GERD Support Groups

MDJunction

http://www.mdjunction.com/gerd

“people helping people”

This is a website for many different support groups. It allows people “dealing with the same kind of medical, mental, or social challenges” to “openly share their personal experiences, feelings and wisdom in a mutual ‘comfort zone’.” There are categories of support groups, including GERD, and when you find the one you want, you can interact with many others coping with the same issue. It is free to join and easy to use.

WebMD:

http://exchanges.webmd.com/gerd-and-heartburn

WebMD offers an “exchanges” page for people suffering from GERD to offer tips, resources, and discuss the disease together.

Apps for GERD

There are many apps available for those interested in gastroesophageal reflux disease. How does one decide which apps are useful and which ones aren’t? You can do some research to figure out what other people use, and read the reviews on each app, but the best way is to do trial and error.

Here are a couple of the apps I found that looked like they would be helpful for someone with GERD:

Acid Reflux Guides - Fact & Causes of Acid Reflux Symptoms, Home Remedies for Acid Reflux & Heartburn
price: $0.99
This app is educational. It has several categories to teach you about GERD, and has “Best acid reflux guides ebook, acid reflux guides articles, and acid reflux guides gallery.

Heartburn, GERD, and Acid Reflux Diary
price: $4.99
This app was created to help someone track many factors including what you ate, symptoms, exercise, medications, medical events, and many more. It charts your input and makes it easy to view trends and your history. The goal of this app is to make it “easy to feel better, be happy, organized and stress-free!”

Gastroenterology, Official Journal of the AGA Institute
price: free
This looks like a great app for researching GERD and staying on top of new information. This app “delivers up-to-date” and authoritative coverage of both basic and clinical gastroenterology.” It includes figures, tables, and articles on gastroenterology (the branch of medicine that deals with diseases of the stomach and intestines) which includes gastroesophageal reflux disease.

Website Recommendation for GERD

Kidshealth.org,. (2015). Have You Heard of GERD? . Retrieved 29 November 2015, from

http://kidshealth.org/kid/health_problems/stomach/gerd.html

One helpful website I have used to find a myriad of information is Healthline.com. Healthline’s mission is “to make the people of the world healthier through the power of information.” The website is easy to use. It has clearly labelled categories of information and keeps the articles simple but informative. The language used is straightforward to understand and each article is reviewed by an editor to make sure the website stays that way. If you aren’t confident in the quality of the material, there is a page that tells you all about Healthline and how its posts are written. Each one must be reviewed by a board-certified physician and then goes to the editors. They have goals and criteria that must be met for each post, so the reader can be sure the information is accurate.

There is a large quantity of information for GERD which I found to be very useful in my research. I would highly recommend Healthline.com to anyone wanting to know more about gastroesophageal refliux disease. In addition, Healthline has a substantial amount of information for several other diseases as well.

Please always remember that the best source of information is your doctor and that you should never rely solely on information that you read on the internet.

http://www.healthline.com/health/gerd?ref=global

Dietary Treatment for GERD

The most significant treatment for someone dealing with gastroesophageal reflux disease is dietary change. 

What kinds of foods should be avoided if you have GERD? Menu items that are fatty, fried or oily should be avoided altogether. Citrus (oranges, lemons, tomatoes, etc.), acidic, and spicy seasonings can also irritate the stomach and should be limited. Other foods that should be restricted or avoided include mint, onions and garlic, and chocolate. If you don’t like the idea of giving up a certain type of food altogether, keep in mind that everyone is different. You should first try limiting your intake and see if it helps, or if it is better to not eat it at all.

What types of beverages are not good for people with GERD? Carbonated drinks and caffeine can irritate the stomach and should not be consumed by GERD patients. Whole milk or chocolate milk, alcohol, and some teas are also recommended to be limited. 

Many websites recommend keeping a food diary to help you track what you should and shouldn’t eat. Record what you eat, when you eat, and any symptoms from the foods and use this to help you decide what foods make your GERD worse or better. Some other ideas to keep in mind are not lying down immediately after eating and to avoid chewing gum or hard candy. Lying down after eating increases the likelihood of stomach contents flowing backward into the esophagus and chewing gum or hard candy increase the amount of air swallowed, which in turn increases burping and reflux. The best way to eat when dealing with GERD is slowly and small quantities. Eating too fast can put stress on your stomach, so take your time when eating. Eating small meals more often as opposed to eating a couple large meals can also reduce the stress on your stomach, and therefore help with GERD.