• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Waking up with heartburn in the middle of the night.

Status
Not open for further replies.
M

Mineshaft_Gap

4077th
So last night I made the dreadful mistake of nibbling on some delicious mostacholi an hour before bed. FUCK. I was out of bed by 1:30 AM this morning and I needed to get up at the ungodly hour of 4 AM for work. Usually I can just go hang out for half an hour and it'll go away if I sit upright. It's going on 3 1/2 hours now I haven't been able to go back to bed.

Nearest pharmacy is 20 minutes away so I can't just go out and pick up a pack of zantac.

Any folks on NeoGAF ever have this problem? It seems like it's getting worse and worse for me. What do, gaf?
 
K

Kammie

Member
Could be acid reflux disease... About five years back I'd wake up in the middle of the night with heartburn and a burning feeling in the back of my throat. To try to soothe it I would drink water and lie back down, which made it progressively worse, as it caused all the acids to go back up. After getting checked out, I got some pills to use for a span of several weeks (don't remember what), and was told to not eat or drink before going to bed, and to sleep with my head and chest inclined up a little. After a few months it disappeared. Though I'm always careful to not drink anything for several hours before going to bed, otherwise I'll feel a slight bother.
 
K

keyboardcat

Member
have found milk to work, or as weird as it sounds, Love hearts (the fizzy-ish candy)

on a sidenote, a colleague of mine was diagnosed with chronic acid reflux disease by his Dr while he was living in the US, was basically told it would never go away. He moved here (Norway) and it went away after a week. He put it down to his diet over there, which wasn't unhealthy but the food had lots of chemicals in it.

anyhow, GL with this, sucks balls to have it for that long.
 
M

MarkMclovin

Member
Yeah, I suffer from Gastroesophageal reflux disease during the night and I suffer from heart burn during the day if I put on weight (weirdly).

Sometimes, it can be really bad when waking up to acid pretty much coming up through your throat and burning everything up along the way. It takes your breath away and you will start coughing, which then makes it all worse again, but this is more of an attack rather than what you are going through.

I can sometimes lay there in bed and open my mouth and you can hear the acid bubbles in my stomach popping. Like when you put washing up liquid in a glass of water and blow through a straw creating loads of bubbles, this is what happens with too much acid. Add to that, your 'valve' not closing properly, and you have a problem.

The medication didn't work for me (can't remember what they're called), so I have a bottle of Gaviscon next to me. Works straight away.
 
S

Salazar

Member
I am imagining Bruce Springsteen singing this thread title.

I have no idea why, but it just conjured the Boss in my mind.
 
V

VeryGooster

Banned
Pepcid AC chewables?

That kind of thing sucks. It's why I'm like almost afraid to have anything with marinara sauce these days.
 
D

Diablos

Member
Don't eat before you go to bed. If you must, eat something lighter like a cracker or small piece of bread. You consumed a pretty heavy pasta dish, loaded with cheese and sauce. No wonder. Not only does doing that lead to problems like yours, but it's a fantastic way to put on unnecessary weight. In fact, don't eat after 6-7 PM.
 
Kuramu

Kuramu

Member
I avoid the few things that cause this before bed (Doritos, red licorice, ravioli) and I have a big ass bottle of tums next to my bed so if I do wake up, I won't have to get up and risk staying up
 
M

madara

Member
Acid Reflux, GERD, gastritis, gastroparesis, barret's esophagus, finally the nasty hiatal hernia. This is path all that crap can lead to if you dont change your lifestyle and diet. You can brush it off pre-30 but make no mistake it will get you one way or other if you dont convert to small sized meals, eating hours before you lay down and dont cut back on the pizza and crap from my learning experience.
 
S

shuri

Banned
I knew a dude who died from that, he had to get surgery because the acid stuff built up, and the operation went horribly wrong and it bursted and leaked everywhere inside of him. What a horrible death. he was a cool uy.
 
D

Diablos

Member
shuri said:
I knew a dude who died from that, he had to get surgery because the acid stuff built up, and the operation went horribly wrong and it bursted and leaked everywhere inside of him. What a horrible death. he was a cool uy.
Click to expand...
:\
 
D

dankir

Member
I've had some episodes where I'm sound asleep and i'll wake up to the feeling of Acid coming up my throat.

I rush outta bed and run to the bathroom to drink some water, it's hard to breathe to a few minutes and I have the awful acidic taste in the back of my throat.

But yeah I feel like I'm gonna die

:(
 
L

LosDaddie

Banned
This happens to me every once in a while (usually after a night of heavy drinking and late-night munchies) and I just eat a couple of Tums and I'm good.
 
T

TheLastCandle

Member
I get heartburn at night sometimes if I eat something particularly spicy or acidic. A good example of something like this would be my wife's spicy tomato sauce with hot italian sausage. Good god, so good.

Anyways, Pepcid AC works wonders for me. Much, MUCH more effective than TUMS.
 
M

MarkMclovin

Member
dankir said:
I've had some episodes where I'm sound asleep and i'll wake up to the feeling of Acid coming up my throat.

I rush outta bed and run to the bathroom to drink some water, it's hard to breathe to a few minutes and I have the awful acidic taste in the back of my throat.

But yeah I feel like I'm gonna die

:(
Click to expand...

Tastes like battery acid doesn't it? And you'll do a little cough and bring more up again. Urgh.

I find that water makes it worse though.
 
S

Sqorgar

Banned
It's not acid reflux if it only happened once, an hour after eating. That's just heartburn and poor dietary choices. Drink some milk or eat some crackers to soak up the extra acid. TUMS if you got 'em. Try to sleep sitting up. And don't eat right before you go to bed.

If it happens frequently, then it is probably GERD and you need to deal with it or the scarring from the chronic heartburn can learn to a significantly increased chance of esophageal cancer. Doctors will probably try to get you to take a PPI inhibitor (like Nexium) but a better solution is diet and lifestyle changes.

I've had GERD for fifteen to twenty years (since I was in high school) and have been taking Nexium for the past ten years. I thought it was a miracle drug, but it's taken its toll on my digestive system. It's now to the point where I'm unable to digest anything at all due to low stomach acid. And I can't get off the Nexium because there's a rebound effect where the acid is about 10 times worse - I would literally burp gaseous acid that burned the inside of my mouth. So now I'm trying to kick a decade long drug dependency that has fundamentally changed my digestive system.
 
T

TheKingsCrown

Banned
Sqorgar said:
It's not acid reflux if it only happened once, an hour after eating. That's just heartburn and poor dietary choices. Drink some milk or eat some crackers to soak up the extra acid. TUMS if you got 'em. Try to sleep sitting up. And don't eat right before you go to bed.

If it happens frequently, then it is probably GERD and you need to deal with it or the scarring from the chronic heartburn can learn to a significantly increased chance of esophageal cancer. Doctors will probably try to get you to take a PPI inhibitor (like Nexium) but a better solution is diet and lifestyle changes.

I've had GERD for fifteen to twenty years (since I was in high school) and have been taking Nexium for the past ten years. I thought it was a miracle drug, but it's taken its toll on my digestive system. It's now to the point where I'm unable to digest anything at all due to low stomach acid. And I can't get off the Nexium because there's a rebound effect where the acid is about 10 times worse - I would literally burp gaseous acid that burned the inside of my mouth. So now I'm trying to kick a decade long drug dependency that has fundamentally changed my digestive system.
Click to expand...

Thanks for posting this.
 
J

Jeramii

Banned
I had to get a test done a few years back called the Barium Swallow. god it was awful.... but from it they verified I have very very bad acid reflux.

I'm am supposed to take some strong Rx stuff... But I ran out a couple months ago and haven't taken the time to go get it refilled.

Either way... don't eat before you go to bed, and try to prop your head up a bit with a pillow to avoid waking up with bad heart burn... it doesn't guarantee against it, just helps lower your chances.

heartburn and acid reflux is at its worst in your sleep.
 
A

ampere

Member
Sqorgar said:
It's not acid reflux if it only happened once, an hour after eating. That's just heartburn and poor dietary choices. Drink some milk or eat some crackers to soak up the extra acid. TUMS if you got 'em. Try to sleep sitting up. And don't eat right before you go to bed.

If it happens frequently, then it is probably GERD and you need to deal with it or the scarring from the chronic heartburn can learn to a significantly increased chance of esophageal cancer. Doctors will probably try to get you to take a PPI inhibitor (like Nexium) but a better solution is diet and lifestyle changes.

I've had GERD for fifteen to twenty years (since I was in high school) and have been taking Nexium for the past ten years. I thought it was a miracle drug, but it's taken its toll on my digestive system. It's now to the point where I'm unable to digest anything at all due to low stomach acid. And I can't get off the Nexium because there's a rebound effect where the acid is about 10 times worse - I would literally burp gaseous acid that burned the inside of my mouth. So now I'm trying to kick a decade long drug dependency that has fundamentally changed my digestive system.
Click to expand...
Read this fucking post.

I had awful heartburn for years but I hate taking pills for things so I would always just suffer through it. When I found out I was a celiac and cut gluten (and later dairy and soy) from my diet it has made the heartburn so much less frequent. I still haven't eliminated it but dietary changes can do wonders.

Drugs very often treat the symptom, not the cause. Be aware.

Also don't eat within an hour or two of going to bed, that's just poor judgment otherwise.
 
A

Axion22

Member
I take ranitidine (Zantac) almost every day for some similar issues. How's your stress level? That's what really flares me up.
 
A

Alcander

Member
So, I don't normally get acid reflux, but a few months ago I took a multivitamin right before bed (stupidly) and hardly drank any water with it. LET THIS BE A LESSON TO YOU!!!

The vitamin got stuck in my throat and one of the components (I think iron?) "dissolved" on the lining of my esophagus, right where it meets the stomach. It essentially created a chemical burn there, which fucked with the valve between my esophagus and stomach.

This lead to extreme heartburn for about 8 days where every night, even if I didn't eat anything, I would get the most intense pain I have ever felt. Would be up for hours and hours, it was the worst thing ever. I guess the valve just got so burnt that it didn't stop any stomach acid anymore. I also couldn't eat without it being incredibly painful :(

It's called "pill esophagitis", look it up. Vitamins with water people!! And don't lie down right after! :lol
 
D

diamondstar

Member
Usually in those situations I just drink milk and hope it calms down.

I have suffered from heartburn or Acid reflux for years. I just finally went to the doc and got an endoscopy done and was prescribed Aciphex. Luckily there wasnt much damage to my esophogus(sp?)

Anyway. I always keep Tums close but hate the taste it leaves in your mouth when you wake up. Aciphex works wonders as well but now I am a little worried after reading the guys post above.. Damn...

I also tried that new water Evamor. It worked great for me just a little pricey and hard to find. Best of luck.. It sucks living with heartburn, especially when you love alcohol, italian food and just about everything else that causes it.
 
Duane Cunningham

Duane Cunningham

Member
If you go to a doctor over it, be sure to have them check you for gallstones. I though I had some manner of Acid Reflux a few years ago, and it turns out the symptoms of needing your gall bladder out are pretty similar. They took mine out in a simple lacroscopic procedure, and I've been fine since.
 
K

keke

Member
I had the same problem for approximately 9 years... Every night even worse than night before.
I know the feeling hardly breathing... I dont wish to remember
these worked for me

Dont sleep after eating, specially fatty food.
sleep slightly seated.
take a zantac before going to sleep.
Have rolaids, gaviscon or Tums chewable close your bed in case you wake up with acid on you throat.

And more importantly... thing that cured me... lose some weight. After i lost 25 pounds I felt cured. But I still watch these rules except that Zantac, which I hevent took one over two years by now.
 
H

hateradio

The Most Dangerous Yes Man
Sqorgar said:
I've had GERD for fifteen to twenty years (since I was in high school) and have been taking Nexium for the past ten years. I thought it was a miracle drug, but it's taken its toll on my digestive system. It's now to the point where I'm unable to digest anything at all due to low stomach acid. And I can't get off the Nexium because there's a rebound effect where the acid is about 10 times worse - I would literally burp gaseous acid that burned the inside of my mouth. So now I'm trying to kick a decade long drug dependency that has fundamentally changed my digestive system.
Click to expand...
I was taking Nexium, which helped at first, but then it stopped working regularly. I also didn't like the weird waxy feeling in my throat. Eventually I stopped taking it since it would make me feel that I couldn't swallow and that I could choke.

Those gas bubbles are so annoying, but sleeping upright is something that I haven't adjusted to yet.
 
B

biggyfries

Member
I know how you feel. I suffer from the same thing, and had a very bad episode the other night.

There are the simple rules I try to follow:
1. Never eat within 2 hours of bedtime
2. Stop eating Italian 3+ hours before bedtime (tomatoes do it to me horrendously, and Italian is the only thing I have a problem with)
3. If feeling bloated/gassy, drink half a glass of milk, and eat a pc of bread before you lay down. (that should stop the acid)

edit: I dont take any medication for it (tums, etc). I just know what *not* to do.

Good luck, my stomach-acid-retching brother.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

I've had a rough Christmas and I just want to vent
45
4K
Dev1lXYZ replied
The Great GalaxyCon Disaster of Richmond 2024: A Comedy
4
1K
jason10mm replied
Don't let the bed bugs bite.
21
2K
ChorizoPicozo replied
How do you deal with long term break ups?
2 3
102
4K
Woggleman replied
Well this looks 'promising'...
2
50
3K
nemiroff replied
Top Bottom