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Important thing i learned about the chemistry of water

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GERD & Acid Reflux
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Posted 1/26/2014 4:57 PM (GMT -5)
Water does not reduce the (ph)acidity of your stomach acid at all. Really by putting water into your stomach you are just increasing the volume of acid in your stomach which for gerd suffers is a bad thing. Also if you have acid in your stomach and you drink water the reactions usually happen at the surface vs adding acid to water which has an opposite effect bringing the reaction below the surface. Unfortunately this makes water drinking a strategic choice if you want to minimize symptoms and improve your situation.

So quickly what I do is either drink 30 min before a meal or 3 hours after this way there is the least possible chance that I am dumping water into a stomach full of acid digesting food.I hope you find this as useful as I have. Also I try to eat dinner as early as possible but that has nothing to do with drinking water.
Posted 1/27/2014 12:33 PM (GMT -5)
Um... that's not entirely true. Adding water to your stomach doesn't increase the amount of acid. Water is a neutral solution which merely dilutes the acid level in the liquid of the stomach. Adding water does increase the volume of the stomach contents putting more pressure on the valves creating upward force which may lead to acid moving out of the stomach and into the esophagus and making you feel like the water caused the acid reflux. Eating too much can have the same affect - so can eating nothing and just drinking water. Your stomach produces acid. When your stomach is full the acid is (as stated above) at the top of the liquid solution of your stomach so it is what comes up first when you reflux.

We all understand that advice given in this forum is not to replace that of a doctor but for anyone reading the above statement, please understand that this is only a half truth.
Posted 1/29/2014 7:31 AM (GMT -5)
Drinking water does relieve LPR symptoms for some, by washing down the pepsin I believe.
Posted 1/29/2014 2:37 PM (GMT -5)
The best way is to actually eat smaller meals which is the perfect solution with a small drink. The ideal portion is to cup you hands together and that is how much food you should intake in one sitting . I agree with Elle jay, Drinking too much water dilutes acid and therefore you take longer in digesting stomach contents .
Posted 1/29/2014 7:30 PM (GMT -5)
My osteopath great uncle always said not to drink with a meal, but he was probably talking about people who tend to all drink tons of liquids with their meal.

I drink enough water that the contents of my stomach mix better, but not enough that it's all floating in water. Now with the Nissen, I guess I'll be mixing sips of water with food for quite a while.
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