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 1 days ago [-]
Thank you so much for sharing your experience, I'm going to give this a try.
throwaway032023 23 hours ago [-]
On your tip toes and falling down with a thud is also a qi gong exercise.
dools 1 days 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.
hnddcvgydss 3 hours 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.
nobrains 1 days ago [-]
Can anyone please direct me to a picture / image / illustration / animated-gif of the position being referred to in the paper?
SapporoChris 14 hours ago [-]
I'm not certain, but I suspect it is similar to this.
But from the description in the article, add a platform, the bowed head is extended off the platform and down lower.
terrycody 12 hours ago [-]
Yes, there is not even 1 single image or video try to explain this, its weird, author should post more details.
cinntaile 1 days ago [-]
I don't know about the method in the paper but if you suffer from this, try doing glute bridges.
Giorgi 1 days 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 1 days ago [-]
[dead]
matty22 1 days 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 23 hours 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 2 hours ago [-]
> light energy drink like Celsius
I wouldn’t call 200 mg of caffeine light, personally.
loopdoend 1 days ago [-]
How I eliminated GERD:
- Walking after every meal
- Reducing my body weight
- Avoiding food in the hours before bed
YMMV
01100011 1 days 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 1 days 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.
janice1999 24 hours ago [-]
> do we fully understand the long-term risks of PPIs
The potential link between PPIs and dementia worries me a lot. I switched to H2 blockers when my symptoms decreased but they're not as good and you need to periodically get your liver function checked.
nunez 23 hours ago [-]
PPIs can take a (long) while for its side effects to present. Also, not everyone experiences the side effects, though some people definitely do!
herdcall 24 hours ago [-]
Weight loss did it for me. I was on 40mg Nexium and couldn't survive without the med every day. Then I was on a 3 month trip to Europe during which I dramatically lost weight and also ran out of the med. Quite incredibly, I realized I was fine without the med. The trip was 5 years ago and I've been keeping the weight off, it seem to be holding.
WheelsAtLarge 1 days 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.
rufus_foreman 21 hours ago [-]
My anecdotal study, I had an awful case of reflux, my doctor told me to lose weight. Right after that I moved to a place that was more conducive to outdoor exercise and started walking for miles a day, at least 30 miles a week.
That did it, I didn't lose any weight but the reflux was gone completely.
I moved again and where I live now is not as good for outdoor activity, but it hasn't come back yet. I still walk at least a mile a day, maybe that's enough for me. If not, at least I know the prescription for me if it comes back.
porridgeraisin 1 days 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 16 hours ago [-]
Supposedly while you chew your back is straight though, isn't it?
rembicilious 1 days ago [-]
Cure Acid Reflux by Eating Doggy Style
FrequentLurker 1 days ago [-]
Best tldr yet
stansm 1 days 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)
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.
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.
21 hours ago [-]
glimshe 1 days 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.
spuz 1 days 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.
Jimmc414 1 days 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
Fire-Dragon-DoL 16 hours 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.
Sparkyte 1 days ago [-]
Right a self evaluation isn't a study.
avinassh 1 days 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 1 days 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.
shafyy 1 days 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?
jmcgough 1 days ago [-]
Have you been coughing? Any new life changes since onset of symptoms, like a new pet / house / job?
Most common causes of chronic sore throat are allergies or a chronic cough. Also consider environmental irritants, smoking, or dry mouth (like from snoring). I'd also think LPR ("silent GERD") but sounds like they ruled that out. I assume they examined you for bacterial injection like strep.
shafyy 4 hours ago [-]
Not been coughing. Not a smoker. Not a snorer (according to my partner). New job, yes, but it's a remote job.
My current suspicion is also environmental irritants, since we have been storing some strong smelling cleaning agents in our office / storage for a client since about that time. We will clear out the storage in January, so let's see if this changes anything.
Did not know about LRP. Doctors ruled out any ulcers or anatomical problems with LES, but it could still be something like this... I'll look into it, thanks!
glimshe 1 days ago [-]
How do you know it's not GERD? I had what you described. Took 2 months of careful eating and Omeprazole to get rid of... Doctor did a throat/nose endoscopy but couldn't see anything, so he diagnosed based on symptoms alone.
shafyy 5 hours ago [-]
I mean it's hard to rule out GERD 100%. But I did try careful eating and Omeprazole (and other PPI) for a few months, too, and it did not get better. Did you notice gradual improvement or did it just go away one day?
yukinon 1 days ago [-]
Do you snore? Alternatively, do you have post-nasal drip from a new allergy?
shafyy 1 days 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 1 days 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 1 days ago [-]
Very interesting, nobody mentioned this to me before. I'll try and see if there's a correlation in my case. Thanks!
djmips 2 hours ago [-]
Also some BP medication that are ACE inhibitors cause cough.
blindriver 1 days 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.
Sparkyte 1 days ago [-]
Awh yes totally deserves to be in the nih gov site...
NotGMan 1 days 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?
Melatonin fixed it for me. Found out about it through a lit review.
1 days ago [-]
ilrwbwrkhv 1 days 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.
xvector 1 days 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 1 days 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.
coolThingsFirst 1 days 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 1 days 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 21 hours 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.
valbaca 1 days ago [-]
n=1
jmcgough 1 days ago [-]
Literally says "an anecdotal study" in the title.
Rendered at 15:06:01 GMT+0000 (UTC) with Wasmer Edge.
I think they only address reflux due to 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.
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.
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.
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.
I wouldn’t call 200 mg of caffeine light, personally.
- Walking after every meal
- Reducing my body weight
- Avoiding food in the hours before bed
YMMV
"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.
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.
The potential link between PPIs and dementia worries me a lot. I switched to H2 blockers when my symptoms decreased but they're not as good and you need to periodically get your liver function checked.
That did it, I didn't lose any weight but the reflux was gone completely.
I moved again and where I live now is not as good for outdoor activity, but it hasn't come back yet. I still walk at least a mile a day, maybe that's enough for me. If not, at least I know the prescription for me if it comes back.
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.
Article: https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/prm/7/0/7_20220054/_htm...
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/
- [2] https://intengine.com/directory/profile/13861-renewergy-corp...
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.
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.
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.
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
A picture would help me. Is there any name of this exercise so that I can Google?
Most common causes of chronic sore throat are allergies or a chronic cough. Also consider environmental irritants, smoking, or dry mouth (like from snoring). I'd also think LPR ("silent GERD") but sounds like they ruled that out. I assume they examined you for bacterial injection like strep.
My current suspicion is also environmental irritants, since we have been storing some strong smelling cleaning agents in our office / storage for a client since about that time. We will clear out the storage in January, so let's see if this changes anything.
Did not know about LRP. Doctors ruled out any ulcers or anatomical problems with LES, but it could still be something like this... I'll look into it, thanks!
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.
You prefer studies with 100 people that generate just noise because people are so different?
Edit: See https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9668752/
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.
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.
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.