"Eric Bohlman" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...
Quoted message said:"Kathy Burke" <leavemealone> wrote in :"]news:[email hidden]:
Quoted message said:I had my gallbladder removed around 13 years ago. Since then during the night I'm woken up by
"acid" - or more accurately I become aware of the acid if I wake up - and then it seems to get
worst. So I've been taking a single Zantac before going to bed each night which keeps the
symptoms at bay. Taking Zantac long-term to mask these symptoms may not be a good thing. So I'm
looking for some alternative approaches to try and any opinions on some of these ideas would be
appreciated.
I think the first thing you need to do is consult a gastroenterologist and try to find out what's
really going on, rather than guessing.
Excellent advice.
Quoted message said:
Quoted message said:As I understand it the cause of the extra acid may be a constant dripping of bile into my
digestive system - whereas before it was all nicely stored in my little sac! A question I have
pondered is,
That doesn't make any sense physiologically, because bile enters the small intestine well past the
point where it joins the stomach, and except
during
Quoted message said:vomiting, the contents of the small intestine don't flow backwards into
the
Quoted message said:stomach. Acid reflux symptoms are usually due to the contents of the stomach (which again doesn't
normally contain bile) leaking back up into the lower portion of the esophagus.
There is such a thing as bile reflux as it is in the medical books though the first poster proposed
mechanism doesn't make any sense to me.
Quoted message said:
Quoted message said:whereas most people are advised NOT to eat before they go to bed, should I consider doing the
reverse and eat just before going to bed in order to absorb the acids whilst I sleep? If so any
ideas on what would be the best thing to eat ie should it be easily digestibly foods such as
carbohydrates - or should it be the reverse ie say "meat" or pulses to take longer to use the
"juices". Or am I on the completely wrong track? Or should I just shut-up and keep taking the
antacids?
The reason for not eating before going to bed (it should really be phrased as "not lying down
within two hours after eating"😉 is that the combination of the pressure in the stomach from it
being full (or at least non-empty) and the effects of gravity from lying down will increase the
pressure on the sphincter that normally keeps stomach contents out of the esophagus, and this will
allow some stomach contents to back up.
The person need to raise the head of their bed. Indeed, raising the head of the bed beyond the
standard suggest works much better in preventing reflux. The reflux sufferer should sleep on their
left side to the extent possible as this also help prevent reflux.
Quoted message said:
I think you need to do something different, but first you need to find out what's really going on.
You're probably right that shutting up and just taking the antacids is a band-aid approach.
H-2 blocker don't suppress stomach acid enough to fully prevent acid reflux. Proton pump inhibitors
are much more effective to the point a suffer can dare to sleep in a normal bed with a noctural
relux acid burn. Long term use of PPI or H-2 blockers impair vitamin B-12 and folic acid status.
Further long term adverse effects in PPI cause so Docs to suggest to patient that they only take
PPIs on a as needed basis. And then when needing them the patient takes them for a number of weeks
to get the reflux problem in remission. In bad case, some take PPIs for the day and then take a H-2
blocker to reduce late night acid break thru which happens in at least some taking PPI's.
Quoted message said:It's possible that your symptoms aren't due to acid reflux at all. A gastroenterologist can rule
out some rather unlikely, but potentially serious, causes of your
symptoms.
Excellent point.
It is bedtime.............. .................W.A. Noyes
