“Despite taking meds, and watching what I eat, I have still had a couple of episodes of waking up with acid reflux in the middle of the night this past year. One was so bad, the crap was coming out of my nose, and my throat was on fire. I was also coughing up small bits of pus for about a week, so I must have aspirated the reflux as well. I have Barrett’s esophagus, so that was a concern for me. I called my doctor, and he told me to call him if I developed a fever. I didn’t, but it was an experience I’d never had before in my life.”
My wife’s best west coast friend, she is like a sister, had your problem two nights in a row after dinner and after bed time.
Her Doctor at our big HMO lives about a quarter of a mile away from her home, and he walked over to her home during her reflux event and gave her 2 Zantacs. In about an hour she was better.
He believes that she has Barrett’s esophagus. Since she is 84, he feels the Zantac is safer than a GI scope.
He told her to take a 150 mg tab of Zantac about 30-45 minutes after her dinner. Then, take a 300 mg Zantac tab at 30 minutes before bedtime. Also, to limit her wine to one 6-8 ounce glass during her evening meal. No wine before nor after her dinner.
She is doing fine with that simple and easy to follow regimen.
I hope I'm dead by the time I'm 83. The odds are good since I'm 73, and the rest of my family is all gone, the oldest dying at the age of 74.
My Gastroenterologist told me years ago not to eat anything after 8 p.m., because your stomach produces most of its acid while you sleep. I don't go to bed until 4 or 5 a.m. in the morning, but I still try to make sure I don't eat anything of consequence later in the evening. I don't drink alcohol of any kind because I'm diabetic, and just take pills to control it. An apple or a banana before I go to bed has never caused me a problem. I've been taking two 30mg Lansoprazole before breakfast and supper for a very long time. I only eat two meals at the most. If I have a good breakfast, I have something light for supper, and vice versa. The one bad episode I had this past summer was after I had added extra pepperoni, salami, peppers, onions, and bacon bits to a Walmart flat bread pepperoni pizza. I'd added that stuff on their flat bread pizzas before and never had a problem. It was at least 7-8 hours after I'd eaten it that I woke up with the acid reflux. Didn't have any gas, discomfort, or heartburn at all until the acid reflux episode woke me up at about 4 a.m. in the morning.