# why does empty stomach make symptoms worse?



## 20637

Hello! I have had symptoms of GERD for about 2 months now... bad acid reflux, chest pain, lots of burping, etc., and have noticed that when I do not eat regularly, my symptoms are worse. I have frequently skipped meals because of no appetite, and this is when I discovered I was making my symptoms worse! Does this go along with GERD? Anyone else with this problem? Thanks!


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## Kathleen M.

I know that is a common symptom of the gastritis I get from time to time.This may not be accurate, but it is as if you need to give the acid something to do. If it has food to work on then there isn't any left over to irritate the stomach lining or reflux into the esophagus. When you don't eat for awhile there is nothing else for it to do but irritate the body parts that are already damaged/irritated.It can be hard to force yourself to eat when you aren't hungry at all, but you might try eating several smaller meals a day. So eat 1/2 of your breakfast at breakfast and the other half a couple of hours later. You may not need to eat more food, just spread the food you do eat out a bit more, and some people find they will eat more if they know they don't have to eat a lot at one time. If you are facing 1/2 a sandwich that may be an amount you can get down even if you don't feel hungry but if you think you should eat the whole thing that is too much to deal with and you won't eat any of it sort of thing.K.


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## 20637

Thank you so much, Kathleen! That makes perfect sense to me now to have something for the stomach acid to work on. How about drinking milk? I notice it initially soothes my discomfort (I always drink 1 percent low fat milk), but I have also read that it is not good for acid reflux. Any experience with that?


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## Kathleen M.

Not much in the way of personal experience.http://www.gicare.com/pated/edtgs03.htm has their GERD diet and they allow any of the reduced fat milks.Sounds like it is the amount of fat that is the problem, so whole milk isn't allowed according to them, but 1% milk should be fine as long as you tolerate it.K.


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## madge

Low fat milk and low-fat frozen vanilla yogurt (Yummy!)in small amounts is fine for me. And I eat fairly large amounts of low-fat (1%) cottage cheese daily on a baked potato (with dill and a little salt sprinkled on)which I surprisingly find to be very tasty. I also add the low-fat cottage cheese to my salads with some slightly watered-down low-fat ranch dressing. The cottage cheese makes it seem creamier and more moist. I probably use a cup of the cottage a day, total. (I use grated carrots instead of tomatoes. I'm afraid to try tomatoes yet.)


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## 20637

Thanks, Madge! I love low-fat cottage cheese and yogurt too! Sounds like you are being very careful about the foods you eat-- how quickly did you see results after you started eating "good" foods? Lately it seems everything I eat makes me hurt and that's why I ended up in a not-eating-anything mode. I used to be a real foodie, but not anymore- now most foods are my enemies!


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## twonK

> quote:Originally posted by bluewillow: used to be a real foodie, but not anymore- now most foods are my enemies!


that's where I am at, too. I find the following things are certain to cause me much pain:- fresh fruit- fruit juice- cold water- anything that's more than a few mouthfulsAnd of course even following these rules doesn't guarantee avoiding pain =0( Gone are the days of nice meals and slap-up feasts.On the up side, coffee and dairy products seem OK


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## madge

bluewillow, I started seeing results after a few months. I knew that I could only take the lowest dosage of Prilosec (otherwise I had nasty IBS with constipation). So I really felt I had to give the medication a better chance to work by eliminating the worst foods. For the first month, I had only small amounts of low-fat dairy products. No more citrus or acidic fruits or juices, coffee, tea (except chamomile and fennel tea) chocolate, mint in any form, tomatoes, garlic, onions, soda, and fatty or spicy foods. I stuck to 1% cottage cheese on potatoes and just salt. No black pepper. I ate lots of cooked vegetables and stuck mainly to bananas and apples as fruits. I noticed that I felt some better, but it did take time. Gradually, as the chest pain and pressure left, I experimented a little. I tried small amounts of dark chocolate (which I love), raspberry herbal tea, etc. I could tolerate those. But the foods that bothered me (like tuna or coffee) now caused only a little belching and acidy phlegm at the back of my throat. I still had daily nausea too.When the nausea went away and the belching and acidy phlegm wasn't there every day anymore, I felt a lot better. But I've found I don't really need a lot of the trigger foods anymore anyway, so I've pretty much stayed away from them. Except for a little chocolate. I'm just glad to feel good. I did order some decaf Puroast low-acid coffee online (which a friend with acid reflux told me about), and found I could handle a cup of that a day. But guess what? I don't really need the coffee anymore. I like the teas, and maybe have some Puroast coffee once or twice a week. I've lost some weight, which is good, and I feel it's better to avoid the fatty, fried foods anyway. I may still try some of the other trigger foods later on, like maybe just a slice of a fresh tomato, or a tiny bit of soda now and then, but for now I'm just happy to be thinner and feeling good.


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## madge

Twonk, you are right about the cold water! When I ask for water without ice cubes at a restaurant, they give me odd looks, but if the water is cold, it bothers me some.Chicken, turkey, and baked fish (with lo-fat spray butter on it) don't bother me. Neither does very lean beef. But pork, tuna, salmon, and sardines still do. I guess they're fattier or oilier.


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