#acid-reflux

Sleep doesn’t have to be elusive. (Photo: Istock/Yahoo)

A restful night of shut-eye can be next to impossible when you’re dealing with some sort of chronic pain or ailment. And depending on the way your body is positioned when you sleep, it can actually make your condition feel worse.

According to the National Sleep Foundation, about 15 percent of adults experience chronic pain, yet that number rises to more than 50 percent in the older population. And nearly two-thirds of these people report “poor or unrefreshing” sleep.

“Sleep and pain exist in a complicated relationship to one another,” sleep expert Michael Breus, PhD, the host of the upcoming podcast Secrets to Sleep Success, tells Yahoo Health. “Pain — both chronic and acute — can interfere with sleep, making it harder to fall asleep and to stay asleep. Poor quality and insufficient sleep contribute to pain in several ways, decreasing tolerance for pain, increasing its intensity and discomfort, and in some cases raising the risk for the development of chronic-pain conditions.”

Related: 8 Ways to Lose Weight While You Sleep

So just how should you sleep when something ails you? Breus explains how to take it lying down:

For the first sleep position, “imagine yourself in a bed that you can adjust, where you can raise the head and raise the feet, putting you in what is called a zero gravity position,” explains Breus. “By raising the legs at the knees, you can actually pull all the weight off the pelvis. And by increasing the height of torso between 17 and 20 degrees, you can absolutely neutralize any low back strain.”

For the second sleep position, Breus explains that it helps to rehydrate the disks in the back. “In between each of the bony spinous process [the bone you can feel when running your hand up and down your back] are disks, and you lose fluid from them every day,” he says. “They naturally rehydrate as you sleep, and the only way to rehydrate them is to have them in an open position.”

Related: The Exact Time You Should Go To Bed

“If you have upper back pain, or pain in the shoulder blades, using a flat pillow is critically important,” says Breus. “If your pillow contains too much stuffing, it will slowly push your chin towards your chest, which actually puts more strain on your upper back.”

“These special pillows — some people refer to them as wave pillows, others call them cervical pillows — have a form to them, which enables you to press up on the back of the neck to allow the head to slightly tip backward,” explains Breus.

Sleeping on the left side encourages the body to separate the lower esophageal sphincter from the stomach, decreasing the chances of uncontrollable backsplash of stomach acids, according to the Cleveland Clinic. Breus adds that an inclined sleep position (with the help of a triangular foam wedge) can also achieve this effect.

The actor feared he would have to undergo surgical treatment because of his throat condition. (Photo: Michael Buckner/Getty Images)

Many have suspected actor Charlie Sheen’s hard-partying ways might eventually catch up with him — and even the actor feared the worst when he was continually losing his voice on the set of his FX show, “Anger Management,” about a year ago.

In an exclusive interview, Sheen told The National ENQUIRER that he sought care from a throat and vocal cord surgeon, who initially diagnosed him with pre-throat cancer and said he would have to have aggressive treatment involving surgery. But after seeking a second opinion, the real culprit of Sheen’s voice problems was revealed: “laryngeal inflammation” due to a case of acid reflux.

Acid reflux (or gastroesophageal reflux disease, GERD) is a chronic condition where stomach acid drains backward into the esophagus, causing symptoms such as heartburn, coughing, wheezing, hoarseness, and that “lump in your throat” feeling. And it can sometimes seem like a more serious condition, like cancer or a heart attack.

Related: 5 Scary Health Conditions Your Dentist Can Spot

According to Gina Sam, MD, MPH, director of the Gastrointestinal Motility Center at The Mount Sinai Hospital, conditions like hypersensitive esophagus and achalasia (a motility disorder of the esophagus where the lower esophageal sphincter does not relax) can also seem like acid reflux. 

This is why persistent symptoms may require evaluation to make sure reflux is really the cause of patients’ symptoms. “These patients will have GERD that, despite treatment, will make no difference,” she tells Yahoo Health.

In fact, just earlier this month, President Obama visited the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for a lingering sore throat, which was considered concerning enough that doctors ordered a CT scan for him. However, they eventually concluded the President’s symptoms were “consistent with soft tissue inflammation related to acid reflux,” according to CNN.

Acid reflux is extremely common, affecting roughly 20 percent of the adults in the United States, according to the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy. According to Sam, risk factors for the condition include obesity, eating large fatty meals, eating late meals, and certain foods. “Tomatoes, citric beverages, lemon, alcohol, [and] a large amount of caffeine can also cause symptoms,” she says.

If you find that you’re experiencing symptoms of the condition that don’t resolve with a simple antacid like Tums or grow worse over time, don’t panic, but do see your doctor if they’re occurring more than twice a week.

Related: How to Eat for More Energy, Stronger Muscles, and a Flatter Stomach

Left untreated, Sam says the condition can lead to more serious problems. “GERD can cause the end of the esophagus to develop some damage, and the cells try to replace itself and then can develop Barrett’s esophagus, considered a pre-cancerous lesion,” she explains, adding that people experiencing symptoms of GERD for more than six months should see a gastroenterologist.

Sometimes treatment for mild acid reflux is as simple as antacids. But it can also require lifestyle changes, or medications like H-2-receptor blockers like cimetidine (Tagamet HB) or famotidine (Pepcid AC) for longer-lasting relief.

Sam says you can also take preventive steps to minimize the effects of acid reflux. Weight loss is often helpful, as is eating smaller meals, reducing fat in the diet and cutting back on caffeine. “It also may help to eat dinner early, at least three hours before going to bed,” she says. Some people also find relief by using a wedge while sleeping to prop the head up, in order to lower the odds of acid draining back into the esophagus.

Alfalfa is my green superfood of choice. Alfalfa is 13 times more alkaline than the most alkaline vegetables. You can eat the organic green leaves or you can take a dehydrated version in tablet form for the most benefits. I prefer the tablet form for the convenience and to save money. I take them every day before most meals and is part of my gentle daily detoxing routine. Eating Alfalfa is like eating a raw super-alkaline green salad that’s full of living enzymes, chlorophyll, and other phytonutrients. I eat lots of other leafy greens, of course, such as fresh kale, spinach, Swiss chard, collard greens, etc, which I rotate in my diet.

I just learned to swallow 4-6 at a time with meals. I’ve heard some kids like to chew them, but I’ve never tried it with my boys. I simply blend a few Alfalfa tablets into their chocolate smoothies, makes them minty. I take 1-3 tablets for every 10 lbs of my body weight. I spread them out with my meals (I usually swallow 10 tablets with breakfast and 5 with dinner OR 5 at each meal). Different ways you can take them: you could swallow the small tablets, chew them if you like the taste, blend them into smoothies, crush them into powder between 2 spoons and mix with chocolate nut butter or pasta sauce, or drink them as a tea. To make the Alfalfa tea, you add warm water to dissolve them and sweeten as you would sweeten any herbal tea (avoid hot water as that could destroy the enzymes and other heat-sensitive nutrients). If you have questions, please contact me.

Below are more details on all the nutrients and benefits of Alfalfa, and what sets Shaklee’s Alfalfa apart.

Alfalfa is an herb that is often overlooked. It’s medicinal and nutritional benefits are very impressive . Alfalfa has enjoyed a long herbal tradition since ancient India, China, and Spain. The Arabians named it “Al-fal-fa, meaning “father of all foods.” Alfalfa roots grow as deep as 10-20 feet to seek out the rich trace minerals in the subsoil, which are inaccessible to other plants.

Benefits of Alfalfa: provides fiber and chlorophyll, rich source of trace minerals.

Shaklee Alfalfa Difference: Shaklee Alfalfa Complex tablets are a storehouse of nutrients – A Shaklee Signature Formula originally developed by Dr. Shaklee in the 1950s, Alfalfa Complex contains only nature’s premium quality alfalfa, grown in the Antelope Valley of California, the richest source of trace minerals in the world. It is high in protein and contains eight digestive enzymes. Shaklee’s Alfalfa is grown with no pesticides, fungicides, bactericides, inorganic fertilizers, synthetic hormones, growth regulators or chemicals. Throughout growing and processing, Shaklee requires strict growing techniques and they have careful controls to help retain the nutritional qualities of the original alfalfa plant even from other nearby farms. No artificial flavors, sweeteners, colors or preservatives are added in the tableting process. Caffeine free. Gluten-free. Vegetarian formula.

Hello, this is my debut blog post here in Tumblr. I have started many blog before. This is yet another one. Let's see I will keep on updating this. I intend this blog to be for one and only one purpose, that is, to journal my journey to improve my health. There are a few areas that I want to improve. A. Body weight Two years and a half ago, I weighted around 75kg, right now, on 2012-09-13, I weigh 89kg, so, I have basically gained 14kg, it's really quite sad. B. General health My blood cholesterol and triglyceride level is also slightly high, so I also intend to work on this! C. Excessive cough My GP diagnosed it as acid reflux but my Chinese Medicine doctor diagnosed it as "mei he qi". Basically, I seem to be coughing every day for the past few months and it's been annoying me What I have been doing Starting last week, I experimented with cutting the amount of meat that I have. I wouldn't go too crazy on dieting, because that would simply not be sustainable. At lunch at work, I have been having salad bowls while allowing a small amount of meat, mostly vegetarian soup and also fish or vegetarian dishes. One of my friends noted that I looked noticeably thinner just over a week having been on this diet change. I was quite pleased with that. I have also been going to the gym more often, that would obviously and naturally help my weight improve. I have also been on a Chinese Herbal Medicine treatment. Basically, I have been two doses of very bitter Chinese Medicinal Herbs for the last few days. I will journal my various health experiments and results here. The intention of these posts are threefold: 1. to help me track my progress 2. to clarify my thoughts 3. to hopefully help people who are on the same journey in some way.