I’ve had a rough time over the last week or two with my Crohn’s. It’s acting up really bad, but … on top of that I’m also having acid reflux. Prior to this long Crohn’s flare (4 years and counting!) I never had acid problems, but now it seems that I do.
Most of the antacid drugs (prescription and over the counter) don’t work for me so I have a hard time managing the acid reflux. A drug called Pariet seems to work best, but as luck would have it my prescriptions run out. Grrrrr so I’m stuck trying to use over the counter Zantac and Gaviscon to counter the acid.
I had an acid attack that was really bad this afternoon. The pain starts in my chest and goes up my neck and into my face. My first line of attack when I feel this kind of pain is to immediately drink a glass or two of water. In the past one or two glasses of water would usually calm it down, but lately I have to drink five or six glasses of water just to dull the pain. Believe me, I’d rather read colon cleanser reviews instead of having these seemingly unprovoked acid attacks!
Last night I cooked a pasta with chicken and pasta sauce for dinner and I’ve come to realize that tomato sauce seems to be one of my acid triggers. The odd thing is that I don’t get indigestion or acid reflux shortly after eating something like tomato sauce … it’s the next day or even the day after that! Weird huh?
Anyway .. as I said today’s acid attack was bad. My throat still feels burnt. You know like when you throw up when your stomach is empty and all you bring up is bile and your throat feels raw afterwords? I even feel like I can smell and taste the acid.
If anyone out there has some suggestions as to how I can stop these acid attacks (non-medicinal tips and tricks) I’d love to hear it. Maybe there are some mild foods that I can eat that won’t trigger the acid? That would be good – as long as they are ones that don’t make my Crohn’s worse too.
Yogurt every day is supposed to help. A web search for yogurt + “acid reflux” will give you further details.
There are some things that will help. Rice, cilantro, cayenne, apple vinegar, oatmeal w/almond milk… all help the digestive system.
I don’t know if you still suffer a lot from acid reflux or if you managed to get rid of it as this post is two years old. I have many patients who suffer from acid reflux and one thing I learned over time was that most drugs don’t work. Acid reflux is often caused by a very unhealthy and stressful life. I’d advise you to think about this for some time and if it applies to your life, try to make some changes! When the reflux occurs, drink vinegar (not too much), this normally helps a lot better than water.
I’ve put together a few tips which may help. Can't imagine dealing with heartburn and Crohn's. I'm a firm believer in natural remedies whenever possible but sound like you have some fairly severe symptoms.