns out I had achalasea where the oesophagus stops working. It's a miserable condition and I was functioning on protein milkshakes and soup or noodles eventually. I think I lost about 4 stone.
It was eventually diagnosed by a specialist and an op has pretty much put it right but I need to eat slowly. Achalasea is quite rare but not extremely so. I am only saying this so you don't blindly accept the diagnosis. If the tablets don't work and things get worse seek another opinion.
I was lucky, some people struggle with it for a lot longer before getting diagnosed.

In reply to Bimble:

Not me personally, but my daughter. It took more years than is reasonable to get a proper diagnosis and we all now have a modified diet - not the same as you, but challenging for some time. Needs more time than I've got now, but when I get a chance I'll get back on with what we do. You get used to it and it becomes the new normal.