When the muscle that is supposed to prevent stomach acid from escaping up into the esophagus gets to weak to do its job and the acid keeps on gushing back to the esophagus, that is called acid reflux. It is a lot like heart burn but a lot more uncomfortable as generally there is much more acids and pepsins pushing back to the esophagus.
One of the biggest mistakes people with acid reflux make is eating late in the evening. In fact, doctors suggest that those who suffer with night time acid reflux or indigestion should not eat up to three hours before they plan to go bed.
The thing about surgery for acid reflux and indigestion is that the recovery can be difficult and the results are not always consistent. Many people will feel complete relief and others won’t. In addition, it is often possible for the problem to reoccur, even after surgery and more surgery may be necessary.
If your acid reflux and heartburn is worse at night, try raising the head of the bed. That way your esophagus is higher up than your stomach and less acid would trickle back up the wrong way. But before you start chopping off two legs of the bed, or put bricks under two others, adding another pillow or two could do the trick too.
It is worth cutting back on tomato based foods like chilli, pasta and pizza sauces with tomatoes in it as tomatoes are known to cause an increase in stomach acids, which in turn can trigger heartburn and GERD symptoms.