Knowing Myself, My Body: Menopause Journey Pt 2

Acid Reflux a Menopause Symptom

I have never suffered from stomach ulcers and so my recent experience of heart burn upon eating certain foods go me suspecting, could this a sign of ulcers?I did not even think it could be as a result of changes in my body due to aging. Specifically menopause due to changes in body hormones.

Its good to understand that digestive problems in general can certainly be triggered by menopause and it can be exacarbated by menopause. The question is; can acid reflux be a proper symptom of menopause?  Yes. Studies confirm that menopausal women are three times likely to suffer from Gastroesophageal Reflux disease.  Because of falling oestrogen in menopause, this can affect the production of acid in the stomach, therefore causing a lot of indigestion, wind, feeling of fullness, a lot of discomfort and pain around the stomach area.

Stress may also affect stomach digestion too. This may not often be picked as a menopause symptom when you go to the doctor with a complaint of acid reflux, you are likely to be prescribed antacids or PPIs and not menopause symptoms. The danger of taking these prescriptions is that, there is a possibility that they can interfere with the absorption of minerals such as calcium and magnesium which are vital for menopause. However, being low in calcium can affect your bones leading to osteoporosis, if you are low in magnesium, it can give you conditions such as anxiety, palpitations, poor sleep and a big effect on your digestion.

Naturally, Iam a fast eater and I came to realise (from reading ) that this has a negative effect on ones digestion. Because food is not well chewed, it will go sit in the stomach, and the stomach will have to produce extra acid to break down the food properly.  It is recommended that you chew a mouth of food 20 times in order to get the right consistency for the stomach to do a good job (Vogel). This will also help you get fuller quickly especially if you are trying to reduce food/calorie intake.

Another remedy is; avoid drinking a lot while eating. i.e. a cup of tea or coffee, glass of juice, alcohol. If you do this and you are not producing enough stomach acid, you are going to dilute it even further. So if you have to drink while eating, just take a few sips of water.

However, bitters can be of help with digestion (from pharmacy), These help in the production of things like stomach acid. They are balancing. So if you produce much acid, bitters will help calm it down and if you don’t produce much acid I will help produce and balance.

I am now choosing what I eat carefully with more fruits especially cucumber, less sugar, less diary products. Its not been easy but its a choice).

(So various body changes set it as we age due to menopause, affecting our digestion. I hope this has been informative. Let me know what you think.)