# Acid reflux woes **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 20, 2025, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acid-reflux-woes/1018561 "2025-05-20T03:12:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hal1776](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ecae2f/32.png) [@Hal1776](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal1776)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2025, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acid-reflux-woes/1018561/1 "2025-05-20T03:12:16Z")
I have had acid reflux my entire life, and I need not one surgery, but two, as my reflux has completely ruined my teeth. On top of having a TIF procedure, I will also have to have all of my teeth extracted and replaced with dentures. this sucks big time. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2025, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acid-reflux-woes/1018561/2 "2025-05-20T06:51:51Z")
I bet you’re not sleeping well, either. We bought a bed frame add-on that tilts the mattress/box springs (my head is eight inches higher than my feet when lying down). Does the trick — unless I eat some chocolate just before bedtime. Yours is obviously worse; I feel for you. Good luck with your procedure. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2025, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acid-reflux-woes/1018561/3 "2025-05-20T07:38:09Z")
I have lost a lot of weight which has reduced occurrences of acid reflux dramatically. > [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > unless I eat some chocolate just before bedtime. Until I do that. I really have to learn to snack an hour or more earlier. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2025, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acid-reflux-woes/1018561/4 "2025-05-20T07:54:15Z")
I have to take powerful acid reducing drugs, which have a number of long-term risks. But they have reduced my acid reflux. Sometimes i get neutral reflux, which is kind of gross, but less likely to lead to cancer and tooth problems than the acid kind. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2025, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acid-reflux-woes/1018561/5 "2025-05-20T11:20:55Z")
My wife’s reflux is not as bad as you all’s, but it does need to be managed. One way we manage it is by not eating large meals later than 5 pm-ish. It bugs us when we make dinner plans with others and they treat it as a choice of ours rather than a medical necessity, they’ll make repeated comments about how we WANT to eat early, or they say we’ll eat early, but then serve dinner much later than indicated when. plans were made. Hell - with me working (mostly) at home, many are the days that we eat our big meal of the day by 10 am, and finish the day with nothing other than salads (and/or ice cream! ;)) ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2025, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acid-reflux-woes/1018561/6 "2025-05-20T12:32:21Z")
Honestly, i think i just wouldn’t eat dinner with you, except possibly some special thing on vacation. That’s too early for it to be my dinner. I’m still working then. I have friends that I’m temporally incompatible with. Most of them are on a _later_ schedule than i am, not earlier. I bet you wake up before me, too. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2025, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acid-reflux-woes/1018561/7 "2025-05-20T13:19:28Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > I’m still working then. 7 days a week? 😉 You’ve never joined anyone for an afternoon cookout? What time DO you eat dinner? Funny how people get in different habits. When I was a kid, dinner was always at 530, and we did it similarly when our kids were young. Anything after 6 just seems too late for us. On the rare occasions that we eat out, we generally leave the restaurant just as it is filling up. Early bird specials - here we come! 😉 Like I said, once I started working at home, we quickly began eating whatever we want whenever we want. On a daily basis, our eating schedules are completely unpredictable and at odds with just about anyone else. We’ve found that we prefer having our biggest meal earlier in the day - if not 10 am, then for lunch or - say - by 3-4 pm. Nether of us likes to go to sleep with our bellies full of food. Of course, we tend to go to bed quite early, and wake early. ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2025, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acid-reflux-woes/1018561/8 "2025-05-20T13:31:09Z")
I also have acid reflux. My biggest triggers are beer an anything that has tomato sauce (especially a BBQ sauce). If it gets real bad, I will try to sleep in the recliner. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2025, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acid-reflux-woes/1018561/9 "2025-05-20T13:34:28Z")
An afternoon cook out is lunch. And it’s not something i do very often. I usually start supper sometime between 7 and 8. If i have early evening plans, i may try for a very early supper at 6:30. I rarely start cooking before 5, sometimes at 6. Also, i never go to bed before 11, and it’s not that weird for me to be up at 1. I set my alarm for 8am, and if I’ve had enough sleep, i may wake up around 7. If i wanted to join you for a meal, I’d go for brunch, or lunch. I would not enjoy supper with you. I wouldn’t be hungry. I’d be anticipating being hungry later. If it were somehow important, I’d skip lunch in preparation. If your friend are like me, that’s a big thing you are asking. Much bigger than having a gluten-free or vegan meal. Different strokes for different folks. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2025, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acid-reflux-woes/1018561/10 "2025-05-20T13:56:42Z")
We’d be very happy to eat with you at 3 pm. If you call that lunch instead of dinner, it would make us no nevermind. Right now it is 845 am and my wife and I were feeling a mite peckish, so I have burgers grilling outside. Of course we got up at 430 this morning (partially due to jetlag). ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2025, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acid-reflux-woes/1018561/11 "2025-05-20T14:17:49Z")
Mmmmmmm… breakfast burgers. ---
**Author:** ![Kron](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kron/32/12444_2.png) [@Kron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kron)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2025, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acid-reflux-woes/1018561/12 "2025-05-20T14:18:14Z")
My dinnertime is between 3:00 and 4:00 pm (also a habit ingrained from lifelong acid reflux). ---
**Author:** ![teelabrown](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/teelabrown/32/8412_2.png) [@teelabrown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teelabrown)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2025, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acid-reflux-woes/1018561/13 "2025-05-20T15:40:35Z")
I also have acid reflux and am taking lansoprazole twice a day, and sleep with the head of my bed raised about 6". The lansoprazole is good, but I’ve found that the best remedy is mentioned above: eat little to no food after about 4:30 p.m. Lunch is my main meal of the day, as I can stay upright after eating it, but dinner is just a late afternoon snack of a little cereal or peanut butter on toast. As long as I go to bed a little hungry, I have no issues. I have a hiatal hernia, and doctors have made noise about surgery to repair it, but I see online that after such a surgery you are no longer able to burp or vomit. No thanks! If I get a stomach bug it’d be hell not to be able to get rid of my stomach contents. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2025, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acid-reflux-woes/1018561/14 "2025-05-20T15:44:40Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > We’d be very happy to eat with you at 3 pm. If you call that lunch instead of dinner, it would make us no nevermind. Make it 2 or maybe 2:30, and I’m totally in. My mom used to like to do Thanksgiving at 3, and that really messed up my day. I was hungry and cranky waiting for “dinner”, and then would get hungry again before bed. Fortunately for me, my brother was invited to his in-laws’ Thanksgiving, and he could join us if we started at 6. That was a much stronger argument than mine. But it meant our Thanksgiving gathering started at 5 or 6, with food starting after 6. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2025, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acid-reflux-woes/1018561/15 "2025-05-20T15:46:33Z")
> [@teelabrown](#): > > I have a hiatal hernia, and doctors have made noise about surgery to repair it, but I see online that after such a surgery you are no longer able to burp or vomit. No thanks! If I get a stomach bug it’d be hell not to be able to get rid of my stomach contents. Yeah, that sounds like a troublesome treatment. Dinner in the middle of the day is an interesting idea. I’m not opposed, but i don’t think either of us would be willing to prepare it on a regular basis. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2025, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acid-reflux-woes/1018561/16 "2025-05-20T16:04:37Z")
Our big meal of the day is between 2:00 and 3:00 PM, with maybe a handful of chips around 8:00 PM. If I overdo the chips, an antacid tablet at bedtime suffices. The best part of eating early: if you go out to eat, there’s no one in the restaurant — lunch crowd is done by 2:00 and dinner crowd doesn’t start ‘til about 4:00; you have the place to yourself. We converse with the wait staff, usually get extra bread, the manager will probably cruise by inquiring how everything’s going. It’s quite enjoyable. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2025, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acid-reflux-woes/1018561/17 "2025-05-20T16:16:36Z")
Unless the restaurant is closed. Most places i go are closed from 2-5 or so. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2025, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acid-reflux-woes/1018561/18 "2025-05-20T16:22:38Z")
What surgery are getting, if you don’t mind sharing? ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2025, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acid-reflux-woes/1018561/19 "2025-05-21T21:53:43Z")
My doctor switched me to Protonix. Works realky well. . I used to wake up at night miserable until throwing up the acid. I kep Ziploc bags that I could grab quickly. Medicine is wonderful. > **[Pantoprazole (Protonix): Uses, Side Effects, Interactions, Pictures, Warnings...](https://www.webmd.com/drugs/2/drug-17633/pantoprazole-oral/details)** > > Find patient medical information for Pantoprazole (Protonix) on WebMD including its uses, side effects and safety, interactions, pictures, warnings, and user ratings ---
**Author:** ![slumtrimpet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@slumtrimpet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slumtrimpet)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2025, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acid-reflux-woes/1018561/20 "2025-05-21T22:21:33Z")
I too had a hiatal hernia and GERD. Had a fundoplication about 3 years ago. Couldn’t burp for about a year and a half but no problem now. Fortunately I haven’t had a stomach virus or ingested anything that would make me vomit but something didn’t like me a few weeks ago and I did. The fundoplication has made a big difference but nothing is perfect. Instead of acid reflux I just get pain in my throat. I discovered GasX fixes that. And I spent about 20 years on Omeprazole and assorted other PPIs and H2 blockers. They all had weird side affects. Happy to have gotten off them. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acid-reflux-woes/1018561.md?page=2)