Something I found out over the years is that when my weight gets past a certain threshold (88 kilos), I start getting acid reflux, stomach gas buildup, and abdominal pain (from the gas buildup). And when I get back under that weight, all these nasty symptoms disappear. It’s like I have flipped a switch.
If you do a search, you will definitely find articles that link obesity to these problems, but often, obesity is discussed as a contributing factor, when in my case, it is THE factor. Not age, not spicy food, not too much chocolate, etc.
And I’m not anywhere near obese. I just tend to get a bit overweight from time to time.
I just recently experienced this when I got to about 90 kilos and decided to shed some of that as I got all my old GERD and abdominal pain issues again. I weigh 85.5 kilos as of this morning, and since I’ve been at around 86.5 kilos and under in my morning weight (about two weeks now), ALL stomach symptoms are gone like magic.
Anyway, I thought I would share this with anyone who has been struggling with acid reflux and related stomach issues. Lose some weight first and you will most likely be able to throw out your protein pump inhibitor meds.
Several plausible mechanisms which abdominal obesity increases GERD have been suggested. Abdominal visceral fat may cause reflux through an increase in intra-abdominal pressure and subsequent esophageal acid exposure14,15 and is metabolically active and increases inflammatory cytokines.9 The cytokines released from visceral fat and leptin released from abdominal visceral fat may also be risk factors for esophageal inflammation, Barrett’s esophagus, and esophageal adenocarcinoma.
It is more important to raise awareness.
Removing the problem will cause company out of business.
Raising awareness will channel further money for research, subsidy and other supporting activities.
I’m relieved to hear someone else mention this because I’ve discovered this about myself in the past few years. I was about 78kg (180cm tall) all of my adult life until about four years ago. I went up to 84kg (all in my gut) and at the same time noticed acid reflux, gas, and abdominal pain just like you. I managed to lose the weight over a period of a few months and the stomach problems went away.
Unfortunately, I’ve recently gained the weight back over the past year and once again I’m getting the stomach problems, especially when lying down if I eat dinner too late. Now I’m convinced it’s related to the weight and that now motivates me to get back to losing it again.
EDIT: I just skimmed a bit through that article mentioned in the first post and spotted the word esophagogastroduodenoscopy. Twelve syllables–what a mouthful!
I’ve had it on and off for years, and I tend to get acid reflux easily after eating certain foods. I usually have antacids and omeprazole or similar at home (should probably stop taking the latter – not great for the kidneys, apparently), but there are periods where I can go for months without really using them. I think after a while you become kind of dependent on them because your stomach just upregulates acid production to compensate.
I found out several years ago that drinking hot water helps for me. Which was kind of an annoying discovery, given that for years before that I’d been making fun of Chinese people always saying to drink hot water as the solution to everything.
This all sounds familiar. I cant eat too late now. Or ill throw up in my mouth and wake up choking all night. Up to the age of 37 or 38, i could stuff myself and drink and go to bed 20 minutes later. No problem. Getting old sucks.
The medications are great. Protein pump inhibitors. Take one a day and acid reflux is gone. But you can never stop taking it. Unless you lose some weight and discover the medication is unnecessary.
I’m surprised just how common reflux seems to be. I started suffering from it about two years ago. During COVID-19 my weight skyrocketed and my reflux got pretty bad. People I spoke to admitted having similar symptoms. It seemed that nearly every adult over the age of 30 I spoke to had some form of reflux.
For me the weight gain was a shock. My entire youth I’ve been underweight or close to underweight. As a teenager I even had to see a nutritionist who gave my mom all sorts of recipes for weight gain. In my mid 20’s I was suddenly gaining weight. But it was the lock downs during COVID and an extended period of unemployment (since I was unemployed as a recently graduated student in a foreign country I wasn’t eligible for much of the COVID relief packages being given out).
Since then I’ve crossed the threshold into the overweight category. But after several false starts, consistent exercise has managed to almost completely stop acid reflux. I’m still in the overweight category but I’m hoping to shed pounds more and more as I keep dieting and exercising.
I recommend doing whatever it takes to lose the weight quickly, then go into some kind of maintenance mode. Maybe something like one meal a day.
Acid reflux just wreaks havoc on your esophagus. I had trouble swallowing in certain instances before (like if I ate too quickly and didn’t drink anything). You want to do whatever it takes to get rid of it, and losing weight could very well resolve the issue.
The study found a clear correlation between a woman’s body mass index (BMI) and the presence of GERD symptoms. The researchers found that women who were overweight — defined by a body mass index of 25 to 29.9 — were more than twice as likely to develop acid reflux as those of normal weight. (2)
Women who were obese — with a BMI greater than 30 — had nearly triple the risk of GERD symptoms, like heartburn, acid regurgitation, chest pain, and difficulty swallowing.
And this:
Perhaps most surprising, though, was that small differences in body weight in women of normal weight — with a BMI of 21 to 24.9 — also affected the likelihood of developing GERD.
At around 85 kilos for a while now, my GERD symptoms are gone. And there’s a very clear threshold weight for me- get under and GERD symptoms disappear.
I will keep a close watch on things from now on. I don’t want the symptoms again. They’re uncomfortable, and the trouble swallowing symptom is scary. Maybe I’ll get way under that threshold weight and just forget about it because I don’t like weighing myself all the time.
Gerd can be badly affected by low ph alcoholic drinks , whiskey , beer etc. If you occasionally want a drink then you can go for the more alkaline ones such as Gin and non grain vodka
