It sometimes happens that severe pain in the chest region makes me call an ambulance. As an older person, the thought of a heart attack is unpleasant. On one occasion I took my care to the local hospital emergency room only to find that there was nothing wrong with the organ. Years ago I was diagnosed with a reflux episode due to a hiatal hernia and he warned me that this condition was going to recur, and that is probably the cause of the pain.
Once when it happened I was bent over while weeding the garden and about an hour later the pain was intense. This sent me back to the hospital by ambulance and my heart was fine again. I now have a little wrist blood pressure machine that tells me what the body is doing and it has eased the worry considerably.
Recently, a television doctor advised patients with these symptoms to drink a glass of water about 15 minutes before eating. That apparently stops acid buildup in the digestive system and sounds like good advice to me.
In the meantime I have learned to handle my problem. My advice is not to bend over but to lower your body using your knees when lifting something off the ground. A change in diet has also helped and the time to eat the main meal of the day has been moved from the afternoon to the morning. A smaller meal at night is more beneficial because it is not heavy on the stomach while sleeping.
The other adjustment I have made is less bread and for breakfast a smoothie has replaced the oatmeal that was part of my previous diet. It is made with extra protein yogurt, at least five fruits consisting of banana, kiwi, apple, pear and berries, and a celery stick. This gives it a nice balance and makes for a delicious hearty meal without the gluten in oats. Avoiding fatty foods is another great benefit.
There are other benefits of such a controlled diet. Headaches are a thing of the past since sugar and salt were eliminated from the diet. Now my blood pressure is usually around 120 over 80 and heart rate between 70 and 80.
As with anything, we need to control pain by understanding its cause. Once we do that, the solution is usually obvious. Heartburn and reflux are now a thing of the past for me as there hasn’t been an episode for months.