Anyone specifically have insomnia with GERD? What has helped get a good night's rest?

How do you get a good night's rest with reflux?

Apart from taking PPIs for acid. What about non acid?

How long do you wait after eating and after drinking to go to sleep? Does type of food make a difference? Any optimum angle to sleep on? Any side? Does Maalox really absorb bile? If you do wake up with reflux, what do you do that helps get back asap? Other tips?

Hi Marcello,

Here are a few of my ideas on the subject...

 

How long do you wait after eating and after drinking to go to sleep?

I was told by my doctor to wait 3-(ideally)4 hours after eating before lying down.

Does type of food make a difference?

The more you avoid trigger foods, the better.  Everyone's triggers are different, though, although there are some that most share. 

Any optimum angle to sleep on?

I was told 7-8" elevation of the head of the bed.  Any more than that and you'll slide right off. Whole bed tilt is better than a wedge, as you can slide down and get bent in the middle--thus creating pressure on the stomach.

Any side?

Here's a quote from WebMD:

"Try sleeping on your left side. Some studies have shown that this helps with digestion, simply because of a quirk of the body's design. Sleeping on your right side seems to be most likely to aggravate symptoms."

Does Maalox really absorb bile?

I don't know much about this.  I do know that Carafate is (according to my GI doc) the drug of choice for treating bile reflux.  It coats the esophagus and protects it.

Here is an abstract that might have some interesting information:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3171934

If you do wake up with reflux, what do you do that helps get back asap?

People with severe, high volume reflux usually find it helpful to have a recliner to sleep on when they're having difficulty with reflux.  Generally a quick-acting antacid like Maalox or Gavascon is found to be helpful.

 

Other tips?

I always found that water helped put out the fire.  This doesn't work for everyone, but did for me.  In fact, Tums never worked unless followed by a good drink of water.

So am I to assume you're still struggling wth a lot of reflux?

Sorry to hear that.

Best wishes...hope things improve soon.

Denise

I am the only person I've ever heard recommend this treatment; however, I have been actively suggesting it, as I found that it worked to stop my non-acid reflux cold.

This is ONLY for night-time, and only for volume-reflux (I doubt it helps heartburn symptoms, but it did completely stop my non-acid liquid reflux that was causing me to aspirate vomitus and choke when I was either falling asleep or sleeping):

Simple steps:

1- Do not eat for at least 4 hours prior to sleep

2- DO NOT DRINK ANYTHING at least 4 hours prior to sleep.

3- Just prior to sleep, consume up to 5 Metamucil Capsules (Psyllium Husk) with as little water as you can possibly use to swallow them. NOTE: I would always start with 2 capsules and then wait 10 minutes, take another capsule if necessary, and wait 10 minutes, repeat. I never needed more than 4 capsules myself.

The reason I believe this works is that the Psyllium Husk absorbs all the liquid contents of your stomach and forms a non-refluxable gel.

The instructions on Metamucil clearly state that it is to be taken with a lot of water. I can't vouch for the long-term safety of this method, but I can say that in the months leading up to my Nissen Fundoplication (5 weeks ago tomorrow), I was unable to sleep due to the choking and anxiety in anticipation of choking. I went for a period of 14 days sleeping only 2 nights. I judged that the safety of going for weeks at a time without sleep was more substantial than taking Metamucil in an off-label way. You need to judge the risks for yourself, as I have no medical training and I'm not a doctor.

I will say that once I found this solution, I had a lot of second-guessing about proceeding with my surgery, as I finally was able to resolve the worst of the symptoms of my GERD. I opted to go ahead because I realized that not eating or drinking for at least 4 hours prior to sleep for my entire life would not be a practical answer. It is, however, very practical as a short-term, or periodic solution.

If you try this and it works, please post your result. I have asked others to do so in the past, and I'd like to spread the word about this miraculous solution to others who are suffering as we both have (and you currently are).

Best wishes!

(edit: NOTE - once you have taken the Metamucil, make sure not to eat or drink anything. That should be obvious, but if you drink anything - even a sip of water - after the gel has formed in your stomach, it actually could reflux more easily and really ruin your night).

Obsid, may I ask how you came across this solution and if there are any similar ones? Very creative and I'll try to post my own results!

Marcello said...
Obsid, may I ask how you came across this solution and if there are any similar ones? Very creative and I'll try to post my own results!

Hi Marcello,

Just like you said, I was searching for something that would act like a sponge in my stomach. I actually researched edible sponges. I guess I came up with the idea gradually, as I experimented with eating things just before bed. Sometimes I found that things with a lot of salt (potato chips for example) would postpone my reflux, but as my reflux got progressively worse, those things didn't seem to work as well.

One day I just broke down and bought a bunch of things from the supermarket and ran some experiments. I took a teaspoon of various things, like flour and jello powder, and put them in a 1/4 cup of water to see if they would absorb it and become pasty. The thing that worked by far the best was Metamucil. That night, I tried taking the capsules, and I was amazed. It took about 30 minutes really to start working, but sure enough, the volume reflux was gone for the night!

The capsules contain 535 mg Psyllium Husk

Cheers!

After I discovered that this solution worked for me, I did it every night for about 5 weeks. Ironic that I discovered this technique after I had made plans to have a Nissen Fundoplication. After the surgery, I haven't needed to do it any more.

The way I always did it was that I would take 2 capsules and then wait 10 minutes and test how it was working. (I usually tried to stay upright after I took the capsules, but I'm not sure that was really necessary). I'd lie down and turn onto my side and see what happened. Usually, I'd get reflux, so I'd take another capsule and wait 10 minutes. Often that was enough to work (3 capsules) but more often, I'd need one more. I was always prepared to take a fifth capsule, but I found that I never needed to. 3 or 4 always did the trick for me.

After about the first 10 days, I started to get a feel for when I knew that 2 capsules just wouldn't do it, and I'd start with 3 just to save time. I was very cautious at first, fearing that if I took too many, I'd make my situation worse, but after I got the hang of it, I felt more comfortable sometimes just taking all 4 at once if I was particularly tired and not wanting to wait and test...

I'm lucky in that I have a good swallowing ability, so I was able to take the capsules with minimal water - just a sip really - with each cap. I always thought that the more water I took with the capsules, the less fluid they would absorb from my stomach, so I tried to take as little water as I could.