Close Encounters of the Acid Reflux Kind

My stomach has this rather unfortunate and annoying monthly habit of waking me up very early in the morning, swirling and spinning with acid that has made it its mission in existence to claw its way up my food pipe and spew out of my throat into the waiting mouth of the proverbial porcelain god. That is, if I'm lucky enough to get to the bathroom in time. Sometimes, I leave a nasty mess on the floor, for which I'm thankful that we have household help.

Hi, the name's Elea. I've been suffering from acid reflux on and off for – oh, all my life, it seems. I used to blame it on my father because...well, because daughters always do have daddy issues, though in my case, it was because my father always did have a rather unstable digestive system. But now, I suppose I realize that I have no-one to blame, really, but myself.

Even though I had been suffering from this problem ever since I was young, it would not be until I started working full time that I would finally decide to consult a doctor about this. In previous years, I had always experienced mild stomach attacks of the acid reflux kind, but had always written it off as either a bad sandwich or a forgotten meal (which I make up for by eating a big meal later). Then, around the second week of my brand-spanking new job, I realized that I had been waking up nauseous more often than before, and not only was that getting in the way of my job, but it was also affecting my eating habits and making my condition worse.

The doctor seriously looked like she wanted to smack me upside the head. Well, maybe not, but through the haze of pain and nausea, she began to lecture me about how I was obviously not careful about my eating habits – which was true; in my attempt to do well in my first days on the job, I had either skipped my lunch breaks or had eaten my lunch so fast that I had neglected to chew properly thus starting off my digestive process on the wrong note.

As it turns out, on days when I forget to chew, my stomach acids try to compensate for the lack of pre-digestion by being hyperactive flowing freely. They're only made worse on days when I skip my lunch in favor of working and when I try to make up for it later by having a big meal – the acids become overexcited at this point, and the pressure of the food only helps to open up the muscles of my esophagus, causing the nausea and the vomiting. I also made the grave mistakes of going to sleep immediately after eating, and even trying to make things better by drinking milk. The milk simply made the acid worse, and going to sleep so soon after the meal only helped the ascent of the acid up my food pipe. Which is why I had trouble swallowing food and eating at that point, because the stomach acids were irritating my esophagus.

I was, of course, provided a prescription of antacids to help manage the acids as well as an antibiotic to help with the inflammation of my food pipe. Then I was advised by the doctor to stop living on coffee – because I was, when I first started working – and to nibble on soda crackers every three hours instead of indulging in big meals. She also recommended that I not lie flat on my back when I sleep, and instead slightly elevate my head in order to alleviate my morning nausea.

It took two weeks, but eventually my body's digestive system stabilized and I got used to my job – stress, which was apparently exacerbating my pre-existing condition, had been dealt with via herbal teas and a good deal of post-working hour meditations. After that experience, I figured that I really should stop blaming genetics for my hyper-acidic tendencies and instead be more aware of what I do to make sure that the tendency does not become a problem.

That, of course, does not mean that I never ever get acid reflux symptoms anymore. Of course I still suffer from mild acid reflux attacks – like I said, my stomach has this very bad habit of waking me up very early in the morning every once in a while with a bit of nausea and the desire to expel the previous evening's dinner. Mostly, these are during the times when the stress from my job gets to me and I once again fall back on my old, bad eating habits. But the incidences are getting rarer, and every single time I get the attack, I like it even less and try all the harder to avoid it.

In the end, though I know I would have to live with occasionally feeling the effects of being digested from the inside, I'm happy enough to know that I could handle it and avoid it for the most part.

Elea Almazora, contributor to Gastroenterology.Com

Elea Almazora currently works as a contributor to many information-based websites, writing about many subjects ranging from culture to sciences.

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