Hi,
I am writing a piece for the next issue of SWIMMER on acid reflux. We'd love to hear from anyone who has experience with the condition and any success in managing it. Also, health professionals with opinions on current treatments are welcome to weigh in.
I'm happy to receive private messages, or you can post a reply here.
Thanks for helping,
Laura
staffwriter@usms.org
In normal life I have no issues with acid reflux, and never understood what people meant by heartburn as I'd never experienced it. However, since coming back to swimming a few years ago I found that when I am doing very hard/fast sets, where I am really straining, I do get occasional acid reflux. I talked to my doctor about it, and he explained that I was putting a lot of pressure on the stomach when I was straining to get every ounce out of my lactic acid-filled muscles at the end of hard sets. The sphincter muscle at the top of the stomach apparently couldn't stand up to this large abdominal pressure and forces some stomach acid up the esophagus. I haven't correlated it with caffeine, but I rarely eat for three or more hours before I swim so it's not associated with eating in my case.
In normal life I have no issues with acid reflux, and never understood what people meant by heartburn as I'd never experienced it. However, since coming back to swimming a few years ago I found that when I am doing very hard/fast sets, where I am really straining, I do get occasional acid reflux. I talked to my doctor about it, and he explained that I was putting a lot of pressure on the stomach when I was straining to get every ounce out of my lactic acid-filled muscles at the end of hard sets. The sphincter muscle at the top of the stomach apparently couldn't stand up to this large abdominal pressure and forces some stomach acid up the esophagus. I haven't correlated it with caffeine, but I rarely eat for three or more hours before I swim so it's not associated with eating in my case.
