Lifestyle

Lifestyle Changes for Managing GERD

Posted: Mar 24 in Lifestyle tagged by admin

Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD) can be extremely painful. There are medications that can help reduce GERD symptoms, but you should also incorporate lifestyle changes to help manage GERD. Here are some of the best ones:

  • Reduce or eliminate caffeine and alcohol consumption. These are both known to aggravate both heartburn and GERD.
  • Avoid your trigger foods. If you have identified foods that make your GERD worse, eliminating these foods from your diet will help relieve your symptoms.
  • Wear clothing that is loose and comfortable. Tight clothing can constrict your abdomen and force digestive juices into your esophagus.
  • Eat no fewer than three hours before sleeping. If you lie down too soon after eating, you risk letting acid leak into your esophagus. Make sure you are standing or seated for a three hour period after you eat.
  • Lose weight. Excess weight makes GERD symptoms worse because of the pressure that it puts on your abdomen. Many doctors say that this is the single best way to reduce GERD symptoms.
  • Reduce stress. While stress does not seem to make GERD worse, it makes any problem with your health feel more severe. Yoga, meditation and creative visualization are all good ways to cut down stress levels.
  • Quit smoking. Smoke is another known irritant that can make GERD worse by increasing acid reflux and reducing your body’s production of saliva.
  • Find out if you are taking medications that can aggravate GERD. Birth control pills, certain asthma medications and blood pressure medications can aggravate GERD. Talk to your doctor about switching medications if you currently take one that can make GERD worse.

What Is Esophageal Manometry?

Posted: Mar 17 in Lifestyle by admin

If you find that you have difficulty swallowing or are experiencing esophageal reflux and chest pain, you may benefit from a test called esophageal manometry. Esophageal monometry is a test done on an outpatient basis to measure the effectiveness of the muscles in the esophagus to move food along the path to your stomach. The [...]

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What to Expect from an Upper Gastrointestinal Endoscopy

Posted: Mar 11 in Lifestyle by admin

An upper gastrointestinal endoscopy, sometimes simply called an upper endoscopy, is a medical procedure whereby you doctor examines the beginning of your small intestine, your stomach and the lining of your esophagus by utilizing a flexible, thin viewing instrument, which is referred to as an endoscope. The endoscope allows your doctor to look for bleeding, [...]

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Avoiding Heartburn Trigger Foods and Beverages

Posted: Mar 05 in Lifestyle by admin

For many, heartburn is a minor inconvenience. For others, it affects their daily routine and keeps them up at night. Fortunately, there are certain foods and beverages that trigger acid reflex in many people. Learning how to avoid these triggers can go a long way in reducing symptoms of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). Certain types [...]

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Stop suffering heartburn symptoms at night

Posted: Feb 27 in Lifestyle by admin

If you are looking for relief for that nighttime heartburn, a symptom of gastroesophogeal reflux disease, some simple changes to your daily habits may enable you to manage the aching and burning that makes it hard to sleep at night. Some easy adjustments to your diet such as refraining from consuming acidic foods such as [...]

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