Stop Acid Reflux Blog

Swallowed Stress

Dietary changes are important, but if you don’t maintain emotional well-being, you’re skipping a crucial step in finding long-lasting stomach relief. GERD is worsened not only by what you eat but also by what’s eating you. Researchers have linked the disease to stress and negative coping skills. According to Yehuda Ringel, M.D., a gastroenterologist and clinical researcher at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, “Time and again, it’s been shown that psychological stress can increase the symptoms of heartburn without evidence of any increase in acid exposure to the esophagus. Consequently, we have learned that a person’s psychological and emotional state greatly affects how he or she perceives GERD symptoms.”

Ringel recommends keeping a “stress diary” to see if there’s a correlation between one’s GERD symptoms and emotions. If so, he says “treatments can be directed toward reducing the effects of psychological distress. The specific treatment should be individually tailored but it can include stress-reducing techniques like yoga and biofeedback, antidepressant medications and psychological consultation. Patients should find the technique that works best for them.” This is not to suggest that psychological or stress management treatment should be the only approach to conquering GERD, but it can help give sufferers a sense of control over their symptoms and improve the eventual outcome.

As with most diseases, the best medicine is prevention. Following a healthy diet and keeping your weight within the recommended range sometimes helps prevent this disorder from developing in the first place. But if GERD is already present, stress management and dietary adjustments can help make it manageable. And this is a good thing, because if you’re staying up late, it should be for far more pleasurable reasons than heartburn.

Dos & Dont’s

* DO enjoy your meals. Chew slowly and sit up and digest afterward. Avoid lying down for two to three hours after eating.

* DO raise the head of your bed six to eight inches or place an extra pillow under your head at night. Gravity’s pull will help keep stomach acid moving down toward the intestines, an organ designed to handle it, rather than upward to the vulnerable esophagus.

* DO lose wei

ght if you need to.

* DON’T smoke, as it irritates the stomach.

* DON’T wear tight clothes, which can push against your stomach and squeeze its contents upward.

* DON’T ignore chest pain. Pain that is crushing, spreads to your left arm–or that’s accompanied by dizziness, sweating, rapid pulse or difficulty breathing–is a symptom of a heart attack. Seek medical treatment immediately.

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KATHRYN DRURY is a writer and editor living in New York City.
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