7 ms·

How to Cure Acid Reflux with Simple Exercise: An Anecdotal Study

163 points by oneturkmen 2y ago

hnddcvgydss 2y ago
If you have reflux consider getting tested for celiac. Reflux was my only symptom for years, and I had it every day without fail. It was only when I developed anemia that I was diagnosed celiac; a month gluten-free and my reflux was gone.
penjelly 2y ago
I've had a sortof gaseous reflux for years I can't seem to eliminate. Ive seen these exercises and they sounded like BS or not applicable to my symptoms of LPR. Maybe I'll give it a go after all... I've had most success with digestive enzymes and eating more veggies, less packaged food. Anyone have similar experience and solved it I would be interested. PPIs only worsened the problem.
xvector 2y ago
> Eventually, I devised the following regimen with the intent of providing the LES with some resistance training. 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. This is interesting, as a GERD sufferer I really wish an image or video of the exercise was provided. Is it basically kneeling, touching your head to the floor to get it below the stomach (like someone doing a prayer), and swallowing food? I'm fascinated and confused. It also seems like an easy way to choke tbh.
- jdyer9 2y ago
  As for how to do it, based on my reading, imagine a mattress on the floor. And then, to follow your comparison, imagine a prayer, particularly an Islamic prayer pose (knees on the floor, hips in the air, head and hands touching the floor). Except as the author describes it, your knees would be up on the mattress, and your head and hands would touch the floor, rendering your torso largely inverted. Also, I realize that there's a lot more to the Adhan than just this pose, but it's the only easily searchable thing I can think of at the moment.
Jimmc414 2y ago
Simple and it makes sense. I wouldn’t call it scientific proof, but as a reflux sufferer interested in non pharmaceutical solutions, I’ll give it a try. TLDR- - Position: Kneel on something raised (like a 6.5" platform), put your head lower than your stomach by resting it on your hands on the floor - Exercise: Eat some food (like oatmeal or a sandwich) in this position, making your esophageal muscle work against gravity - Results: improvement after ~2 months, complete relief after ~6 months, and stayed fixed even after stopping the exercise
- Sparkyte 2y ago
  Right a self evaluation isn't a study.
- avinassh 2y ago
  > TLDR- - Position: Kneel on something raised (like a 6.5" platform), put your head lower than your stomach by resting it on your hands on the floor A picture would help me. Is there any name of this exercise so that I can Google?
  - nosrepa 2y ago
    Get down on your knees. Now, bend over so your forehead touches the ground. Realize that the ground is hard, so you put your hands in-between your head and the floor. Then, you remember that you were supposed to do this while kneeling 6.5" tall platform.
- Fire-Dragon-DoL 2y ago
  Eating anything with a spoon is way harder, I tested it. Essentially gravity forces you to eat with the spoon in a position that's not the one you are used to.
dools 2y ago
I read this last year after going through some pretty weird oesophageal stuff, and I think if it did work it's almost certainly not because they provided the LES with "resistance training". A sphincter doesn't provide motility along the oesophagus, it tightens and contracts. The angle at which it does this is irrelevant. If this was indeed successful, a far more likely explanation is that doing this slowed down their eating and put less pressure on the smooth muscle function of the oesophagus during peristalsis and less pressure on the LES, allowing it some time to rest and perhaps get better at sphinctering.
loopdoend 2y ago
How I eliminated GERD: - Walking after every meal - Reducing my body weight - Avoiding food in the hours before bed YMMV
- maxglute 2y ago
  >Reducing my body weight ~10lbs (5% of bodyweight) is the difference between GERD and no gerd for me. Part of it I assume is increase in viceral fat pressuring stomach. After my threshold weight of 190lbs I have to move up a notch on my lifting belt. > Avoiding food in the hours before bed I think another factor is higher BW = more calories = more time for digestion. If I shift meals to 8 hours before bedtime vs 5 hours, GERD also goes away because I have more time to digest. I also don't get GERD after squat and deadlift days because they reliably make me shit. As an infrequent shitter, GERD is also correlated to how backed up I am. TLDR is to keep your stomach empty / digestion done before bedtime.
- WheelsAtLarge 2y ago
  This worked for me, too. Additionally, I reduced my intake of fatty foods, such as fried and buttery foods. I did not completely stop them, but I reduced them greatly. It made a huge difference.
- 01100011 2y ago
  For me: lose weight and take a daily PPI. "But PPIs have terrible side effects!" Doing great so far. One esomeprazole a day, 30 mins before I eat breakfast and I'm almost normal. This is with bad GERD, a hiatal hernia and some changes to my esophageal tissue. Oh and schatzki rings. I was in immense pain for years and now I can eat normally and enjoy spicy foods again.
  - jmcgough 2y ago
    A PPI is preferable to Barret's esophagus secondary to chronic gastric reflux, and certainly sounds reasonable in your case. There are others who start using omeprazole OTC without understanding the difference between it and Pepcid. Omeprazole (and its enantiomer esomeprazol) can cause rebound heart burn with discontinuation, are not meant to be used "as needed" compared to antacids / H2 drugs due to their slower method of action, nor do we fully understand the long-term risks of PPIs. There have been observational studies which, while not able to show a clear cause and effect, have found evidence of higher risk of fractures among those on PPIs long-term.
blindriver 2y ago
I also sometimes get acid reflux and I wonder if the real reason this person cured his GERD is because the sphincter got a chance to heal properly because of the bed wedge. Once it healed then it could perform properly.
ilrwbwrkhv 2y ago
You can also just twist your body when you are eating like a swirly and that can help strengthen your muscle and heals it.
Sparkyte 2y ago
Awh yes totally deserves to be in the nih gov site...
- NotGMan 2y ago
  Why not? It's a REAL person solving a REAL problem for himself. Why is that "invalid data"? You prefer studies with 100 people that generate just noise because people are so different?
  - thomassmith65 2y ago
    Is that sarcasm?
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
stansm 2y ago
I’ve found a similar article with the actual picture, but there they’ve tested bridge posture, effect should be similar I think.. will definitely try it out (been suffering from severe GERD since last year after swallowing a piece of nut and after the endoscopy, maybe they’ve also taken too much material for the biopsy) Article: https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/prm/7/0/7_20220054/_html/-char/en https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/prm/7/0/7_20220054/_htm...
valbaca 2y ago
n=1
- jmcgough 2y ago
  Literally says "an anecdotal study" in the title.
rembicilious 2y ago
Cure Acid Reflux by Eating Doggy Style
- FrequentLurker 2y ago
  Best tldr yet
nobrains 2y ago
Can anyone please direct me to a picture / image / illustration / animated-gif of the position being referred to in the paper?
- cinntaile 2y ago
  I don't know about the method in the paper but if you suffer from this, try doing glute bridges.
- Giorgi 2y ago
  Yeah, that would be nice, can't understand gibberish he/she explains, I think it is some sort of doggystyle with head bowed down?
- d00mc0de 2y ago
  [dead]
- SapporoChris 2y ago
  I'm not certain, but I suspect it is similar to this. https://files.tofugu.com/articles/japan/2015-10-23-bowing-in-japan/dogeza-bow-demo-video-poster-1280x.jpg https://files.tofugu.com/articles/japan/2015-10-23-bowing-in... But from the description in the article, add a platform, the bowed head is extended off the platform and down lower.
- terrycody 2y ago
  Yes, there is not even 1 single image or video try to explain this, its weird, author should post more details.
porridgeraisin 2y ago
The main thing here seems to be giving your oesophagus' "swallowing muscle" gravity to fight against. The traditional Indian method of eating, sitting cross legged on the floor, is similar to this. While sitting cross legged, you bend your back and have your head point at an angle towards the plate on the floor, and then put the food in your mouth. So cos(theta)*gravity has to be opposed by your oesophagus.
- Fire-Dragon-DoL 2y ago
  Supposedly while you chew your back is straight though, isn't it?
cinntaile 2y ago
Another method that works is doing glute bridges. Edit: See https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9668752/ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9668752/
spuz 2y ago
I think I will try this though I'm not sure I have the patience to try it for 2 months before seeing any results. Hopefully I will see some benefit before then. If the theory is correct that the peristaltic and sphincter muscles need to be worked harder then I wonder weather it makes more sense to do this while drinking rather than while eating. It should be significantly harder for your muscles to work against gravity when "pushing water uphill" than when pushing solids. I wonder if the simple cure for hiccups (bending over and then swallowing water) could work here.
corysama 2y ago
My own N=2 study: Based on a random comment in an obscure forum, I cured my specific form of reflux for 10 years with a couple of simple stretches. I think they only address reflux due to https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiatal_hernia https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiatal_hernia The theme is to physically push the stomach back down into place. The first exercise was to lay in bed, one hand over the other just below the sternum, push in and slide down slowly. Repeat 4 or 5 times. I felt my esophagus being stretched during this, which was quite an odd sensation. I did this each morning and sometimes at night. The second exercise needed the stomach to be filled with liquid. A bowl of cereal or a lot of water does the trick. Stand on your tip toes and fall down on your heels with a loud thud ten or so times. I did this once a day. It took about two and a half months to see results. But, I went from “These PPIs are not effective enough” to “I don’t need any pills” for ten years. Unfortunately, over the next ten years I gained a beer belly, the reflux returned, and I think the visceral fat is getting in the way of the manual manipulation exercise because I did not feel the stretch at all last time I tried the repeat the process. Maybe I should give it another go. But, mainly I need to lose the gut.
- slig 2y ago
  Thank you so much for sharing your experience, I'm going to give this a try.
- throwaway032023 2y ago
  On your tip toes and falling down with a thud is also a qi gong exercise.
- saaspirant 2y ago
  I am very late to the party but the first exercise you are mentioning is popular in my district in South India. It is done by elders to relatively young people with stomach issues, vomiting etc. In Tamil, it is called "Rubbing the intestine". My grandma used to do that to me when I was a kid. I had always assumed it was a superstitious pseudo-xxx stuff. I am humbled and amazed by the fact that the same procedure was rediscovered by someone from the other part of the world years later.
shafyy 2y ago
Slighly related, but maybe somebody here has some tips: I've had a sore throat for months. And initially they thought it's from GERD, but it does not appear to be. Checks showed no other issues wiht my oesophagus or stomach. Did anybody experience something like this before?
- yukinon 2y ago
  Do you snore? Alternatively, do you have post-nasal drip from a new allergy?
  - shafyy 2y ago
    I don't snore. What do you mean by "post-nasal drip"? I do have allergies to environmental stuff like dust and hay fever, and my nose is running / sneezing from this. Some weeks more, some weeks less. But it's not new, I've had that for years. Do you think this could be related?
    - yukinon 2y ago
      I am not an anything, but allergies can cause inflammation in your nasal passages, which results in post-nasal drip. Post-nasal drip is where you get a lot of mucus being produced that drips down the back of your throat, which can make you cough or get a sore throat. It's pretty bad when you're lying down and asleep. For me, when I have to deal with seasonal allergies, if I am feeling particularly bad that night, I will take an allergy pill to make sure I don't wake up with a sore throat.
      - shafyy 2y ago
        Very interesting, nobody mentioned this to me before. I'll try and see if there's a correlation in my case. Thanks!
        djmips 2y ago
        Also some BP medication that are ACE inhibitors cause cough.
glimshe 2y ago
"One weird trick...?" I practically healed my reflux by drastically reducing lactose and alcohol at night (I used to drink half a glass of wine at night) and replacing coffee for tea after lunch. May not work for people other than me, of course.
coolThingsFirst 2y ago
I will def be trying this since it's the second time that I've seen it, my problem with acid reflux is that i drink a lot of coffee and without it I am sleepy. Stress impacts it a lot. Coffee does I still drink, like a lot. 8 cups. Since quitting cigs it's 80% better. And yeah I definitely 'feel' some muscle in my stomach is the issue.
- matty22 2y ago
  For me, it wasn't the coffee it was the caffeine. Switched to decaf and my acid reflex disappeared nearly instantly. Try slowly swapping out 1 cup of regular for decaf, followed by another, followed by another, until you are off of regular coffee entirely. Over a surprisingly short-ish time, that "I feel sleepy without coffee" thing will go away and if you're in the same boat as me, your reflux will disappear too.
- adamredwoods 2y ago
  It's worth an honest attempt. For me, a part of my issue was the type of coffee I drank: more fruity coffee gave me bad silent GERD (causing random gag-reflex). I switched to French roast and had less problems, to the point I didn't need PPIs.
matty22 2y ago
For those who drink caffeine and have reflux, try shift to decaf. I still drink the same amount of coffee as I did before, only now it is decaf rather than regular. Acid reflux disappeared to the point I didn't need a daily PPI anymore. I still have a caffeine every once in a while, but multiple daily caffeinated beverages was the cause of my reflux.
- nunez 2y ago
  I did this, though not because of GERD, interestingly. A coffee roaster here in Houston won a coffee competition on a decaf, and it tasted so good, I quit caffeine the day I tried it (last year). I still get flare-ups that can be managed with H2 supplements (like Gaviscon), which are much safer than the PPIs I take every other day. The biggest advantage of switching to decaf is that caffeine works as intended the few times I use it. I have trouble staying awake on long drives; having a cup of coffee or a light energy drink, like Celsius, fixes that now.
  - sgarland 2y ago
    > light energy drink like Celsius I wouldn’t call 200 mg of caffeine light, personally.
    - nunez 2y ago
      Good point. I meant light in calories, not the caffeine. Note that I only drink these during long flights (since 200mg of caffeine is a lot) and one is enough.
nunez 2y ago
Right, so this paper is from a Ph.D of Botany [1] that worked at a research firm that's, from what I can surface, best known for a hydroponic algae cultivation system [2]. How did this get published on PubMed. I have GERD. The best known way of dealing with this piece-of-shit disease is to either restrict your diet to things that won't produce as much acid (so pretty much everything good) or take PPIs for the rest of your life that might or might cause bone problems due to decreased calcium absorption (my preference). The good news is that PPIs are manageable with vitamin/calcium supplements and yearly physicals, and you don't have to take them every day if the GERD isn't that bad. - [1] https://www.linkedin.com/in/eric-karrfalt-b60a1b49/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/eric-karrfalt-b60a1b49/ - [2] https://intengine.com/directory/profile/13861-renewergy-corporation https://intengine.com/directory/profile/13861-renewergy-corp...
- ornornor 2y ago
  I personally don’t want PPIs because they scare me. Instead when I have bad heartburn, I mix a teaspoon of baking soda (the pure kind, not the kind with yeast or whatever) with water in a glass and drink it. Sometimes a second time if it’s still there after 10–20 min. The soda reacts with the acid in the stomach, it makes you burp a little bit makes the heartburn go away. And I believe it’s a lot less harmful than PPIs. Been managing my chronic heartburn this way for 15 years.
  - nunez 2y ago
    Interesting!
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
ipunchghosts 2y ago
Melatonin fixed it for me. Found out about it through a lit review.

163 points by oneturkmen 2y ago

If you have reflux consider getting tested for celiac. Reflux was my only symptom for years, and I had it every day without fail. It was only when I developed anemia that I was diagnosed celiac; a month gluten-free and my reflux was gone.

penjelly 2y ago

I've had a sortof gaseous reflux for years I can't seem to eliminate. Ive seen these exercises and they sounded like BS or not applicable to my symptoms of LPR. Maybe I'll give it a go after all... I've had most success with digestive enzymes and eating more veggies, less packaged food. Anyone have similar experience and solved it I would be interested. PPIs only worsened the problem.

xvector 2y ago

> Eventually, I devised the following regimen with the intent of providing the LES with some resistance training. 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. This is interesting, as a GERD sufferer I really wish an image or video of the exercise was provided. Is it basically kneeling, touching your head to the floor to get it below the stomach (like someone doing a prayer), and swallowing food? I'm fascinated and confused. It also seems like an easy way to choke tbh.

jdyer9 2y ago
As for how to do it, based on my reading, imagine a mattress on the floor. And then, to follow your comparison, imagine a prayer, particularly an Islamic prayer pose (knees on the floor, hips in the air, head and hands touching the floor). Except as the author describes it, your knees would be up on the mattress, and your head and hands would touch the floor, rendering your torso largely inverted. Also, I realize that there's a lot more to the Adhan than just this pose, but it's the only easily searchable thing I can think of at the moment.

Jimmc414 2y ago

Simple and it makes sense. I wouldn’t call it scientific proof, but as a reflux sufferer interested in non pharmaceutical solutions, I’ll give it a try. TLDR- - Position: Kneel on something raised (like a 6.5" platform), put your head lower than your stomach by resting it on your hands on the floor - Exercise: Eat some food (like oatmeal or a sandwich) in this position, making your esophageal muscle work against gravity - Results: improvement after ~2 months, complete relief after ~6 months, and stayed fixed even after stopping the exercise

Sparkyte 2y ago
Right a self evaluation isn't a study.
avinassh 2y ago
> TLDR- - Position: Kneel on something raised (like a 6.5" platform), put your head lower than your stomach by resting it on your hands on the floor A picture would help me. Is there any name of this exercise so that I can Google?
- nosrepa 2y ago
  Get down on your knees. Now, bend over so your forehead touches the ground. Realize that the ground is hard, so you put your hands in-between your head and the floor. Then, you remember that you were supposed to do this while kneeling 6.5" tall platform.
Fire-Dragon-DoL 2y ago
Eating anything with a spoon is way harder, I tested it. Essentially gravity forces you to eat with the spoon in a position that's not the one you are used to.

dools 2y ago

I read this last year after going through some pretty weird oesophageal stuff, and I think if it did work it's almost certainly not because they provided the LES with "resistance training". A sphincter doesn't provide motility along the oesophagus, it tightens and contracts. The angle at which it does this is irrelevant. If this was indeed successful, a far more likely explanation is that doing this slowed down their eating and put less pressure on the smooth muscle function of the oesophagus during peristalsis and less pressure on the LES, allowing it some time to rest and perhaps get better at sphinctering.

loopdoend 2y ago

How I eliminated GERD: - Walking after every meal - Reducing my body weight - Avoiding food in the hours before bed YMMV

maxglute 2y ago
>Reducing my body weight ~10lbs (5% of bodyweight) is the difference between GERD and no gerd for me. Part of it I assume is increase in viceral fat pressuring stomach. After my threshold weight of 190lbs I have to move up a notch on my lifting belt. > Avoiding food in the hours before bed I think another factor is higher BW = more calories = more time for digestion. If I shift meals to 8 hours before bedtime vs 5 hours, GERD also goes away because I have more time to digest. I also don't get GERD after squat and deadlift days because they reliably make me shit. As an infrequent shitter, GERD is also correlated to how backed up I am. TLDR is to keep your stomach empty / digestion done before bedtime.
WheelsAtLarge 2y ago
This worked for me, too. Additionally, I reduced my intake of fatty foods, such as fried and buttery foods. I did not completely stop them, but I reduced them greatly. It made a huge difference.
01100011 2y ago
For me: lose weight and take a daily PPI. "But PPIs have terrible side effects!" Doing great so far. One esomeprazole a day, 30 mins before I eat breakfast and I'm almost normal. This is with bad GERD, a hiatal hernia and some changes to my esophageal tissue. Oh and schatzki rings. I was in immense pain for years and now I can eat normally and enjoy spicy foods again.
- jmcgough 2y ago
  A PPI is preferable to Barret's esophagus secondary to chronic gastric reflux, and certainly sounds reasonable in your case. There are others who start using omeprazole OTC without understanding the difference between it and Pepcid. Omeprazole (and its enantiomer esomeprazol) can cause rebound heart burn with discontinuation, are not meant to be used "as needed" compared to antacids / H2 drugs due to their slower method of action, nor do we fully understand the long-term risks of PPIs. There have been observational studies which, while not able to show a clear cause and effect, have found evidence of higher risk of fractures among those on PPIs long-term.

blindriver 2y ago

I also sometimes get acid reflux and I wonder if the real reason this person cured his GERD is because the sphincter got a chance to heal properly because of the bed wedge. Once it healed then it could perform properly.

ilrwbwrkhv 2y ago

You can also just twist your body when you are eating like a swirly and that can help strengthen your muscle and heals it.

Sparkyte 2y ago

Awh yes totally deserves to be in the nih gov site...

NotGMan 2y ago
Why not? It's a REAL person solving a REAL problem for himself. Why is that "invalid data"? You prefer studies with 100 people that generate just noise because people are so different?
- thomassmith65 2y ago
  Is that sarcasm?

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

stansm 2y ago

I’ve found a similar article with the actual picture, but there they’ve tested bridge posture, effect should be similar I think.. will definitely try it out (been suffering from severe GERD since last year after swallowing a piece of nut and after the endoscopy, maybe they’ve also taken too much material for the biopsy) Article: https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/prm/7/0/7_20220054/_html/-char/en https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/prm/7/0/7_20220054/_htm...

valbaca 2y ago

n=1

jmcgough 2y ago
Literally says "an anecdotal study" in the title.

rembicilious 2y ago

Cure Acid Reflux by Eating Doggy Style

FrequentLurker 2y ago
Best tldr yet

nobrains 2y ago

Can anyone please direct me to a picture / image / illustration / animated-gif of the position being referred to in the paper?

cinntaile 2y ago
I don't know about the method in the paper but if you suffer from this, try doing glute bridges.
Giorgi 2y ago
Yeah, that would be nice, can't understand gibberish he/she explains, I think it is some sort of doggystyle with head bowed down?
d00mc0de 2y ago
[dead]
SapporoChris 2y ago
I'm not certain, but I suspect it is similar to this. https://files.tofugu.com/articles/japan/2015-10-23-bowing-in-japan/dogeza-bow-demo-video-poster-1280x.jpg https://files.tofugu.com/articles/japan/2015-10-23-bowing-in... But from the description in the article, add a platform, the bowed head is extended off the platform and down lower.
terrycody 2y ago
Yes, there is not even 1 single image or video try to explain this, its weird, author should post more details.

porridgeraisin 2y ago

The main thing here seems to be giving your oesophagus' "swallowing muscle" gravity to fight against. The traditional Indian method of eating, sitting cross legged on the floor, is similar to this. While sitting cross legged, you bend your back and have your head point at an angle towards the plate on the floor, and then put the food in your mouth. So cos(theta)*gravity has to be opposed by your oesophagus.

Fire-Dragon-DoL 2y ago
Supposedly while you chew your back is straight though, isn't it?

cinntaile 2y ago

Another method that works is doing glute bridges. Edit: See https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9668752/ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9668752/

spuz 2y ago

I think I will try this though I'm not sure I have the patience to try it for 2 months before seeing any results. Hopefully I will see some benefit before then. If the theory is correct that the peristaltic and sphincter muscles need to be worked harder then I wonder weather it makes more sense to do this while drinking rather than while eating. It should be significantly harder for your muscles to work against gravity when "pushing water uphill" than when pushing solids. I wonder if the simple cure for hiccups (bending over and then swallowing water) could work here.

corysama 2y ago

My own N=2 study: Based on a random comment in an obscure forum, I cured my specific form of reflux for 10 years with a couple of simple stretches. I think they only address reflux due to https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiatal_hernia https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiatal_hernia The theme is to physically push the stomach back down into place. The first exercise was to lay in bed, one hand over the other just below the sternum, push in and slide down slowly. Repeat 4 or 5 times. I felt my esophagus being stretched during this, which was quite an odd sensation. I did this each morning and sometimes at night. The second exercise needed the stomach to be filled with liquid. A bowl of cereal or a lot of water does the trick. Stand on your tip toes and fall down on your heels with a loud thud ten or so times. I did this once a day. It took about two and a half months to see results. But, I went from “These PPIs are not effective enough” to “I don’t need any pills” for ten years. Unfortunately, over the next ten years I gained a beer belly, the reflux returned, and I think the visceral fat is getting in the way of the manual manipulation exercise because I did not feel the stretch at all last time I tried the repeat the process. Maybe I should give it another go. But, mainly I need to lose the gut.

slig 2y ago
Thank you so much for sharing your experience, I'm going to give this a try.
throwaway032023 2y ago
On your tip toes and falling down with a thud is also a qi gong exercise.
saaspirant 2y ago
I am very late to the party but the first exercise you are mentioning is popular in my district in South India. It is done by elders to relatively young people with stomach issues, vomiting etc. In Tamil, it is called "Rubbing the intestine". My grandma used to do that to me when I was a kid. I had always assumed it was a superstitious pseudo-xxx stuff. I am humbled and amazed by the fact that the same procedure was rediscovered by someone from the other part of the world years later.

shafyy 2y ago

Slighly related, but maybe somebody here has some tips: I've had a sore throat for months. And initially they thought it's from GERD, but it does not appear to be. Checks showed no other issues wiht my oesophagus or stomach. Did anybody experience something like this before?

yukinon 2y ago
Do you snore? Alternatively, do you have post-nasal drip from a new allergy?
- shafyy 2y ago
  I don't snore. What do you mean by "post-nasal drip"? I do have allergies to environmental stuff like dust and hay fever, and my nose is running / sneezing from this. Some weeks more, some weeks less. But it's not new, I've had that for years. Do you think this could be related?
  - yukinon 2y ago
    I am not an anything, but allergies can cause inflammation in your nasal passages, which results in post-nasal drip. Post-nasal drip is where you get a lot of mucus being produced that drips down the back of your throat, which can make you cough or get a sore throat. It's pretty bad when you're lying down and asleep. For me, when I have to deal with seasonal allergies, if I am feeling particularly bad that night, I will take an allergy pill to make sure I don't wake up with a sore throat.
    - shafyy 2y ago
      Very interesting, nobody mentioned this to me before. I'll try and see if there's a correlation in my case. Thanks!
      - djmips 2y ago
        Also some BP medication that are ACE inhibitors cause cough.

glimshe 2y ago

"One weird trick...?" I practically healed my reflux by drastically reducing lactose and alcohol at night (I used to drink half a glass of wine at night) and replacing coffee for tea after lunch. May not work for people other than me, of course.

coolThingsFirst 2y ago

I will def be trying this since it's the second time that I've seen it, my problem with acid reflux is that i drink a lot of coffee and without it I am sleepy. Stress impacts it a lot. Coffee does I still drink, like a lot. 8 cups. Since quitting cigs it's 80% better. And yeah I definitely 'feel' some muscle in my stomach is the issue.

matty22 2y ago
For me, it wasn't the coffee it was the caffeine. Switched to decaf and my acid reflex disappeared nearly instantly. Try slowly swapping out 1 cup of regular for decaf, followed by another, followed by another, until you are off of regular coffee entirely. Over a surprisingly short-ish time, that "I feel sleepy without coffee" thing will go away and if you're in the same boat as me, your reflux will disappear too.
adamredwoods 2y ago
It's worth an honest attempt. For me, a part of my issue was the type of coffee I drank: more fruity coffee gave me bad silent GERD (causing random gag-reflex). I switched to French roast and had less problems, to the point I didn't need PPIs.

matty22 2y ago

For those who drink caffeine and have reflux, try shift to decaf. I still drink the same amount of coffee as I did before, only now it is decaf rather than regular. Acid reflux disappeared to the point I didn't need a daily PPI anymore. I still have a caffeine every once in a while, but multiple daily caffeinated beverages was the cause of my reflux.

nunez 2y ago
I did this, though not because of GERD, interestingly. A coffee roaster here in Houston won a coffee competition on a decaf, and it tasted so good, I quit caffeine the day I tried it (last year). I still get flare-ups that can be managed with H2 supplements (like Gaviscon), which are much safer than the PPIs I take every other day. The biggest advantage of switching to decaf is that caffeine works as intended the few times I use it. I have trouble staying awake on long drives; having a cup of coffee or a light energy drink, like Celsius, fixes that now.
- sgarland 2y ago
  > light energy drink like Celsius I wouldn’t call 200 mg of caffeine light, personally.
  - nunez 2y ago
    Good point. I meant light in calories, not the caffeine. Note that I only drink these during long flights (since 200mg of caffeine is a lot) and one is enough.

nunez 2y ago

Right, so this paper is from a Ph.D of Botany [1] that worked at a research firm that's, from what I can surface, best known for a hydroponic algae cultivation system [2]. How did this get published on PubMed. I have GERD. The best known way of dealing with this piece-of-shit disease is to either restrict your diet to things that won't produce as much acid (so pretty much everything good) or take PPIs for the rest of your life that might or might cause bone problems due to decreased calcium absorption (my preference). The good news is that PPIs are manageable with vitamin/calcium supplements and yearly physicals, and you don't have to take them every day if the GERD isn't that bad. - [1] https://www.linkedin.com/in/eric-karrfalt-b60a1b49/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/eric-karrfalt-b60a1b49/ - [2] https://intengine.com/directory/profile/13861-renewergy-corporation https://intengine.com/directory/profile/13861-renewergy-corp...

ornornor 2y ago
I personally don’t want PPIs because they scare me. Instead when I have bad heartburn, I mix a teaspoon of baking soda (the pure kind, not the kind with yeast or whatever) with water in a glass and drink it. Sometimes a second time if it’s still there after 10–20 min. The soda reacts with the acid in the stomach, it makes you burp a little bit makes the heartburn go away. And I believe it’s a lot less harmful than PPIs. Been managing my chronic heartburn this way for 15 years.
- nunez 2y ago
  Interesting!

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ipunchghosts 2y ago

Melatonin fixed it for me. Found out about it through a lit review.