Why am i getting acid reflux all of a sudden?
Overeating, eating too close to bedtime or certain foods can all potentially give rise to heartburn. However, low stomach acid is also a major and often overlooked underlying cause. Stress or eating quickly or on the go can also aggravate this underlying cause further.
Here we look into the reasons that can cause acid reflux to crop up quite suddenly, in more detail.
Remember it can be really important to ask, why exactly we might be getting a certain symptom, as this can help to inform better and longer-lasting treatment options, rather than just opting for a quick fix and solutions that aren't sustainable.
1. Your stomach has changed
Firstly, recent structural changes can affect the workings of your stomach. These structural changes, such as, as a result of putting on weight, if we're pregnant, if we're wearing tighter clothes, or being limited by tighter waistbands. This may be a short-term scenario or harder to change. But all of these practices can affect and give rise to acid reflux as a result of them increasing your intra-abdominal pressure.
This is the pressure inside your stomach, which can then affect the workings of the lower oesophageal sphincter (LOS) at the top of your stomach. And this can then give rise to acid reflux.
Remember reflux basically involves the contents of your stomach; your lovely, strong stomach acid, getting into your oesophagus where it isn't welcome! In doing so, its essentially traveling backwards through this sphincter, which ideally we would want to remain closed, especially when the stomach is quite full with acid and the contents of our latest meal, for example.
Something like Silicol gel could potentially help in this scenario, at least initially, whilst we try and resolve the underlying trigger. You take a small dash, 15mls, which you can take straight or mixed in a little bit of water.
We wouldn't be able to recommend this in pregnancy, but this would be something to check with your doctor, if it may be suitable. Otherwise, you should also take it 1 hour apart from medications, but few other contraindications exist.
2. You're more stressed
Stress is a really common contributing cause of acid reflux and stomach dysfunction in general, but interestingly symptoms of acid reflux and heartburn can be early indicators that your stomach isn't working as optimally as it could be.
Stress can have quite a direct impact on your stomach, in that, it decreases your stomach acid levels. And this, for me, is a common misconception. People often assume they have too much stomach acid, or they're told they have too much stomach acid, but actually, in reality, it's much more likely that we have too little, and there are physiological reasons for this. See, during times of stress, your digestive system is put on the back burner and it's workings are no longer priority.
Traditionally, in times of stress, this meant we were in a fight or flight situation; we were running, we were using our heart, our lungs, and our muscles to fight or flight, and in this case, your digestion is not a priority at that moment in time.
Nowadays, because stress is often longer-term, this causes problems because your digestion isn't a priority for longer stretches of time. We can afford for digestion to be not quite as optimal nowadays if we're presenting or if we're experiencing something a little stressful that is very short-lived, but longer-term, it causes issues.
We need strong stomach acid to break down the foods we eat, particularly strong structures; macronutrients such as protein. We need it to absorb all our key nutrients, and we need it to support the balance of bacteria in and around your stomach and beyond. So, if your stomach acid isn't strong enough, this can cause problems. And your stomach acid levels can directly affect the workings of your lower oesophageal sphincter (LOS).
Naturally, when you would eat, your stomach would fill up with stomach acid. So, if your stomach acid levels aren't high enough, as a result of stress, for example, then your stomach may not signal to your lower oesophageal sphincter to close. This is a crucial signal, causing it to close over, and therefore stop the contents of your stomach from rising back up, which means we are very likely to experience pain or discomfort.
Obviously, stress is very individual, it depends on what's going on and how you're able to manage that. So, that's a totally different subject, but what you can do to help override this physiological response, is introduce something like digestive bitters. Bitters are perfect for helping to signal to your stomach that it needs to step into action. Traditionally, we would always start a meal with something tasting bitter, and that signaling mechanism is still apparent today – so we need to make the most of it!
Now, if you don't have fresh bitter leaves or anything to hand for the start of your meals, Yarrow herbal bitters tincture, for example, is a digestive bitters remedy, and can be a really lovely one to introduce at the start of meals.
Take this just 5 to 10 minutes before meals in a small splash of water, only 5 to 10 mls, so you can really, really taste the bitterness. And I would say to take this three times daily just to help to support your stomach.
3. You're eating too quickly
We'll go on to talk about what you're eating, but actually how you're eating is also so, so important for supporting your stomach and helping to protect against symptoms such as acid reflux.
Chewing is often one of my number one tips. It's so underrated, and it's so easy to implement if you're able to consciously think about it, it can make a big difference to preparing your stomach for handling and digesting your foods properly.
By chewing in the mouth for at least 20 chews per mouthful, you're helping to increase the surface area of the foods you eat, meaning, that your stomach acid is going to have an easier time of breaking down your food.
So, particularly if you're stressed and your stomach acid levels are perhaps struggling anyway, this is a really, really important step. I've also said here 'eating too quickly', and this can go hand-in-hand with stress. So, perhaps we're not giving ourselves enough dedicated time to eat, perhaps we're not sitting down, relaxing; instead, we're on the go, we're rushing, we're stressed, and this all ignites that that stress response that I've spoken about in my last point.
So, sitting down, relaxing, taking time to eat; can all help to support those digestive processes and switch off the stress response, and this is especially relevant depending on what you're eating. Heavy proteins such as meats are even more taxing on the digestive system. So, if it's a particularly heavy meal; meat-based, for example, then we may need more time and attention than ever.
One final tip is to separate your liquids from meals which is another step that helps to keep your stomach acid lovely and strong.
4. Your timings have changed
We read a lot that, if you lie down, then you're more likely to get acid reflux, and, for me, this is true to a certain extent. But, usually, there's also something else underlying that's contributing. So perhaps you're stressed and your stomach acid levels are affected; as the less stomach acid, the more effects it can have on that LOS, as we have mentioned.
But your timings of meals are one to consider as well. I always say to try and eat at least two to three hours before you go to bed, as naturally when you lie down, gravity is against you. So, if your stomach is quite full, naturally those contents are going to travel upwards towards your oesophagus.
So, trying to bring your last meal of the day forward by a little bit can often be helpful. And again, later or more chaotic meal timings can often go hand in hand with other contributing factors too, such as stress. If we're really busy; hectic family life, or other different things going on, and we find ourselves eating very close to bedtime, it's more likely to contribute to symptoms for a number of reasons. So, perhaps just trying to think about the timings and perhaps bringing the last meal of the day forward a little bit as well.
5. Your diet has changed
Diet is commonly blamed for symptoms of acid reflux. Now, of course, there certainly are some more unhelpful foods, but actually, with acid reflux, it's very rarely down to diet and diet alone. It's very often, as we've explored a little by now, down to your digestion and how you're able to handle different foods.
Interestingly, it's very often the case that we start to struggle with foods that we had previously tolerated fine. And this can be another tell-tale sign that it's our digestive functions faltering, rather than the food itself being solely to blame. Although, of course, it is important to consider what we're eating too. But a bug bear of mine is things like tomatoes or spices getting the sole blame, as actually, these are really healthy components of our diet which we should be keen to be able to tolerate once more. These elements aren't something we would necessarily want to cut out completely, unless, of course, we've been specifically advised to by a healthcare practitioner.
For me, it's more about thinking about our different habits and potential underlying causes, and trying to build your resilience and protect those digestive functions once more. Consider adding in more bitters, having more emphasis on chewing, separating your water, and reducing stress so you can hopefully over time start to tolerate foods a bit better and just support that underlying digestive insufficiency.
Of course, some foods are always going to be more helpful than other. So those lovely bitter foods, and zinc-rich foods are particularly beneficial for supporting your stomach acid levels, and as we know, these in turn can potentially protect against the changes to the internal pressure or the LOS.
Zinc-rich foods include fish and seafood options, plus: nuts, seeds or whole grains; so lots of vegetarian and vegan options available there too. Or, of course, a zinc supplement can also be very helpful. Zinc can be taken as a stand-alone supplement, aim for around 15 milligrams daily, or it can also be found in our Balance Mineral Drink alongside some other essential nutrients.
6. You're on medications
Last but not least, I just want to very quickly touch on the topic of medications. We can have stomach-specific medications or just any medications in general. If you're on any medications, be sure to check out the side effects in case reflux or heartburn could be an associated side effect, especially if this symptom has quite suddenly cropped up after being put on some stomach medications recently (although, I also have an issue if you've been put on digestive medications but they've been aggravating more digestive symptoms for some time!).
PPIs may help to calm digestive symptoms in some cases in the short term, but longer-term, if they're driving stomach acid levels down very, very low, then potentially this could be affecting that sphincter or that process that I've spoken about previously and actually driving more symptoms. So, it's important just to cover all avenues in order to help determine what may be contributing.
