Help ! Acid reflux

amyid

I'm miserable - I just spent over a month in hospital without eating and now I have terrible acid reflux after eating... Could be a mixture of pregnancy and post surgery but I need to know what has helped anyone feel more comfortable - I really do not feel great ! I've been looking online at foods that are better to eat etc and currently are taking medication twice a day. I've never experienced this before now so I'd love some tried and sucessful advice  
Anything that's worked for anyone else - I'm getting desperate !! 

soxfan9968

Currently chewing on tums as I type. Tums helps me out when it's just a small amount of acid reflux, otherwise for those days when it's really bad I take Zantac as my ob recommended. I'd check with your ob to see what they're comfortable recommending but Zantac seems to be my life saver on days/nights when the acid reflux is killer.

Sweet_D

Another one for tums and Zantac. Makes it more manageable doesn't completely take it away for me. Some days I could drink water and get reflux so it's not always food choices when you're pregnant 

smushi

Tums helps, but remember I think you can only have 6 in a day (during pregnancy), and you'll want to really consider having even that many, because too many can make you horribly constipated...  Try to eat small meals, and leave the acidic foods like oranges, orange juice, tomato sauce, etc out of your diet for now.  I'm with sweet_d, if I don't have anything on my stomach, even water will cause heartburn, so I like to have crackers handy or something similar.

CCLow87

Different things work for everyone. My midwife recommended apple cider vinegar or one other thing, but I can't remember what. One mom I knew made hers go away with sherbet. I've also seen some heartburn teas floating around.

mshukh

I just tried the heartburn tea I got at Target in the prenatal isle near pharmacy. It has been helping, I think. My reflux has been horrible since week 5 (yes, literally as soon as i got a BFP). It's only gotten worse, but I have noticed same as posters above that if I have nothing at all and drink water in the am, I get reflux with no food. Having some food first and drinking helps. But for me, any crackers or anything bready would be immediate heartburn, so it needs to be something like cottage cheese instead. 

jenniferamcooper

Really great advice here, I'm taking Zantac and have "supplemental tums" and I'm eating small meals and I'm still getting mouthful-of-acid reflux. It's brutal and wakes me up at night. I don't eat dairy which some people says helps and other people says makes it worse so you could consider cutting that out for a few days to see if it makes a difference. Especially where you had surgery and couldn't eat real food for awhile. People get mild lactose after an incident like that, mine came after a 3 week virus - and at first it was just bad heartburn.

skruhmin

If you want to try a natural supplement, I've heard papaya can help immensely.  But this far into pregnancy and really nothing helps. 

lchadwick221

Another vote for zantac. Not a cure all, but definitely helps me more than tums.

RobinLovesAdam

Oh my goodness! It feels like nothing works for me either. Zantac sometimes helps and tums bother me. And it doesn't matter what I eat, anything can make it come back up. Sometimes it gets so bad I vomit and then the taste of that makes me vomit again (sorry, gross I know). I have so much ice water and take really long shallow sips. I also found a Popsicle that is not super sugary or syrupy that has been helpful. I'm sorry I can't offer more advice, but you have my complete empathy.

SarahFoley725

I'm a Pepcid person 

Knottie59802221

Sucking on hard candy like Jolly Ranchers helps relieve my heartburn. The absolute best is the caramel apple pops. I started taking papaya enzymes right before bed and then I keep graham crackers in my bathroom so I snack on one everytime I get up to pee in the middle of the night. That way, my stomach isn't empty all night and I don't wake up sick. Before pregnancy, I was taking Zantec but during pregnancy it made me horribly nauseous 

Shanski70

Lurker from February.

I had horrific heartburn, water, any & all food, & sneezing would cause it to flare. I was absolutely miserable & nothing over the counter provided any significant relief. My midwife was concerned about ketones in my urine and I told her about my heartburn situation. She prescribed me protonix. 

It it has been life changing, I can eat and drink like a normal person again & have not taken a single Tums since my second day on this medication. Seriously ladies, if you are miserable, talk to your care provider. They might agree that you will benefit from something stronger to help keep the reflux in check.

amyid

Thank you for all the advice - I just gagged my way through 2 tums and I'm laying still just to feel better  I'm going to ask about the things that everyone suggested, I too am feeling lousy just after water and my main concern now is that after my hospital stay I'd already lost tonssss of weight and now I'm hardly eating anything just to avoid feeling evennnnn worse. Made a great dinner for my husband tonight and I managed about 4 mouthfuls... It's just crappy. 
8 months pregnant, acid reflux... Major abdominal surgery recovery, my lungs acting as if I've been a life long smoker and I slept funny and have been "ouching" over a pulled neck muscle for 3 days now... Whine whine whine whinneeeeeeeeeee ! 
Positive vibes to you all !! I'll be slurping my target acid tea by noon tomorrow !! 

elledriver88

Everyone must be different because my only relief is a glass of milk, it's to the point where it helps more than having a tums. I can go through a 4L jug in three days, this baby will have bones of steel

jenniferamcooper

If tums makes you gag try switching up the flavour, I could only do the fruit ones last pregnancy, and this time it's mint only for me.