<p>Mom should call the Pediatrician, and they will direct her from there. Depending on your insurance, you may have to go through them. In the mean time, some of the things you can do:
- Watch your diet
- Elevate the head of your bed
- Eat multiple small meals a day, do not over eat (don’t get too full)
- Don’t eat on the run, or hurried (HA- saying this to a college student even sounds dumb on my part! )
- Decrease caffeine, carbonated beverages, and tea and coffee (even decaf) as much as possible. Caffeine can increase symptoms, and the acids in Tea/Coffee can too.
- Decrease fried/fatty foods, spicy, and acitic foods. </p>
<p>Try drinking peppermint herbal tea (not too hot) and see if that helps sooth your symptoms too. I have found it helpful for me at times, especially while I am waiting for the meds to kick in. At night, I drink the sleepytime tea, that also has camomile in it, and it helps to relax and sleep. Sleep loss and stress increase symptoms too. As far as over the counter medications go, there are many that you can try (Zantac, Prevacid, prilosec, pepcid… )See what works best for you. One may help more than another one does.</p>
<p>Acid reflux can cause scaring to the esophagus, it can also cause asthma and lung damage and can cause the enamel on your teeth to wear down leading to terrible dental problems. So taking care of this is a good idea.</p>