[squarejawhero]

I've been having these issues, an over-acidic stomach, for about 7 months now and they're starting to really irritate me. I've become less tolerant to alcohol, which makes me feel bloated and sick even after one glass of wine, I haven't figured out what foods do it but I get problematic now and again... even stress does it, makes me feel genuinely sick even if I want to be somewhere. Thing is, even when I'm totally relaxed and with no worries, sometimes it hits me.

I'm sitting here in Tokyo past midnight feeling really uncomfortable. The change of food and water, my body's jet lag and the usual whatever have combined to make me feel physically ok (no temperature to speak of, head's clear) but my stomach is bloated, uncomfortable and acidic... just plain upset... it's pissing me off as I'm going to be up because of it and I've got places to go tomorrow.

Anyone else have it? What do you do to stop it? I've stopped drinking alcohol, I'm not careful about what I eat though... need to figure out what it is that's doing it... could even be tomatoes as I had a tomato sauce tonight and last time it happened I had ketchup - my doc told me some guy is allergic to that purely! Red wine kills me off, which is sad as I love it.

*Sigh* Omeprazole seems to help, what my doc prescribed, as does Milk of Magnesium. I'm too young for this shit. I've had all the blood tests, ALL of them, and all normal. No Helicobactor Pylori thank god...

[Melanie68]

Be thankful you don't have Helico. I had that a few years ago and it's a month of 2 different antibiotics and an antacid FOUR times a day.

Frequent small meals throughout the day rather than a couple of bigger ones may help.

[Lucien21]

Yup i've had bouts of Reflux myself.

Not fun.

Like Mel says it's about having smaller meals and avoiding the foods that cause it.

[Jeysie]

I've also had some major bouts of reflux. I remember one fun episode a few months ago where I woke up at 4AM feeling like my chest and throat were on fire, and I had to wake my poor roommate and beg him to drive to a drug store and get me some antacid. Yikes.

In my case, it seemed to be my tendency to OD on spicy and salty foods (and stress, too)... once I spent several days eating blander food and drinking copious amounts of water the problem seemed to go away. In the meantime I was chomping on lots of Maalox tablets.

Peace & Luv, Liz

[Tramboi]

I have this too.
Cutting coffee and hot chocolates (at work) really helps, cutting alcohol doesn't have too much good effects. Losing weight is nice too (if you have some spare fat of course ).

[Lucien21]

SJH=Stick figure I doubt weight is a problem

[Tramboi]

Originally Posted by Lucien21

SJH=Stick figure I doubt weight is a problem

Hey I'm a (baobab) stick figure too!

BTW, tomato skin is a killer too, at least for me.

[jjacob]

I have this like once a year, don't know if it's related to your problem though, but it sure sounds like it. I have this "magic potion" (+3CON +2STR +2WIS for 7200 seconds ) called " Eau de Melisse des Carmes Boyer" which helps almost immediately, it's like a spice drink that contains 80% alcohol and 20% herbal extracts (melisse, angelique, muguet, cresson, citron, marjolaine, primevere, suage, romarin, lavanda, armoise, sariette, camomille, thym, coriandre, canelle, girofle, muscade, anis vert, fenouil, santal, racine d'angelique, racine de gentiane ) made by isolationist French warrior monks that supposedly separated from Catholicism and attempt to telekinetically kill the Pope once every three years in a ceremony in which they sacrifice 72 nuns to pagan gods (supposedly). Don't know about that last part, but I know it helps

[saucyminx]

I always find ginger is the best home remedy whenever I have stomach discomfort. Whether it's ginger in chicken soup or ginger tea for gastric or cramps, it always make me feel a lot better after that.

[Stoofa]

Sounds like stress to me, BUT have ou had any allergy tests done? My (ex) step-mother used to get really bad acid reflux, and it turned out she was allergic to tomatoes and beans (including soy products). She cut them out of her diet and she feels a lot better now.

[mszv]

Going to a doctor is not the worst thing in the world - to find out if it's a sign of something else, or severe enough that you need some prescription stuff.

For many of us, it's just a part of the aging process.

For mild gastric reflux/heartburn (still can cause quite a lot of discomfort) - the over the counter medications work great. In the US, I use "Tums". Let's see, the active ingredient is Calcium Carbonate. It works really fast. You might try getting a good non-prescription antacid, whatever it's called in your part of the world, and see if that does the trick.

I keep the stuff around, especially in my bedroom, for late at night. I also take a roll with me, always. Then I just eat and drink whatever I want, with no problem.

If I were you, I'd experiment - no need to stop drinking red wine (so very extreme) if a little over the counter medication does the trick.

[saucyminx]

*ahem* I'm not too keen on him drinking

[RLacey]

Originally Posted by mszv

Let's see, the active ingredient is Calcium Carbonate. It works really fast.

I'm really tempted to start powdering the limescale in the bottom of my kettle and start flogging a new brand of antacid ...

[mszv]

On drinking alcohol - let me backtrack. I'm not saying what one should or should not do. People's cultural, personal, and religious ideas on alcohol vary.

If you are the sort of person for whom alcohol is OK, it seems to be a shame to give up such a delightful drink as red wine because it stirs up acid reflux. I think a better solution is to figure out how to make it work - those good non prescription antacids work great for me.

Unless there is a real reason, such as a severe documented food allergy, I hate to think one has to give up anything that one likes to eat or drink - for good. Life is short. Within reason, I think that we all should be able to eat and drink what we want. Sure, eating healthy is good, but that just means eating a balanced diet, and not too much of foods that are high in fats and/or calories.

Oh, darn - one more thing. If you are old enough - remember all those stories about the ulcer diet - you know, bland stuff, various foods causing ulcers, all that. It's complete bunk. Ulcers, in particular peptic ulcers, are caused by bacteria. It's even debateable whether stress causes ulcers. Treatment primarily includes antibiotics, sometimes other stuff, and presto, if you follow the treatment the ulcer doesn't just get better - it heals and goes away. So, if you think that this might be an ulcer - get yourself to a doctor - for treatment.

[jjacob]

Originally Posted by mszv

Going to a doctor is not the worst thing in the world - to find out if it's a sign of something else, or severe enough that you need some prescription stuff.

Depends, I've been suspicious of the bastards ever since they misdiagnosed my wrist injury last year. I had a scooter (those Vespa-like things) accident at around 55mph which tore the flesh off my knee and injured my wrist. After the recovery I went to have an x-ray made. A student-aged doctor took a look at the x-ray and cleared me of any injury, but the x-ray looked rather weird to me (there was no distinction between bone and flesh, my entire wrist and hand looked entirely white), so I asked him about it and he claimed that I was just misinterpreting the picture. Three months later I started having real problems with it, seriously limited range of motion, sudden pains etc. after which I went to another hospital to have another x-ray made (which looked like an actual x-ray this time around), turns out a bone between my thumb and index finger had been broken ever since the accident, and two pieces of it were just floating around in my hand, on top of which the remaining bones were growing back in the wrong direction So I got a couple of peniciline and whatnot injections and now everything is fine, except for my faith in doctors

Sorry, just had to get that rant off my chest

[Melanie68]

Originally Posted by mszv

On drinking alcohol - let me backtrack. I'm not saying what one should or should not do. People's cultural, personal, and religious ideas on alcohol vary.

If you are the sort of person for whom alcohol is OK, it seems to be a shame to give up such a delightful drink as red wine because it stirs up acid reflux. I think a better solution is to figure out how to make it work - those good non prescription antacids work great for me.

Unless there is a real reason, such as a severe documented food allergy, I hate to think one has to give up anything that one likes to eat or drink - for good. Life is short. Within reason, I think that we all should be able to eat and drink what we want. Sure, eating healthy is good, but that just means eating a balanced diet, and not too much of foods that are high in fats and/or calories.

Oh, darn - one more thing. If you are old enough - remember all those stories about the ulcer diet - you know, bland stuff, various foods causing ulcers, all that. It's complete bunk. Ulcers, in particular peptic ulcers, are caused by bacteria. It's even debateable whether stress causes ulcers. Treatment primarily includes antibiotics, sometimes other stuff, and presto, if you follow the treatment the ulcer doesn't just get better - it heals and goes away. So, if you think that this might be an ulcer - get yourself to a doctor - for treatment.

psssst.... he's been to a doctor

Originally Posted by SJH

*Sigh* Omeprazole seems to help, what my doc prescribed, as does Milk of Magnesium. I'm too young for this shit. I've had all the blood tests, ALL of them, and all normal. No Helicobactor Pylori thank god...

[Tanukitsune]

I have a very weak stomach, I have a hiatal hernia and must be very careful what I eat, and I just recover from acute gastroenteritis....

So I guess I know how it feels, I mean I can't really eat spciy foods and such, yet my parents still give me tacos and wonder why I feel awful the next day...

Oh yeah, I have tons of Omeprazol at home...

[nikoniko]

When living in the US full-time, I controlled my acid reflux by drinking kefir a couple of times per day. For general indigestion that sometimes crops up, I've always eaten ginger in some form - that'll clear up most any tummy ache in 20 or 30 minutes.

Since coming to Japan, eating natto (a stinky fermented soybean product) every morning has taken the place of kefir. Soy sauce has some of the same benefits, so if I'm going to be eating something I know could bother me, I make sure to drown something from my meal in soy sauce and that together with the morning natto keeps me from getting symptoms most of the time.

Of course, avoiding things you know give you problems could be one solution, but for me when there's a way to keep enjoying the things I love I'd rather do that.

I have taken medicine for the reflux before, but when natural remedies proved just as effective I gave it up. At least as far as digestion goes, I've found that the collective wisdom of thousands of years of eating can be quite helpful.

[mszv]

Geez, I'm such a flake - it would help if I actually read the last paragraph of what SJH said, that's he's been to the doctor! My sincere apologies.

So, short post this time - take the meds the doctor recommended - and if you are supposed to take them on a schedule, take them on a schedule - and keep regular antacids on hand, for other times it gets bad (antacids aren't going to hurt you), and just try not to worry about it, if that makes sense. Some of those natural remedies also sound good to me, particularly if there is food involved!

And, I'll try to read the whole post next time.

I'm so sorry for anyone who can't eat what they want. My acid reflux is controllable by over the counter antacids, and for that I'm grateful.

[Tramboi]

Originally Posted by jjacob

Depends, I've been suspicious of the bastards ever since they misdiagnosed my wrist injury last year. I had a scooter (those Vespa-like things) accident at around 55mph which tore the flesh off my knee and injured my wrist.

Get a Lambretta or a Piaggio