Monday, January 7, 2008

Coping with acid reflux at Christmas

The Christmas and New Year season is well and truly over now especially for us acid reflux disease sufferers. I have been finishing off all the bad stuff you get at this time of year and I am definitely starting by acid reflux diet tomorrow.

If you are like me the amount of food and drink consumed over the holiday period can really make you Ill if you suffer constant heartburn.

There is nothing worse at the Christmas holiday period after all the build up than going out with your friends or work colleagues and having a severe bout of heartburn. The whole night can be ruined as the more you eat and drink the worse it gets. It can be even worse for someone who suffers from acid reflux disease but does not know they actually have it.

The best thing you can do if you suffered a lot of heartburn over Christmas is to get checked out by your doctor, who can advise you and send you for tests. If it is found you have acid reflux disease then you can be treated and there is really no need to suffer the constant pain of sever heartburn.

I have personally been trying to cut down on the amount of medication I take and have been seeking more natural cures. But over the holiday period I know that it is not viable in my own case so a couple of days before my first Christmas outing I started taking my acid reflux medication regularly again. I upped the dose from the 10 mg that I am supposed to be on to 20 mg and I have taken this everyday into the New Year. I must say that I never had any problems and saw in both the Cyprus and UK New Years in with coypus amounts of alcohol which did not affect my stomach. This is what I call good forward planning.

I am now back to taking my medication only when I need it and have had a couple of bouts of acid reflux since cutting back on the medication. When these have happened I have been taking Bicarbonate of soda which almost instantly stops the acid reflux for me.

The other night after stopping the medication I had to sit up in bed most of the night as I was still in holiday mode and ate too late. This is when I wish I had an electrical adjustable bed so that I can manoeuvre myself into the correct position with as little fuss as possible. Maybe I can get one in the future as they are great for stopping that night time acid reflux.

Of course I could practice what I preach and get myself an acid reflux pillow which is not as luxurious as the acid reflux adjustable bed but is a much cheaper option, although I have never seen any wedge pillows in Cyprus where I live.

Anyway I am looking forward to curing or finding better ways to handle my acid reflux this year.

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