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Simple exercise to eliminate gastroesophageal reflux (2022)
- lacrosse_tannin 3y agoi need something similar for my eustacian tube dysfunction.
- tacheiordache 3y agoTry to shut your nostrils with your hand and blow your nose as if you want to remove mucus on a tissue. Another thing to do is to do tongue exercises, keep your tongue on the roof of your mouth and stuff like that...
- randcraw 3y agoAKA the Valsalva maneuver: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valsalva_maneuver https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valsalva_maneuver I've used it to gently raise the pressure of my inner ear. (My eustacheans often clog up due to allergies.) But make sure you know what you're doing. It can drive mucus _into_ your inner ear.
- tacheiordache 3y agoOh yes, I forgot to mention to clear the mucus first before doing that. I didn't know it was called the Valsalva maneuver, thanks.
- lacrosse_tannin 3y agoThe reason I want to fix it is because I dive, so
- zethus 3y agoTitle isn't completely accurate, as the author states they were kneeling bent-over, creating an incline for the food to travel up. That being said, I've never thought of the esophagus was a muscle that could be trained. Very cool! Edit: there's a 6" riser that the author describes kneeling on, while their head is then lowered closer to the floor, supported by their arm(s).
- mcv 3y agoMaybe I should try this. I've been having trouble with this lately.
- drones 3y ago>The incline is established by kneeling with the head bowed lower than the stomach Shouldn't it be upside down if the head is below the center of mass?
- zethus 3y agoI think this would be one way to describe upside down, but my feeling is I wasn't the only one picturing someone fully inverted with feet above head.
- chrischen 3y agoI cured my acid reflux by taking antibiotics to kill off an H. Pylori bacterial infection, which apparently affects 30%-40% of the US population.
- jb1991 3y agoIt is a widespread infection across the world, but for most people there are no symptoms. It is not usually the cause for reflux symptoms.
- seabrookmx 3y agoWhen I started having these symptoms it was the first thing my doctor tested for though, since it's such an easy fix. Unfortunately for me that wasn't the issue.
- groos 3y agoI suspect the anti-acids they gave you along with the antibiotics helped heal the esophagus.
- GoodOldNe 3y agoYes but it is the cause of many gastric ulcers and is undertested for at least in my community. Where I can easily do the test in the ER, I diagnose and treat many people with previously-unexplained epigastric abdominal pain syndromes.
- MattSayar 3y agoDo you remember what the antibiotic was called?
- chrischen 3y agoI believe it was just a common one but forgot the name.
- jim-jim-jim 3y ago
- yamtaddle 3y ago> Gastroesophageal reflux results from weakness or relaxation of the lower esophageal sphincter (LES) [1]. Personal experience with this problem lead me to think about it, repeatedly. LOL. More seriously: Is there something about a modern diet or lifestyle that tends to cause this weakening? Or have anatomically-modern humans just always had a similar rate of reflux, for this reason?
- TheFreim 3y ago> LOL What's funny...?
- recursive 3y agoPresumably the understatement of it.
- yamtaddle 3y ago> Personal experience with this problem lead me to think about it, repeatedly. It's a comically-understated way to say "I kept having acid reflux, just, so very many times, and it hurt like a motherfucker so I became preoccupied with fixing it".
- antisthenes 3y agoSome of the most significant progress we made as a species was because some relatively smart and lazy person got really annoyed with some kind of problem.
- marstall 3y agoOP deploying a bit of wit with the comma and the word "repeatedly" at the end. I don't what you'd call it exactly - gallows humor?
- nradov 3y agoObesity and a sedentary lifestyle will cause mitochondrial dysfunction throughout the body and prevent muscles from working effectively, including the esophageal sphincter. I don't know that causality has ever been directly proven there but it seems likely.
- tambourine_man 3y agoI need images to understand how this person was eating.
- adventured 3y agoIt should look a lot like the Muslim prayer position (sujud): https://i.imgur.com/Ih1Nfzh.png https://i.imgur.com/Ih1Nfzh.png Food goes on a slightly elevated tray off the floor for hygene purposes. Put your face relatively close to the food as you consume, to maintain the premise. Prop your body weight up with hands and elbows (in a way that makes sense for your body/strength). Some things would be fairly easy to eat this way, others would be quite difficult. You could increase the angle by adding a platform or step to it, where your knees/body area is elevated and there is a drop-off where the face/food area is located (in this case you'd want to have enhanced traction I imagine, grippy shoes and or rubber mats).
- e40 3y agoNo need to put the food near the floor. Take a bite, assume the position (while chewing) and then swallow.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- th0ma5 3y agoI've had a lot of luck with sodium alginate... An acquaintance mentioned doing diaphragm / breathing exercises helped him.
- candiddevmike 3y ago1 tbsp of apple cider vinegar in a glass of water during meals works for me
- unsupp0rted 3y agoSodium alginate didn't help me at all (same as OP- weak LES muscles). I've been taking Nexium for 15 years and recently tried stopping, while replacing with sodium alginate. Sure I'd expect a few weeks of withdrawals, but even after over a month the reflux was still absurd. I was popping sodium alginate and calcium carbonate (TUMS) throughout the day. No, I had to go back to Nexium. All reflux symptoms stopped the following day. I do suspect it's long-term Nexium that's causing 5 years of foot whip in my gait, but I have no way to prove it (MRIs are normal, neurologists don't think it's Parkinsons/MS/ALS). While I was off Nexium that month the foot whip seemed to almost disappear. Now it's back full strength. Magnesium on my bloodwork seems on the low edge of normal range. I'm gonna redo my B-12 serum levels next week and check if it's low. Can long-term PPIs cause foot whip on every walk (after 1000 steps or so)? I haven't seen any literature on this. But it's clear to me I can't easily get off long term PPIs.
- Nemi 3y agoRebound on PPI’s is ridiculously bad. I made a video on how I weaned myself off of them https://youtu.be/jMUKsFgKfXg https://youtu.be/jMUKsFgKfXg
- derefr 3y ago> While I was off Nexium that month the foot whip seemed to almost disappear. Your gait problem kind of sounds like a weak form of some https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metabolic_bone_disease https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metabolic_bone_disease — i.e. bone wasting due to lack of vitamin D (or its transports, like magnesium) — leading to bones becoming softer and even slightly bendy [gradually, under load]. Think "rickets", though there are many metabolic bone diseases (really: bone formation syndromes) that can arise from the same metabolic causal factors. (Something extremely well-documented on the Internet that you can look at, is metabolic bone disease in reptiles — commonly observed by pet owners due to inadequate terrarium setup: when these animals don't get enough UV light to produce Vitamin D, their leg bones soften so much [or stay so soft during development] that they buckle under their weight; their legs can end up literally curled due to this.) My speculation is that that PPIs can negatively impact bone formation — possibly by suppressing vitamin D uptake into bone cells. (So your bloodwork wouldn't say your vitamin D levels are bad; in fact, your blood vitD levels would be high if anything.) The power of this effect would be magnified by having already-low magnesium levels. And Wikipedia says that some doctors share this speculation: > High dose or long-term use of PPIs carries an increased risk of bone fractures which was not found with short-term, low dose use; the FDA included a warning regarding this on PPI drug labels in 2010. [...] A study from 2019 showed that PPI use alone and together with histamine H2-receptor antagonists was associated with an increased bone fracture hazard, which was amplified by days of use and earlier initiation of therapy. The reason is not clear, increased bone break down by osteoclasts has been suggested.
- ravedave5 3y agoWell what the heck, I've been working on handstands and my GERD went away. I also lost weight so I attributed it to that, but this might be part of it. "after beginning daily LES exercises, I noticed that I could bend over at the hip and pull weeds in my garden without acid running into the back of my throat" - At the start of training headstands I'd have reflux so I had to do them at the right time of day to not make it terrible. Over time this went away and I'd have to eat a full meal right before to feel the same now. I wonder if I trained this muscle similarly.
- drones 3y agoClearly you need to add an "oesophagus day" to your training regimen.
- MengerSponge 3y agoPHOUL?
- hinkley 3y agoNever skip stomach day.
- a4000 3y agoDo you even swallow upside down bro?
- m463 3y agoI used to get a strange reflux from sleep apnea (which can be mitigated by exercising and losing weight) Basically, when you are sleeping and your throat collapses, you breathe in, and instead of pulling air via the throat, your lungs pull stomach fluid up your esophagus and sometimes into the lungs. I would wake up sometimes with GERD feelings, and sometimes as I was throwing up into my mouth.
- OhHiMarkos 3y agoThis is one of the worst experiences one can have. Add that the fact that you are sleeping... It's so terrible
- boomskats 3y agoI'm sorry this comment doesn't add much to the discussion, but all I can think of is the South Park episode where Eric eats with his butt.
- catboybotnet 3y agothat was my immediate reaction, too
- tasty_freeze 3y agoI remember being a kid and thinking that animals that bend down to drink from a pond must be forcing the water to travel up their esophagus. Hmm, I wonder if humans can do that. So I filled my mouth with water, did a head stand, then swallowed. Yes, no problem. Newfound respect for my body that day.
- tshaddox 3y agoAlso, astronauts can eat and drink in zero gravity.
- arghwhat 3y agoZero gravity is easier than opposing gravity in this case.
- hinkley 3y agoIt’s literally half as hard.
- yjftsjthsd-h 3y agoSure, but it still means that your body has to force the food/drink down (er, or "in" if you're in space, I guess) rather than just letting gravity do the work.
- arghwhat 3y agoEntertaining the silly argument we have gotten ourselves into: Solid food does not just fall into our stomachs normally, the processes of swallowing is quite complex and involves mechanically pushing food down through peristaltic waves in multiple phases. Liquids are another story though. It is entirely baseless of course, but I imagine that the difference for solid foods between a the small aid of gravity, unable to make the food move on its own, and having no aid is probably significantly less than the difference between no aid and an opposing force. And yet in either case, the process of swallowing remains exactly the same, always having to force the food down with the same motion but different effort.
- killjoywashere 3y agoUh, there's likely more than a few confounders here, which are, at a minimum, undocumented in the report. Intuitively, one would expect lower caloric consumption with altered eating habits, which would lead to decreased fat and decreased intra-abdominal pressure. There's also no test of LES function prior to initiation of the experiment, so no delta was actually measured. There's also a bit of misunderstanding, I suspect, in the pathology report: 0.2 x 0.5 x 0.3 cm is a perfectly reasonable size for an esophageal biopsy, and it was almost certainly measured with a ruler like (1) or (2). I've passed this to a GI friend to get their thoughts, but suffice to say, more study is required before making this any sort of recommendation. (1) https://www.neobits.com/thermo_fisher_scientific_nc9759439_ruler_plastic_6_p16747878.html https://www.neobits.com/thermo_fisher_scientific_nc9759439_r... (2) https://www.aaawholesalecompany.com/fis-s40641-pk.html https://www.aaawholesalecompany.com/fis-s40641-pk.html
- Eisenstein 3y agoI look forward to hearing what your colleague reports.
- killjoywashere 3y agoI quote: "Just what everyone wants upside down LES kegels <laughing to tears emoji>"
- conformist 3y agoIt’s great that he wrote it up in such a nice format so others can now run more sophisticated studies. Imo journals should encourage such articles along the lines of “here’s a neat idea that we tried and that appears somewhat plausible, and we’re not even going to pretend to do statistics”.
- basiskarten 3y agoValid points but strategies with low or no risk can be recommended to try even with very little evidence.
- ta123456789 3y agoI think it is impressive he figured this out as a layman. This article is from one year ago, it would be interesting to see a response from some researchers. For example, have there been any studies to see if this method is valid?
- lukko 3y agoHmm seems he is a retired researcher, although it doesn't mention his background. The problem is it's quite a step up from anecdotal evidence from one guy, to doing any kind of trial involving volunteers, and it would need momentum and money behind it. It does seem there is some evidence already on breath re-training / diaphragm strengthening: https://www.europeanreview.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/4547-4552-Breathing-training-on-lower-esophageal-sphincter.pdf https://www.europeanreview.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/4547-45...
- Wiki39366 3y agoI fixed it by drinking concentrated lemon juice (one lemon in one coup) thirty minutes before every food. There were not enough stomach juices for proper digestion, and stomach tries to push undigested food out after while. Lemon juice triggers stomache juice excretion and helps to start it. It has to be concerned, mild will just dilute juices.
- casperlk 3y agoI am prescribed hydrochloric acid supplements for the same reason. They've eliminated reflux for me and have helped my digestion.
- BaculumMeumEst 3y agoIs it normal to publish a personal anecdote in this manner? I've never seen something like this on pubmed.
- amelius 3y agoYes. It is normal and they're called medical case reports. See: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5686928/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5686928/ > A case report is a detailed report of the symptoms, signs, diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up of an individual patient. Case reports usually describe an unusual or novel occurrence and as such, remain one of the cornerstones of medical progress and provide many new ideas in medicine.
- adamgordonbell 3y agoJumping off this topic. I have GERD. It sucks. Reducing alcohol seemed to help a bit. A daily pantoprazole pill for it really seems to work, but has side effects. What should I try? What has worked for you?
- dolni 3y agoI shared my experience above (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36060204 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36060204). This improvement for me has been really recent. Maybe it helps you too. Good luck!
- catboybotnet 3y agoExercise/weight loss or a diet change seem to be common fixes. Laying off of greasy foods has helped immensely for me. Reducing alcohol (as you mentioned) has also been a minor improvement, though definitely not as much as what I mentioned prior.
- vidarh 3y agoLosing weight has significantly reduced my symptoms (my symptoms are pretty unambiguously down to a hiatal hernia). If you haven't, you may also want to get tested for H. Pylori. Depending on what kind of pill you take you might want to try an alternative. E.g. ranitidine vs omeprazole or other proton-pump inhibitor. But I presume you've seen a doctor? Because there are some really serious issues that can also trigger it and suppressing the symptoms can mask issues like stomach cancers so you don't want to self-medicate without at least checking with a doctor first.
- adamgordonbell 3y agoYep, like someone else mentioned, mine wasn't classic symptoms but throat and sinus issues. He prescribed pantoprazole but said I could stop taking it after a while. I've found that not to be the case. He also said it was odd to have it at my age and weight but I've since found others in my family have it as well, so maybe genetic?
- diehunde 3y ago
- amelius 3y agoWould eating during bungee jumps also help?
- seattle_spring 3y agoEXTREME eating!
- pkorzeniewski 3y agoNote that there's also a less known type of Acid Reflux called Laryngopharyngeal Reflux (LPR), also known as Silent Reflux, which doesn't manifest with "usual" symptoms like heartburn or a sour taste in mouth, but instead with symptoms like sore throat or hoarseness. For a long, long time I didn't understand why so often after eating my throat was full of phlegm and I had to constantly clear it, I thought it has something to do with paranasal sinuses because I rarely experienced symptoms commonly associated with Acid Reflux, but after some research I found out about the Silent Reflux so I modified my diet and the symptoms mostly disappeared.
- personjerry 3y agoHow did you modify your diet?
- pkorzeniewski 3y agoDiet in GERD/LPR is a quite tricky and complex topic, when you start reading what types of food and drinks should you avoid it can easily overwhelm you, because besides obviously unhealthy stuff there's also a lot of healthy stuff (including many vegatables and fruits) that you should avoid and a lot of "basic" things that many people will find hard to eliminate like chocolate, coffeine, milk, cheese, butter, pepper, mint and many, many more. The thing is that there are certain types of food and drinks that will most definitiely cause acid reflux in anyone with GERD/LPR, but there's also a lot of stuff that possibly could cause acid reflux, but you must check yourself if it's good for you or not. Personally in my diet I have heavily reduced stuff like whole milk, cheese, eggs, pepper, chocolate, onions, lemons, oranges, tomatoes (including ketchup), anything spicy or fried, soft drinks - at first avoiding all that stuff is burdensome, but with time you get used to it.
- messutied 3y agoHow long does it take for you to realize if cutting something off your diet helps? Since I feel like some foods can take days to affect my GERD it can be difficult to tell what helps and what doesn’t.
- aio2 3y agoThat's pretty cool.
- mihaifm 3y agoOne likely cause that's not mentioned so far, is that paradoxically the stomach doesn't produce enough acid. The sphincter usually closes when the stomach begins digestion, but this only happens if a certain pH threshold is reached. There are some receptors in the stomach that detect this pH level and signal the sphincter to close. The lower acidity output is typically caused by unhealthy diet and frequent meals. To fix it, apart from reducing the frequency of meals, you can ingest more acid, in the form of vinegar or lemon juice. This is counterintuitive but I can confirm it works, it helped me a lot to mitigate the problem.
- ricardobeat 3y agoSo the one-spoon-of-apple-cider-vinegar-everyday people might be onto something?
- abotsis 3y agoAs someone who has gerd it’s worth a shot. Little bummed to see there was nothing about controlling for at least diet.
- surume 3y agoPersonally I found that the following caused reflux: fiber consumption, drinking tap-water that hasn't been boiled, consuming lentils, consuming too much red meat - e.g. 2 x large steaks a day. FYI.
- Fire-Dragon-DoL 3y agoThat's funny, that diet literally reduces my gerd
- ac2u 3y agoI've read a theory for acid reflux in older people that it's caused by not enough stomach acid. One research I was listening to said that it doesn't make intuitive sense that we make less acid in our stomachs as we age and yet the occurrence of reflux increases in older populations, and yet we prescribe proton pump inhibitors to reduce acid production. Therefore the suggestion was that the lack of acid caused food to digest slower and for fermentation to occur and aggravate whatever acid that is there, upwards.
- abecedarius 3y agoThe lower acidity also favors any H. pylori infection you might have (i.e. makes life easier for the pathogen). It was suggested to me that that's the main problem with antiacids and PPIs. (IANAD. I had GERD for weeks after a surgery but avoided PPIs for this reason.)
- spondylosaurus 3y agoPPIs suck big time (going off omeprazole was hell), but I've had good experiences with famotidine, which is actually an antihistamine! So if the GERD menace ever comes back I recommend picking up some Pepcid.
- abecedarius 3y agoThanks -- that's good to know.
- lemonberry 3y agoThis is one of those posts that could change my life. Thanks for sharing. Sorry to not add to the discussion but I have terrible acid reflux and sometimes it feels like it runs my life. I often don't sleep well because of it. I'll definitely give this a shot.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- bionsystem 3y agoI have a serious case of acid reflux, I eat 4-6 maalox a day and sometimes another one or two during the night if the pain wakes me up. It never goes into my mouth or throat but the stomach pain is really annoying. Will try this as well although pictures of the positions would have been welcome.
- tacheiordache 3y agoYou may not have acid reflux if it acid never gets into your throat. I have at least a yearly episode of waking up choking and the epiglottis is stuck shut protecting my lungs from acid. It's horrible to wake up like that but am always fine after the episode and yet every time it happens I can't shake off the sheer panic I'm in. I could say I got used to it and yet when it happens it's horrifying.
- jmartrican 3y agowow, I have the same issue but not related to acid or GERD. mine is triggered by water or saliva. My throat would close up, and I couldn't breathe. It has a name, and on YT, you can see a video of an episode happening. it looks and feels like an asthma attack. And even though I'm always fine, I still fight back the panic. I have gotten better. I can quickly close part of my throat before the water or saliva touched the part of the throat that triggers it. I also learned not to fight it. do not try too hard to breathe, especially through the mouth. instead, I breathe slowly and gently through the nose. I then relax and maybe let out a cough or two, then I can breathe again.
- jader201 3y agoThe important bit: > The resistance was provided by positioning my head below my stomach in a kneeling posture. This required food being swallowed to be pushed up an incline. I began eating part of each breakfast (oatmeal) and sometimes lunch (a sandwich) in the exercise position. I would kneel on a platform (which happened to be 6 ½” high), take a normal mouthful, chew it as needed, and prepare to swallow. I would then lay my forearms and the backs of my hands on the floor, rest my head on my hands, and complete the swallowing process. With a little practice, I was soon able to initiate and complete the swallowing process with my head resting on my hands on the floor. I did not attempt to determine what the optimal height of the platform might be or if, indeed, any was necessary.
- dorfsmay 3y agoI'm still unsure about the position, they should have added a drawing.
- xsmasher 3y agoKneel; now put your head on the ground. (I am guessing, I don't have extra knowledge.)
- ddmichael 3y agoHow on earth can you eat like that?
- beezlebroxxxxxx 3y ago> "This required food being swallowed to be pushed up an incline. I began eating part of each breakfast (oatmeal) and sometimes lunch (a sandwich) in the exercise position. I would kneel on a platform (which happened to be 6 ½” high), take a normal mouthful, chew it as needed, and prepare to swallow. I would then lay my forearms and the backs of my hands on the floor, rest my head on my hands, and complete the swallowing process. With a little practice, I was soon able to initiate and complete the swallowing process with my head resting on my hands on the floor. I did not attempt to determine what the optimal height of the platform might be or if, indeed, any was necessary." How it's described in the article.
- guybedo 3y agoa few routines to help w/ barret's esopahgus and gerd: https://routineshub.com/public/popular/tags/Barrett's%20Esophagus https://routineshub.com/public/popular/tags/Barrett's%20Esop... https://routineshub.com/public/popular/tags/Gastroesophageal%20Reflux%20Disease https://routineshub.com/public/popular/tags/Gastroesophageal...
- mrcode007 3y agoIn case this helps someone, GERD can be caused by a bacterial infection by H. Pylori. (According to the Wikipedia, the frequency of infection is at >50% but most people never experience any symptoms.) It was getting worse after eating a lot, eating certain foods , just like for many other commenters here. After getting rid of the infection the symptoms disappeared and never returned. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helicobacter_pylori https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helicobacter_pylori The link to the diseases caused by the bacteria has a crazy discovery story I encourage everyone to read https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/2005/press-release/ https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/2005/press-releas...
- buggythebug 3y agoDoes anyone here get a low level nausea from their GERD but almost not other symptoms?
- FrustratedMonky 3y ago[flagged]
- valianteffort 3y agoWay to denigrate a group of 1.2 billion people based on the actions of a minority. Would you generalize all jews for the actions of israel towards muslims? All christians by the actions of Westboro Baptist Church? Chinese by the actions of the CCP? People are free to believe whatever they want and it doesn't need to fit your worldview. You're welcome to disagree, and try to change their mind if you care to but speaking that way seems to only perpetuate hate.
- tomr75 3y agois just joke why be mad
- pmarreck 3y agohttps://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/2018-05-17/ty-article/islam-and-homosexuality-what-does-the-koran-say/0000017f-db97-db22-a17f-ffb763870000 https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/2018-05-17/ty-artic... > Islamic scholars overwhelmingly teach that same-gender sex is a sin. It is this fundamental belief that permits extremists to act. If you are uncomfortable with that simple fact, that’s your problem, because the fact of the matter is that if the holy book taught acceptance of all consensual sexualities, anyone defying that would be the “extremist” So who exactly is perpetuating hate, again? Incidentally this also applies to every Abrahamic faith except perhaps Judaism, which in practice at least is not homophobic. I don’t mean to single out Muslims, here; this is a problem with many Abrahamic cults such as the hundreds of Christian sects, as well as Roman Catholicism, which is at least slightly more progressive in practice. > Would you generalize all jews for the actions of israel towards muslims? There are hundreds of examples online of Muslim leaders speaking in front of hundreds of the faithful, calling for the death of all Jews. I implore you to find them, and then to search for a number greater than zero of Israeli or Jewish leaders calling for the death of all Muslims. These are not remotely the same. Israelis and Jews are secular and in fact often atheist; Muslims, like Christians, largely do not encourage debate and tolerance and preach what their book says above all reason or enlightened ethics
- wonderwonder 3y agoIn hopes that this helps others. I have had terrible reflux for the last ~10 years. 10-15 tums a day every day for years. About 4 months ago I started taking a scoop of glutamine (the workout supplement / amino acid) powder in water at night before bed (not sure if the timing of when it's taken matters). 2 weeks later and my heartburn/reflux was essentially gone and has stayed gone. I take maybe 1 tums a week now. Many weeks it's 0.
- notjonheyman 3y agoLuckily mine just goes away with some milk. I also seem to get it a lot less now since I cut back on sodium and generally eating healthier overall. I shall add this GERD yoga gymnastics to my regimen.
- e40 3y agoI wonder if drinking water in that position would work as well as food?
- iamthejuan 3y agoWhat cured my GERD is, I only drink one hour before and one hour after the meal. I don't lie down or put myself in incline position. Fruits and vegetables.
- medler 3y agoThere are several studies showing that “inspiratory muscle training” can be effective for GERD. Basically you train by breathing in through small device that makes it harder to inhale, and that strengthens your esophageal sphincter. I did this for some time and anecdotally I do believe it helped me. There are several studies showing it to be effective, but the big caveat is most if not all of these studies were small and were funded by PowerBreathe, the company that manufactures these devices.
- TurkishPoptart 3y agoThis is brilliant, but do we have to eat in this pose? I'd rather just do a stretch X times a day and try this out.
- ilyagr 3y agoI wonder how big the risk of choking with this exercise is. Be careful!
- 11235813213455 3y agowhen you have a high fiber diet, this is never an issue, it's like a sponge in your digestive system retaining water and stuff
- mcv 3y agoI always eat whole wheat bread, plenty of vegetables and other fibery stuff, but I still have acid reflux.
- 11235813213455 3y ago> bread that's probably not the fresh and rich fiber our guts really want, you didn't describe the other fibery stuff, but processed food, meat, cooked things are not ideal, now currently I'm eating a few large onions (raw & slighly fermented), 10 red long peppers (raw & same with a start of fermentation, tastes better and better for digestion), tomatoes too (same, they're not like the "plastic" tomatoes without taste you see in supermarket, it's italian ones, deep color and taste), many dates (else I'd eat lentil or quinoa or rice) maybe my digestive system is working well with that, probably since I eat like a monkey (sometimes I can eat fish or eggs, or fish'eggs recently too)
- apomekhanes 3y agoClever & sensible. One potential concern with this would be the possibility of 'upper airway obstruction(s)' (aka, choking). Not necessarily because this position is inherently problematic*, but because it would be a novel position to consume food** in (to presumably most people) and it's a position that most people are likely not used to in the present day, period (i.e., we usually sit up, lie flat, etc., we aren't typically in orientations like this for any real length of time, if at all). Seems like a clever way to exercise an area that is not easy to exercise in any typical way, but I'd strongly advise caution and awareness of potential aspiration / choking issues if trying it out, at least in initial trials. * In any anatomical way I can think of off the top of my head ** I would avoid trying to consume liquids in this position, at least initially - aspiration is far easier with thin liquids etc. The author seems to focus on food, in any case.
- ricardobeat 3y agoCould drinking water in this position be a potentially safer alternative?
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- plutonorm 3y agoI learned the same a few years ago. I have voluntary control of the lower sphincter and clamp down on it when I feel my stomach contents rising or am getting heart burn. Now that I use it more I can mostly control my heartburn.
- meekstro 3y ago[dead]
- jancsika 3y ago> It also remains to be seen if any contraindications exist for the LES exercise. Exacerbating the condition one is trying to alleviate comes to mind.
- l72 3y agoI've had reflux for 10+ years, and noticed that in the last 2 years, it hasn't really bothered me. I was attributing it to a dietary change (went from mostly vegetarian to vegan), but at the same time, I also started working out with a personal trainer. He loves to have us doing plenty of things with our feet above our head (push-ups with feet up on a bench, burpees, but kicking up on to a bench). My reflux bothered me during workouts at first, especially if we worked out in the afternoon instead of first thing in the morning. But, now I never have reflux issues working out, and rarely have them when sleeping...
- avgcorrection 3y agoThis is awesome. I’m gonna try this. Is there some way to train other sphincters?
- taeric 3y agoIsn't a full solution, but changing from belt to suspenders helps an unreasonable amount for me. If folks want other things to try.
- langfan 3y agoAmalaki (Sanskrit) / amla (Hindi) / nellikai (Tamil) / Indian gooseberry is said to be good for acidity in Ayurveda. The fruit part of the plant, phyllanthus emblica, IIRC. Very widely used in India in different forms for many ailments. There is amla eaten raw, amla juice, amla murabba (a sort of sweet dried or wet candy), amla in honey (just had it today), in triphala, etc. Rich in Vitamin C and has many benefits. I use it. Triphala, another Ayurvedic remedy, is said to be a general-purpose cleanser / gut detoxifier/ digestive tonic. Very commonly prescribed by Ayurvedic doctors.
- realjohng 3y agoNeed more ppl to try it out (safely) and report back here
- joeman1000 3y agoI've been doing it for the last four days and eating as I otherwise would. I think it's helping. My tongue is noticeably less inflamed. I'm still getting acid in my mouth when I lay down to sleep, though. I recommend trying it with small mouthfuls of food until you're confident you won't choke.
- yeureka 3y agoI had severe GERD for years. On an off PPI's for almost 5 years, several endoscopies, pain 24h per day. It was so the bad I almost went for surgery. Then I tried the low fodmap diet and it went away. Now I only have to avoid alcohol, onions, garlic and sweet fruits to keep it at bay.
- mickelsen 3y agoA few friends who started reporting GERD all the time at the start of the pandemic, didn't make the connection between working and eating in bed or the sofa at times, and the gradual worsening, compounded with the usual inflammatory foods and sleeping on the wrong side or without any inclination, the body's buffer depletes so to speak and those issues appear more frequently.
- DonHopkins 3y agoTo extrapolate this technique to its logical extreme, does this mean pooping upside down strengthens your rectal sphincter?
- fnord77 3y agoso basically eat upside down?
- ynab4 3y ago[dead]
- amit9gupta 3y agoAfter reading this paper and the comments on HN, further googling (actually braving) led me to buy this book: Why Stomach Acid Is Good for You: Natural Relief from Heartburn, Indigestion, Reflux and GERD by Jonathan Wright https://www.amazon.com/Why-Stomach-Acid-Good-You-ebook/dp/B00AE1M1R0 https://www.amazon.com/Why-Stomach-Acid-Good-You-ebook/dp/B0... Recommended
- Fire-Dragon-DoL 3y agoThis could drastically change my health. I just have to explain my children that daddy has to eat upside down now.
- p3rls 3y agoonly a matter of time before this joins in a hegelian synthesis with the soylent crowds' ideas and we're all stuck eating bugs off the floor with paper forks
- hi41 3y agoAccompanying diagram or a video would be so helpful.
- ajolly 3y agoSaw a similar study - dry swallowing but head still below stomach. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9550520/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9550520/ Will be trying both exercises myself.