I have pretty bad acid reflux. I’m tired of antacids and PPI’s. My BMI is probably 33, which puts me in the obese camp. I could easily lose 50 lbs. I’m wondering if anyone has personal experience with G.E.R.D. symptoms improving after weight loss.

In a little over one month, I've lost 20 pounds with a Keto and fasting diet. Haven't used an acid-reducing med or otc product since I started and I was up to two to three times per day with them.

It definitely helps.

Losing weight and exercising absolutely helped my GERD. No question about it.

Not weight loss, but getting on a CPAP did away with it while sleeping. That was unexpected, but pleasant!

I have GERD (diagnosed by a GI doc after an esophageal endoscopy). It's exacerbated by my having a hiatal hernia (a little bit of my stomach sticks up past my diaphragm, which makes the esophageal sphincter that keeps food/stomach acid from coming back up not work as well).

I'm 6' 1". Going from 220 (BMI 29) to 190 (BMI 25) helped significantly.

I have been on a daily high dose of PPIs during that time, but at 220 I was still having frequent heartburn and needing to sleep on an incline pillow most of the time. At 190 (still on same dose of PPIs) I have heartburn much less frequently and can mostly avoid the incline pillow.

Pardon my thread drift, but I was also having acid reflux.

I found a huge improvement by cutting way back, but not quite eliminating wheat products, to where I only take 1 Prilosec every 3 weeks or so instead of daily.

Weight loss is good and helpful.

Best wishes to you.

I believe the main thing that helped me was not eating anything within three hours before bed.

Definitely...I was able to wean myself off Nexium and Zantac after taking them daily for years (not at the same time) by losing weight and improving my diet.

As the others have said, there's an undeniable connection.

I was on PPIs for years and once the offending foods were no longer in the daily picture and were replaced by better food and exercise, I didn't need the pills.

I still eat some of that shit but rarely and at a decent hour. Cutting back on alcohol helps too.

I had fairly bad GERD and acid reflux a few years ago. I also have had my Gall Bladder removed due to Gallstones, which may aggravate the GERD. I was on the generic equivalent of Prilosec OTC, on a prescription strength of about 40 mg (Twice what is in a normal dosage of over-the-counter Prilosec).

Losing weight *did* help the acid reflux, but I think in my case, it wasn't the weight loss that reduced the acid reflux, it was the change in diet that reduced the acid reflux, to the point I need no meds at all for the acid reflux.

Fast forward to now - I have gained most of the weight back, but only need an over-the-counter strength of 20mg of Prilosec to control the GERD/reflux. With the 20 mg dosage, I have no problems at all.

Absolutely. I suffered with it f9r years as I packed on the pounds. It would wake me in the middle of the night occasionally.

I lost a bunch of weight, changed my eating habits and lifestyle. No more BP medicine, no more metformin and no reflux. AIC is normal at 4.2.

I’ve never had an issue with my weight, I range between height/weight appropriate to a BMI of 25. I’ve dealt with GERD for 25 years. Obviously, losing weight helps many people, just doesn’t matter for me. 15 mg of Prevacid, every. single. day.

Yes it did. If I stay below 200 (my high is 230) I can sleep on my right side some nights.
BTW: I was 6’1” and 135 when I graduated HS in ‘89.

Lots of smaller meals, nothing heavy after late afternoon, stop eating by 5pm-6pm.

quote:

Originally posted by Georgeair:
Not weight loss, but getting on a CPAP did away with it while sleeping. That was unexpected, but pleasant!

Strange. My CPAP sets it off.

As above, smaller meal, especially in the evening, and for me backing off all alcohol helped.
If you take your gerd med before you get gerd it works better. If I am gonna eat pizza, a little pepcid premeal beats post meal pepcid.

Yes.
In addition to the other things mentioned.

Wear loose fitting clothing around the waist.

Elastic banding in underwear can be a problem, as well as sitting with the waistband/belt "digging" into your mid-section even if loose fitting, the "kink" causes pressure.

quote:

Did weight loss help your G.E.R.D.?

Yes, but the GERDs helped w/ my weight loss. I hardly ate for days when at it's worst.

quote:

Originally posted by Mr.9mm:
In a little over one month, I've lost 20 pounds with a Keto and fasting diet. Haven't used an acid-reducing med or otc product since I started and I was up to two to three times per day with them.

It definitely helps.

Same here. Haven’t touched a Pepcid or Zantac in months.