Alan, no one here can diagnose you. Seriously, make an appointment with your doctor because your personal doctor will know much more information about you (age, past medical history, etc) than we have been given in this post. I wish you well. :)

fried green zebra tomatoes with poached eggs. Lunch was thick slices of radiator reds on sour dough with double smoked bacon. The aperitif, vodka and tomato water went down exceedingly well. Dinner was a bowl of "garden" Gazpacho followed by a little grilled lamb and a tomato salad..

For a bedtime snack, try a couple of TUMS. The new smooth dissolve, fruit flavored ones ain't half-bad and are in keeping with the season. ;)

Dave

kefir is your friend. to a lesser degree, yogurt too. you need more digestive enzymes.

the sugar in the bacon is most likely what gave you the gut rot.

Thanks for the tips. A friend also suggested a solution of water and baking soda. Did not taste great, but seemed to do the trick
Cheers

I would look first at the fat, sugar, and salt overloads apparent in the day's menu you laid out in your original post ... particularly the saturated fat and sugar combo.

And I would use sodium based and calcium based cures only as a last resort ... I speak from experience ... especially the baking soda home remedy. The safest cure lies in prevention.

The tomatoes have nothing to do with it. Oddly enough, acidic fruits do not make your stomach more acid. More likely it was the lamb and I am wondering how much was a little.

Don't eat late at all. Eat a LIGHT dinner EARLY. This problem by the way is why agrarian cultures eat a big lunch and small, snack-like dinner. The post-industrial commuter culture is what causes acid reflux to be a fairly common problem, that used to be rare.

Just as Hoosier Cherokee recommended, SIGNIFICANTLY cut the fat in your diet. Fat is hard to digest. Of course you need fat in your diet; give preference to natural, unsaturated fats like those in nuts and whole grains. Olive oil is good and Canola oil OK. Don't eat too much fried food; frying saturates the fat, which is why if you reuse oil too many times it solidifies.

Eat more tomatoes, and actually even better, significantly more LEAFY vegetables, broccoli, cabbage, and other fibrous vegetables. These will slow down your digestion.

Eliminate alcohol until the problem is solved, and drink only in moderation thereafter. Drink filtered water, preferably after boiling it (tea, for instance). Don't drink sugary drinks either.

Sleep so that your upper body is higher than your lower body (figure out how to do this...you might be able to buy a wedge to put under your matresses). It doesn't have to be much. Gravity is what keeps the acid in your stomach and not up in your throat--most of the time, except when you are sleeping. Your esophagus will need to heal, or the problem will get worse. Right now the sphincter separating the esophagus from your stomach is probably weak and too loose.

I suggest NOT taking antacids or proton inhibitors (Prilosec, Zantac, etc). The reason is that altering the pH of your GI tract can cause your intestinal flora to change for the worse. The acid-loving "good" bacteria will die off, and nastier bacteria will take their place.

I am speaking from personal experience as pill-pushing doctors perscribed proton inhibitors for "acid indigestion" that turned out to be a hiatal hernia that nearly killed me. Contrary to their advice that proton inhibitors are "safe" and "have no side effects", among other things they interfere with digestion and kill off the "friendly" bacteria in the gut, making it more congenial to harmful bacteria which cause MORE GI problems.

Wineman, first of all, forget all the "cures" you just read, and follow Sunsi's advice.

Why do I say that? For 2 years, I've had these occasional "episodes" where my esoghagous would just decide to close up on me, and I couldn't swallow - and sometimes it was hard to breathe.

Turns out I had numerous bleeding ulcers in my esophagous, right near where it meets the stomach. If you let it go long enough, you can get cancer there, not curable. I have been on medication now for 6 weeks, prevacid twice a day, and carafate 3 times daily. Apparantly it was bad even though I never had the heartburn symptoms you did, and most other people do. I'm no longer bleeding now, and I go back for another scope 9/19 to see if I'm healed. I feel great, and think I've healed quickly.

I put it off for 2 years because I didn't know what was going on, and never knew anyone with symptoms like that. Don't wait if you have the insurance.

Unfortunately, like caffeine, coffee, and alchohol, raw tomatoes will irritate the ulcer - supposedly, according to the nurse. BUT, luckily, my medication coincided with tomato season, so I haven't scrimped at all in eating my tomatoes. :-) I guess I'll find out next month.

Spouse suffers from acid reflux - a/k/a hiatal hernia. Doesn't eat late in the evening, and tries not to overindulge on the delicacies since that only seems to aggravate it. He also sleeps with a Cpap machine due to his sleep apnea/snoring issues. Hasn't had a problem with hiatal hernia since. Correlation? Can't say for sure, but I can say that I'M sleeping much better these days.

My other thought was this. Tomatoes contain histamine, along with avocado, yogurt, cheese, chocolate, vinegar, bananas, citrus, canned tuna just to name a few.

Perhaps after seeing the doctor, you could also ask if an anti-histamine might be beneficial when indulging in your tomato feast.

On that note, I'm headed to a kitchen for a cucumber-tomato salad sprinkled with vinegar & oil and a dash of salt & pepper...