If it flares up mostly when you go to bed, try putting blocks under your headboard to elevate the head of the bed slightly. That has helped some people I've known that had this issue.
It helped me a lot. Also, I quit pepper decades ago. Otherwise, if I get heartburn, a little baking soda stops it.
recap Just a follow up in case the info is useful to someone. It must have been the caffeine and possibly too many fried foods. I cut out the coffee, went to decaf tea, modified the diet to only safe foods. Took generic Prilosec just to nip it in the bud in case there was some damage to repair. Stopped that after 4 days. I don't want to make it a habit. No further problems. Slipping more dangerous food back in gradually---pizza, cheese, tomatoes, regular tea. Still no problems. I'll switch back to regular tea now. I used to drink 10 cups of coffee a day for years, but it was mostly decaf. It was just an oversight switching back to regular coffee this time. It didn't make me jittery like it used to, so I thought it was OK.
Don , Jake cut 2 4x4 pieces of a 4x4 fence post then cut a small indentment into the top so legs would fit and not slide off. Put one under each headboard foot. Worked great, no more acid reflux, although now that I took them off, I will use lemon or baking soda, but I seldom get reflux now. I can't raise mattress raised it is too uncomfortable. Not so with bed raised.
I've been doing shots of vinegar to help my reflux. To reuse Ken's pic: The other condition the pic on the right does not address is that your stomach acid weakens with age, so may not be strong enough to trigger your sphincter to close. That's the theory behind taking vinegar. I use organic (unfiltered) vinegar, preferably Bragg (sold in Walmart.) I put 1TB-2TB in a small glass, add a dash of honey and enough hot water to bring it up to about 5TB. The exact measurements do not matter, but you have to dilute the vinegar so it does not trash your tooth enamel or burn your esophagus on the way down. I take it about 20 minutes before eating breakfast and dinner. It also works to quell reflux I've already got. After a couple of years doing this, I find that if I miss a day or two I have no reflux, but any longer than that and I got problems again. I have no idea why I can take a 48 hour break...one would think the benefit to be due to the immediate effect of each shot. Vinegar purportedly provides other health benefits, most of which have not been supported by studies. There are cautions to its use: always dilute it; don't use it if you take insulin, diuretics or laxatives; don't take it if you have kidney disease. Always check interactions with other meds you may take because vinegar can affect your potassium levels.
That's interesting about the vinegar, John. My father used to drink straight vinegar. Maybe a quarter cup at a time. Give him a dish of pickled cucumbers and he'd drink the liquid with them. We always thought that was weird. I often wondered if it was a B-12 deficiency. He also popped Tums like candy.
my mom was always taking a spoonful of pickle juice- she lived to be 101 and never had any thing wrong with her