Sleeping on my left side. - Acid Reflux / GERD Message Board

zoot_suit_brian · 01-05-2006, 12:20 PM

I have been trying to figure out for a while now, what the most effective way to sleep is to prevent overnight reflux.

I could be wrong, but I have been trying now to sleep on my left side for the past two weeks...and it seems to make a difference. Has anybody had similar or different experience than this?

aswander · 01-05-2006, 03:34 PM

Before I started PPIs, the only way I could stop coughing (I have LPR) was by lying prone on my right side. After having taken the meds for 3 years, I am still sleeping on my right side, as this position still seems to minimize my residual coughing.

I'm not surprised that there is a best "position" for each GERD/LPR sufferer. I mean, if acid is somehow moving northward all the way up to a larynx, there is clearly some path that it is following, and maybe these prone positions help stop the acid in its path.

How does acid get that high anyway?

Andra31 · 01-05-2006, 07:23 PM

I was wondering if anyone else had any of these symptoms. I started getting nausea really bad then my throat started burning. I have tried aciphex which did not help. Then Nexium once a day which took the nausea away but my throat still burns all the time. Then my insurance did not cover the Nexium so I tried protonix today which I had nausea really bad. So I am going to maybe just end up paying for the Nexium and taking it morning and night. Now you guys that take the Nexium 2 times a day are they the 40 mg ones? Also does anyone else have the throat burning problem like me? I don't smoke, drink alcohol or coffee. I am on a strict diet and am not overweight but the burning in my throat will not stop. I hope that by taking 2 Nexium a day it will help. Also if it does end up helping how long will I have to take these medicines? Please help : )

gnznroses · 01-05-2006, 09:26 PM

left side is supposedly best, but i wonder if always sleeping on the same side would be good. cause it'd get the brunt of the damage.

aswander · 01-06-2006, 04:40 AM

Andra31,

Welcome! It sounds like you have a bad case of laryngeal pharyngeal reflux (LPR) if your throat is burning. Unlike GERD, LPR requires that you take 2 PPIs per day, at 40 mg each, for a total of 80 mg. Nexium is the only effective PPI that works for my LPR and I have previoulsy tried Protonix and Prevacid, with poor results. Nexium has given me excellent recovery. I take 2 Nexium first thing in the morning, and wait about 20 minutes before I eat anything. At night,before bed, I take 2 OTC H2 blockers, such as Xantac or Tagamet, for a total of 300 mg of that H2 blocker. It is cheaper for me to buy it as a generic prescrition (the generic form is called ranitidine - your GP can write a scrip). Ranitidine is cheap, so your insurance company won't hassle you.

Please search this board for discussions on LPR - I think you'll find it quite interesting and helpful.