kookaburra; heartburn, losing weight

[RRM]

Did you consume extra animal food 2 days ago because you were not going to eat animal food the next day?

No

- 750g of salmon with skin on

This is your normal salmon intake???
Thats waaaay too much.

[abicahsoul]

and also... I hope you don't eat the skin??? :S yuk! :p

[Kookaburra]

Did you consume extra animal food 2 days ago because you were not going to eat animal food the next day?

No

- 750g of salmon with skin on

This is your normal salmon intake???

Of course not! That was the total amount of salmon that I ate for the period of days leading to the 8th day defecation.

[Kookaburra]

and also... I hope you don't eat the skin??? :S yuk! :p

Nope! The packaging read '750g of salmon with skin on'. So without the skin and connective tissue, I must have consumed roughly 700g of pure salmon flesh?

[Kookaburra]

How is that too much?

Tuesday night - 4 egg yolks from 800g carton
Wed to Sun night - 750g of salmon(skin included)
Monday - no animal food
Tuesday - 6 egg yolks from 600g carton

I ate 750g of salmon(skin included) for 5 days. That translated to an average of 150g per day. With the skin and connective tissue removed, it's more like 700g of pure salmon flesh. 700g/5 = 140g per day

Keep in mind that I did not eat any animal food on Monday. That's akin to an average of 116.6g(700g/6) pure salmon per day for 6 days. How is that too much when my normal intake is between 100g to 125g?

[Kookaburra]

By the way, last night at 12am plus, minutes after lying down on the bed to sleep, I had another heartburn which lasted for about 2 minutes. I finished my egg meal at 10pm. I was on the computer for 2 hours before sleeping. No further food consumed.

[RRM]

That translated to an average of 150g per day

Ah, ok
thank you for clearing that up...
(posting your intake per day is the way to go if you want people to understand you)

[Kookaburra]

Another heartburn last night and it's more painful than the last! I finished a cup of OJ+OO+3 egg yolks at 8.50pm. The heartburn occurred about 5 hours after I last ate. Therefore, I believe it had nothing to do with food contents going up the esophagus. It's stomach acid that flowed up. I am trying to figure out what caused it and whether its a symptom of GERD.

[panacea]

If you sleep on your back, try sleeping on your left side (with a backpack on to prevent getting on your back), and also make an inclined surface by stacking even books under your mattress.

If you wake up with dry mouth, it's because you're breathing with your mouth during sleep. In order to help prevent this, use very weak tape on the side of your mouth (the clear, very weak kind). Of course never do this with a nose full of mucus or cough, etc.

Also, if your bedroom has carpet, you should first clean it and remove all small sources of food, if any, and make sure you never leave glasses of water or juice in your bedroom, then open a window. Unfortunately you can't use metal fly screens, because these have small electrostatic charge which repel the ions coming from outside (due to cosmic radiation) - these positive and negative ions will bind to airborne particles and give them more weight, causing them to drop to the floor (so no more toxic effect of dust and other things while you try and sleep).

This is one of the main reasons the air outside is so much nicer to breathe. If you live by a lake or mosquito infested area you can buy an ionizer.

[Kookaburra]

What has all that got to do with heartburn?

[panacea]

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10445529

Abstract
OBJECTIVE: Body position has been shown to influence postprandial and fasting gastroesophageal reflux (GER) in patients and normal volunteers when they are assigned to lie in a prescribed position. No published studies have evaluated the effect of spontaneous sleeping positions on recumbent reflux in patients with GER.
METHODS: Ten patients, three female and seven male (mean age 47.6 yr, range 30-67 yr) with abnormal recumbent esophageal pH <4 on 24-h pH-metry participated. A standardized high fat dinner (6 PM) and a bedtime snack (10 PM) were administered to all patients. GER during spontaneous sleep positions was assessed with a single channel pH probe placed 5 cm above the lower esophageal sphincter (LES) and with a position sensor taped to the sternum. Data were recorded with a portable digital data logger (Microdigitrapper-S, Synectics Medical) and analyzed for recumbent percent time pH <4 and esophageal acid clearance time in each of four sleeping positions. Time elapsed between change in sleeping position and GER episodes was also calculated.
RESULTS: Right lateral decubitus was associated with greater percent time pH <4 (p < 0.003) and longer esophageal acid clearance (p < 0.05) compared to the left, supine, and prone. GER episodes were more frequent in the supine position (p < 0.04) and occurred within 1 min after change in sleeping position 28% of the time.
CONCLUSIONS: The left lateral decubitus position is preferred in patients with nocturnal GER. Measures to aid patients in sleeping in this position should be developed.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15520695

Relationships among nocturnal jaw muscle activities, decreased esophageal pH, and sleep positions.
Miyawaki S, Tanimoto Y, Araki Y, Katayama A, Imai M, Takano-Yamamoto T.
Department of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics, Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine and Dentistry, Okayama, Japan.
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships among nocturnal jaw muscle activities, decreased esophageal pH, and sleep positions. Twelve adult volunteers, including 4 bruxism patients, participated in this study. Portable pH monitoring, electromyography of the temporal muscle, and audio-video recordings were conducted during the night in the subjects' homes. Rhythmic masticatory muscle activity (RMMA) episodes were observed most frequently, with single short-burst episodes the second most frequent. The frequencies of RMMA, single short-burst, and clenching episodes were significantly higher during decreased esophageal pH episodes than those during other times. Both the electromyography and the decreased esophageal pH episodes were most frequently observed in the supine position. These results suggest that most jaw muscle activities, ie, RMMA, single short-burst, and clenching episodes, occur in relation to gastroesophageal reflux mainly in the supine position.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11829782

Zhonghua Wai Ke Za Zhi. 1999 Feb;37(2):71-3, 3.
[Can esophagogastric anastomosis prevent gastroesophageal reflux].
[Article in Chinese]
Wang Q, Liu J, Zhao X, Lei J, Cong Q, Li W, Li B, Wang F, Cao F, Zhang X, Zhang H, Zhang H.
Depatment of Thoracic Surgery, Fourth Hospital of Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang 050011.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To investigate the possible anti-reflux function of esophagogastric anastomosis in the patients after receiving resection of cardiac cancer.
METHODS: One hundred and ninety-two patients were studied by video-assisted gastroscopy, manometry, 24-h pH esophageal monitoring, radioscintigraphy and scanning electron microscopy.
RESULTS: Abnormalities were found in 90.2% of patients through endoscopy. Resting pressure in esophageal body was higher than that in normal controls, and in the stomach, lower. Twenty-four hour pH monitoring demonstrated that gastroesophageal reflux (GER) did not occur when the patients slept in semi-reclining position, and occurred in all patients when slept in supine position. Scintigraphic study showed that 2/3 of the patients had reflux, occurrence of which was not affected by the length of postoperative period. Scanning electron microscopic examination showed that degeneration, exfoliation of esophageal mucosal epithelial cell, and derangement of micro-fold and inflammatory oedema of cytomembrane may be directly caused by reflux.
CONCLUSIONS: GER exists in the majority of the patients after esophagogastrectomy and esophagogastrostomy for cardiac cancer. The occurrence of GER is not affected by the length of postoperative period. Some detecting methods fail to show the existence of GER, and 24-h pH monitoring is the most reliable method for detecting GER. Sleep in semireclining position is an effective method of preventing GER in postoperative patients.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18487262

Age Ageing. 2008 Sep;37(5):526-9. Epub 2008 May 16.
Severe nocturnal hypoxaemia in geriatric inpatients.
Hjalmarsen A, Hykkerud DL.
Department of Medicine, Pulmonary Division, University Hospital of North Norway, N 9038 Tromsø, Norway. audhild.hjalmarsen@unn.no
Abstract
BACKGROUND: oxygen levels are decreased in older people especially in the supine position, and during sleep. Geriatric inpatients often suffer from stroke and heart disease. Respiratory control may be substantially affected.
OBJECTIVE: the aim of this study was to examine oxygen levels during night in inpatients on geriatric medical wards to find out if they needed nocturnal oxygen therapy.
DESIGN: prospective observational study. Setting/Participants: we consecutively examined 133 patients with SpO(2) >or=92% in sitting position by an overnight -8-h pulse oximetry. Patients with severe obesity, dementia or pulmonary disease were excluded. The test was performed at least 4 days after the event in stroke cases. Outcome Variables: ninety two patients, m/f 43/49, with mean age 78.3 +/- 6.9 SD completed the test. Sixty six patients suffered from stroke; 34 left-sided and 19 right-sided stroke. Nine patients suffered from a heart disease only, and 17 patients suffered from other diseases.
RESULTS: according to the guidelines for long-term oxygen therapy recommendations for nocturnal oxygen therapy, we found that 26% of the patients fulfilled the criteria of SpO(2) <or=90% for >or=30% of the time. There was a significant positive correlation between age and the amount of time with SpO(2) between 80 and 84% (0.215, P < 0.05). Diagnosis or severeness of disease did not significantly affect nocturnal SpO(2) %. The 1-year survival rate was 75% in group I (hypoxaemic) versus 84% in group II (normoxaemic) (NS).
CONCLUSION: nearly 30% of the inpatients in geriatric medical wards suffered from severe oxygen-requiring nocturnal hypoxaemia irrespective of diagnosis.

[panacea]

All of these studies link respiratory problems to gastroesophageal problems, amplifying them. So I gave some tips to make your breathing at night easier.

[Kookaburra]

Lately I have been having chapped lips. At first I brushed it off as nothing to be alarmed about. But it came back when I thought it's gone for good. Happened a few times already. I believe the condition is called Angular cheilitis.

From wiki:

studies have linked the initial onset of angular cheilitis with nutritional deficiencies, namely riboflavin (vitamin B2)[2][3] and iron deficiency anemia,[3] which in turn may be evidence of poor diets or malnutrition (e.g. celiac disease).

That's interesting. I have mentioned in an earlier post that I have lost weight and RRM said that means I am not eating enough. I guess inadequate energy intake does lead to nutritional deficiencies huh. What fruits are rich in riboflavin and iron? I gotta start eating more. I have been telling myself that since I lost weight but it's kinda hard to keep up. Maybe I should start re-adding honey to OJ. Maybe I should try adding table sugar. I haven't tried table sugar because my mom have been preaching since I am a kid that table sugar=unhealthy. Can someone finally convince me that table sugar is really not that bad. How to choose which sugar to buy? At the supermarket, there are different types on sale like brown sugar, white sugar, etc.

[RRM]

I guess inadequate energy intake does lead to nutritional deficiencies huh.

Yes.

What fruits are rich in riboflavin and iron?

http://www.waiworld.com/waidiet/nut-foodpernut.html
B2: Egg yolks, mackerel, avocado
Iron: Egg yolks, fish

Though its normal that your lips chap in the winter.
Where do you live?

[panacea]

is it just me, or does breathing through the nose instead of mouth when outside or windy cure chapped lips? seems like licking my lips only happens when I mouthbreathe, because I seem to lose more water vapor that way from breathing, and the first place it withdraws from is my lips, idk