After doing a lot of research ... would like to share this thought with you. In your mind, imagine a rubber hot water bottle, half filled with water, lying on its side, with a small hole in the uppermost side. No water will escape through this hole unless you put pressure on it.
If however it is filled to capacity, water will escape through the hole even though it is lying on its side, without any pressure on it of any kind.
Put any pressure on your stomach, and it will reflux whatever it has to spare ... acid .. (whether you have too little or too much acid in your stomach ... there is ALWAYS acid present ..) or half digested food, or mucus, etc -
So .. eat small meals, do not put any pressure of what ever kind on your stomach, don't wear tight clothes, don't sleep on your stomach, don't sit on straight backed chairs for a long time which puts a lot of pressure on your stomach. And chew and chew and chew your food so that it can digest quicker.
Stay away from spicy food like curries, or carbonated drinks ..avoid anything that might cause a mini tsunami in your stomach ... the waves created will wash right through your LES into your throat!
Some people find they can drink coffee or tea, others say they cannot .. but maybe it depends on when you have same? If we have our cuppa just after a meal ... of course it will affect us, we are forcing it thru the hole!! .. maybe we should enjoy our cuppa when our stomachs contain very little food?
Stay away from peppermint and menthol products, whether lozenges or cough remedies containing same .. it will relax your LES and make things worse.
So treat your tummies very gently .... and should anybody have learnt lessons which would make life easier for all of us, please share!
Regards to all, Cecelia
Post Edited (Cecelia) : 1/3/2011 11:15:14 PM (GMT-7)