Training and nutrition with GERD and PPI medication

Medical Q&A [Moderated]
1

I’m 34 years old and I’ve had GERD (gastrointestinal reflux disease) basically all my adult life. I take daily (low dose) PPI medication which completely eliminates the symptoms so I’m managing well.

I’ve also been doing various forms of strength training for two years (different programs, most recently SSLP; I still consider myself a beginner lifter). I’ve been wondering how my condition and/or my medication affects the training, if at all. In particular:

  1. Suppression of stomach acids by PPIs supposedly slow down the digestion of proteins. Should this be taken into account in my nutrition somehow? I’m mostly thinking about the timing of the “anabolic window” and amount/timing/quality of the proteins needed to trigger protein synthesis.

  2. My GERD is supposedly caused by hiatal hernia. Since performing the Valsalva manouver during the lifts increases the pressure around that part of the body (forgive my ignorance, I don’t really understand that well how it works), should I take some extra precaution to not make the hernia worse?

  3. Is there anything else related to GERD and/or PPI medication that should be taken into account in resistance training?

I’m asking here, because so far I haven’t had a doctor who knows anything about lifting.

2
  1. Suppression of stomach acids by PPIs supposedly slow down the digestion of proteins. Should this be taken into account in my nutrition somehow? I’m mostly thinking about the timing of the “anabolic window” and amount/timing/quality of the proteins needed to trigger protein synthesis.

No, there are no concerns on this front.

  1. My GERD is supposedly caused by hiatal hernia. Since performing the Valsalva manouver during the lifts increases the pressure around that part of the body (forgive my ignorance, I don’t really understand that well how it works), should I take some extra precaution to not make the hernia worse?

There isn’t any specific precaution that you could take in this situation. You will valsalva whether you want to or not, and you already do it in other areas of life outside the gym (e.g., during bowel movements). Not much that can be modified here.

  1. Is there anything else related to GERD and/or PPI medication that should be taken into account in resistance training?

Nope, you are good to go.

3

Thank you for taking the time to answer my concerns! This will probably be helpful for other people suffering from GERD too.