Hello!

First, I think it is important to evaluate the treatment plan with the doctor since your son has been on Prevacid for a long time. It is important to make sure he is on the right dose and the right medication.

The foods that trigger reflux may include:

acidic foods such as tomato, tomato sauce, citrus, oranges

spicy food

chocolate

caffeine

My two refluxers are lactose intolerant so some of the digestive issues are not reflux related but dairy. Other food allergies and intolerances can cause digestive issues too.

So, the foods we eat may trigger symptoms and may not. One person with reflux can have a small, occasional serving of a trigger food while another person cannot even take one bite. It might take some detective work to figure out the cause-effect.

If you think food is causing the symptoms, it more drastic approach is to try an elimination diet.

My refluxers find that their "reflux diet" is half careful eating (avoiding trigger foods) and half healthy eating: taking small bites, chewing carefully and eating small, frequent meals rather than being too full or too hungry.

Let me know more about the anxiety part. If you want to talk about that privately, send me an email via this site.

Jan Gambino

The Reflux Mom