Acid reflux every night

Lying flat removes the help of gravity, allowing stomach contents to travel upwards more easily. A late or large meal can add to this effect, although a hiatus hernia, some medicines, smoking, or abdominal pressure may also contribute.

Burning behind the breastbone, sour fluid in the mouth, burping, throat irritation, or coughing after lying down can occur with reflux. Interrupted sleep may leave you foggy or tired the next day.

Write down when dinner ends, bedtime, sleeping position, drinks, medicines, and the time symptoms begin. This separates an occasional trigger from a stable nightly pattern and gives a clinician useful detail for deciding whether another cause should be checked.

Finish the evening meal well before lying down and make it smaller if large portions trigger symptoms. Limit your own proven triggers, which may include fatty food, spicy food, chocolate, mint, coffee, or fizzy drinks. Avoid tight waistbands at night.

Raise the head end of the bed with a stable wedge or bed risers; extra pillows alone may bend the body and increase abdominal pressure. Sleeping on the left side helps some people. Discuss regular medicine use with a pharmacist or clinician so its timing and duration are appropriate.

Call emergency services for crushing or severe chest discomfort, breathing difficulty, faintness, cold sweating, or pain moving into the arm, back, shoulder, or jaw. Do not assume a new chest symptom is reflux.

Seek a prompt appointment for painful or difficult swallowing, food sticking, repeated vomiting, blood in vomit, black stools, unexplained weight loss, ongoing cough, or symptoms that continue despite correctly used treatment. Waking with choking also needs assessment.

Bring your symptom and meal record plus a list of medicines and supplements. Ask whether medicine timing could be improved, whether a hiatus hernia or sleep-related problem is plausible, and which change would show that further testing is needed.