Controlling Reflux While on Vacation

Did you listen to the podcast series on bronchiectasis and NTM (MAC) lung disease that I recently recommended? 

It’s called NTM Talk (ntmtalk.com) and created by pulmonologist Dr. Colin Swenson and infectious disease specialist Dr. Wendi Drummond. They’re both experts in their fields, and they do a great job of making complex topics understandable and engaging.

Even if you don’t have NTM, I highly recommend listening to the podcast. There are many episodes that talk about bronchiectasis.

One episode that I found particularly helpful was on vacationing and reflux. Dr. Swenson mentioned the association between worsening bronchiectasis and aspirating gastric contents into our lungs from reflux. 
He talked about how many people come back from vacation with exacerbations because they’re eating later, drinking more alcohol and sleeping flat. 

With this in mind, I try my best to elevate the head of my bed while traveling. Technically I don’t have reflux, but because we often eat later than usual, I take precautions. 

In Portugal, the mattress was light and I was able to lift the top and wedge my knee under it to hold it up. Then, I placed pillows between the mattress and the boxspring. I refer to this as the “Jane technique” because bronchi-sis Jane recommended it last year when I was traveling and it worked well.

Here in Morocco, the mattress is about 20 inches deep and too heavy to lift. So instead, I opted for using multiple pillows and taking an alginate before bedtime. 

I’ve discussed alginates in the past and have been using them regularly for the past six months. It’s an algae based product that forms a raft on the top of our stomach contents to prevent reflux. 

If you go online, you can find out more about alginates. The one I use regularly, RefluxRaft, is made from all natural ingredients and I am partial to the lemon ginger flavored one.

What do you do while traveling to prevent reflux? Do you bring an inflatable wedge?
Have you tried an alginate?

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