Yoga to Cure GERD

So in my search for a GERD cure, I read some stuff about how Yoga can help with GERD.  There's a number of yoga postures that people recommend to help with digestion.  So I went to Youtube and grabbed some videos.  It's really a simple search for Yoga and GERD.  I did some of the postures, and it was alright but didn't really stick with it.

After that, I was talking to a friend of mine who goes regularly to Bikram Yoga, and she finally convinced me to go:

Bikram Yoga is a series of twenty-six Hatha Yoga postures and two Pranayama breathing techniques designed to provide a challenging, invigorating, rejuvenating and effective yoga experience. During this 90-minute class, you will work every muscle, tendon, ligament, joint and internal organ in the entire body, giving you an incredible sense of well being.

There's Bikram or Hot Yoga studios around the world, so you can definitely find them, hopefully not too far from you.

I've been doing Bikram Yoga for the last 40 days or so, and I can tell you, I feel amazing:  I've lost weight, posture is better, stomach feels stronger, and have increased my overall flexibility.

It's to the point that I really don't feel like I have GERD anymore, at at least the symptoms have virtually disappeared.  About 3 weeks after I started doing Bikram, I started to: drink alcohol again, eat spicy food, eat closer to bed time, and eat bigger meals.  I do try to keep my portions smaller than before, but overall I'm to what to me is normal.

My GERD Plan of Attack

So, I'm a pretty methodical person.  Also, despite feeling depressed over my GERD, I do deep down have hope that I can beat this and will get most of my life back, if not all of it.  But these are the steps I feel I have had to follow:

1.  Hope for my life back, but not despair.

Alright, so I do hope to get my life back but I realize that this may not be possible.  In fact, it wont be possible at all because the reason I'm in this situation is because I led a life that my body could not sustain.  My body couldn't handle the way I drank, nor the way I handled pain killers.

2. Life style / food change.

Yes, my life has to change forever!  Only through changing my behavior for good can I make sure that  a) I can cure GERD, or b) I can cope with GERD.  This is quite hard for most of us because it's so easy to fall on our past behaviors.  I have to walk past an ice cream shop every day, and I sometimes feel like crying at the idea that I wont ever taste ice cream or any of my favorite foods again.  I now try not to think about it.

Instead, I've changed my diet and feel quite strong.

3.  Pay attention to what I put in my body.

So, generally I'd go around eating and drinking whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted.  That just can't be so.

I have been keeping a journal.  At first I was simply writing what I was eating, then I started writing down how I was feeling and how I was reacting to my food and natural supplements.  Guess what?  It's helped a lot.  I now can look back and see what has caused me pain, how bad, how much burping, everything.  I have an app on my tablet, but any phone app should work too.  I write the time, then what I ate, or how I was feeling.  (This has included many burping notations.)

4. Educate myself.

I'd like to thank the internet community for this part.  I have read countless articles, both scientific and amateur, countless blogs and their comments.  The comments have been so wonderful because they've helped me see I'm not alone and what I thought was an odd symptom is really not.

From my readings, I believe that GERD may be caused because of either too much or too little acid in the stomach.  I now many would say is really one and never the other, but I disagree.  You can have GERD with both, and they both have the same symptoms.  I'll delve into the difference in subsequent posts, including the different treatments.

5.  Try and try again.

I have tried so many things now that I feel my kitchen has become a mini "natural foods store."  The thing is, that so many different things work for different people that you really have to just keep trying stuff.  Something that worked for someone out there is bound to work for you.  I'm definitely determined to try every little thing people have done out there.  If they say it works, then why not give it a go?

6. Don't let depression win, shake yourself out of the house.

So, because I was so weak, I just became quite depressed.  I read that making your stomach muscles can help, so I started doing yoga at home.  Well, it seems I was way too weak for that and then not only did my stomach hurt, but also the muscles.  All this made me even more depressed.  Finally, I just told myself, get the hell out of the house!  I went walking.  Just walking has lifted my spirits.

So what's the plan you say?

a. Change diet.
b. Keep a food/symptom journal
c. Educate myself on GERD
d. Try each different remedy
e. Exercise