is it possible to exercise with GERD

HI ALL,
Thisis my fisrt time on thsi post ..and i am i relieved to realize i am not alone.......
my syptoms of GERD started at the gym ..i dont know how they say that this is a disease for people who eat fatty foods or are obese i have never been obese tho . i did gain nsome weight in my pregnancy.
i have been vey active going to the gym almost 5 days a week until one day i felt this piercing pain right under my heart ..i panicked and rushed to the hospital ..they eliminated heart condition and the doctor told me it was probably due to acidity ......or a muscle
well it is now 6 months later and after many visits to the they decided to do all tests to eliminat ecertain prob and the only conclusion the doctors could comeup with was GERD ..This was after tehy did an endoscopy...many peolpe thot i was just stresed and imaginig the pain..
since i started feelign the acidity i have become very scared of doign any vigorous activities because every time i engange in some activity like jogging the pain becomes so intense..
i am now on constant medication and the heartburn relieves only like 2 hours the whole day ..its terrible
can anyone tell me whether there are soem exercises i can start doing that will not induce acidity or make it worse...
and why do i feel dizzy adn paniky when the acidity is most intense ?
i am glad i found this site and hope to hear from you all

I agree with Lady.......everyone has different things with GERD that they just can not do.  It is a live and learn experience.  I am able to exercise going to Curves (ever hear of it?) and have been doing so for about a year and a half now with no problems.   Most Curves offer a free day or two try it out special and I say it is worth a try, especially if maybe this will work for you.  It is a great 30 minute work out working every muscle of your body.  The support I get there from the other members and the staff is great.  Just a thought!!!       Debi

its just like eating, frequent and light.

i follow these rules:
1)keep torso vertical(no wrestling, no bending)
2)dont change level quickly (dont jump,run, get thrown)
3)dont strain self
4)dont involve your diafragm

this eliminates most fun sports, but some ideas:

walking
cycling machine
handbike machine
most isolated leg exercises
a couple of arm lifting excerses (as long as the diafragm is not involved)

chew gum(trident for frequent use;doesnt rot teeth as much) while you excersise because you WILL experience some reflux and saliva helps wash it down

this is from personal experience of 8years w/gerd and everyday PPIs (which I rotate everymonth to avoid building up tollerance)

-roman

Hi Joy,

I've posted on this site some years ago and I wasn't really intending to start a thread. I just wanted to share my experience with the rest of the world, because now I believe that exercise is key for acid reflux (and unguided exercise is the cause of my gerd).

I am pretty sure now that I damaged my diaphragm while weight lifting in 2001 (then I was 21 and completely healthy). Since they I was stupid enough to do Judo for 1.5 yrs, until stabbing chest pains DURING practice convinced me to leave the sport.

After that I played some recreational soccer, because I believed it was lighter... and then LPR began! That made me VERY sensitive to reflux (as opposed to before when I would only feel the burn couple of days after exercise and couldn't correlate the two). With LPR I could feel it start as soon as I began working out. I felt terrible with my throat being burned and I also considered surgery, but my doctor is completely against it (because there are no good lasting results apparently).

Now that I've been exercising very little, very lightly and by following these rules, I don't feel LPR and I barely feel any GERD (thank god). My motivation for avoiding diaphragm exercises is that its connected to the stomach and hiatal hernia of the diaphragm is the cause of reflux for some people. The motivation for not changing level and staying vertically upwards is because the cause of GERD is that the stomach doesn't close at the top. So your goal becomes similar to carrying water in a cup without spilling it. Finally, a lot of reflux is caused by stomach spasms, which become more frequent with physical/emotional stress, so I avoid intense exercise.

As a side note, I found this regarding your polyps (doesn't seem like its anything to be concerned about).
http://www.hon.ch/OESO/free/Vol_6_Barrett_s_Esophagus/Articles/vol2/art008.html

Can I ask how old you are and what PPIs you've taken, and do you have H Pylori (I assume you are female)?

I've been on nexium for almost 7 years now... Maxium dose (80mg) and 300 Zantac for almost four years.

Yes, I'm a female. Joy is my given name. :)
My email name used to be my father's, but I took it over.

No, I've never had H. Pylori.

I've been researching the polyps, too. There is a small chance of them changing to something else, though. My grandpa died of stomach and pancreatic cancer, so I'm very careful of my stomach.

Joy

Ugh I hate GERD.  Yup, bending over after eating and drinking?  Not good.  Add a burp in there and it's like trying to choke down vomit.

I do go to the gym.  Okay, I TRY to go to the gym.  I really need to go more.  But when I do I go in the morning with an empty stomach.  I don't run on the treadmill, I do a brisk walk. 3.0 if that means anything to ya.  I go for 3 miles, which takes me an hr.  (I did say walk lol)  Then I do light weights.  I think you'd be fine if you went on an empty stomach.