I've had acid reflux or gastro esophageal reflux diseases for about the past ten years, though it's been well-managed for most of it.  I have tried most of the major pharmacological solutions from Aciphex to Prevacid to Prilosec with little success.  I have been most successful at managing the symptoms of GERD through the use of alternative medicine.  However, my cure for acid reflux was actually the first one that my gastroenterologist suggested: change your life.

I think very few doctors are willing anymore to suggest lifestyle changes. If I was a smoker, I'm sure they'd feel obligated to tell me to stop.  If I was obese, I'm sure they'd mention diet.  But when it comes to "the cure" part of the conversation, I think many of them default to more complex tools: drugs, surgery, tests.  I can see their point. We have on average 5 to 10 minutes together.  If my family and my own experience have not lead me to change, what is he or she really going to accomplish?  While my doctor started with "change your life," he was noticeably sheepish about it.  We rolled our eyes together, sharing the simple truth that change was unlikely. Later in our appointment, he whipped out the pad and got me on Aciphex. I switched from curing GERD to managing GERD.

Two years later, I was sitting on a beach in Mexico.  I had changed my life and I was not longer suffering from GERD or worried about someday being a candidate for Barrett's esophagus, a pre-cancerous condition that can result from prolonged, untreated GERD.  

I can hear the working stiffs among us laughing at this, but I learned something.  My change was radical, but when I returned to the working world--felt the burn in my throat, the nasty taste, etc.--I realized that I had to bring a bit of the beach back with me.  Today, I take the onset of acid reflux as a sign that my life is out of balance.  I take a yoga class, I bike to work, or just breath more when I'm checking my email.  When things get bad, I treat it the symptoms with alternative medicine.  Then I start making changes in my life.