What’s up with the acid in my throat?

1) I have had acid coming up my throat from my stomach for the last 3 weeks. It comes up and just burns my throat. What is it? Do I have an ulcer? By the way, I get 3 hours of sleep a night, and my roommate doesn't help the situation.

2) I have recently asked you about my would be ulcer. I shall pose the question again. Lately I have this damn acid coming up my throat. I've been under a lot of stress and have strange sleeping habits. I am also drinking a lot of coffee. I drink about 5 cups of coffee a day and my roommate isn't exactly stress relieving. I go to bed about 3:30am and wake up about 5:45am for crew. Am I dying? Do I have an ulcer? What's wrong with me?


How to gain weight?

I am a 22-year-old male. I would like your advice as to how to increase my weight. I am extremely thin, and would like to put on weight for both appearance and strength purposes.

I believe that thin people have a very fast metabolic rate. Is there any way of slowing this rate down? Does it fall naturally with age? I have often been told that I should lift weights, but cannot find time on a regular basis to do so. I do, however, have time to do push-ups at home.

Anyway, I'd much appreciate it if you could give me guidelines as to how to increase weight, especially through diet. What kinds of food should I be eating? How many times a day should I eat? How big should the meals be? I hear the soybean is very nutritious — is this true; if so, what could I eat or drink that contains soy?


Is mixing uppers and downers a bad idea?

Recently, many of my friends have been doing methamphetamines. Often when they start to come down, want to come down, want to "level" out their high, etc. they take Xanax!!! Now I know Xanax is an anti-anxiety drug, and meth speeds your heart up. So can mixing the two ("reds" with "blues") be especially bad? I keep trying to tell them that it doesn't sound like a good idea...but they know that I hate pills so they DON'T listen. "They know better!" But I haven't been able to find any info specific to my question in other places. CAN YOU HELP?


Is smoking stunting my growth?

I was wondering if the rumor that smoking cigarettes stunts your growth is true? I am a smoker (not proud) but I do believe it may have stunted my growth or at least slowed it down. And if it does, is it permanent? Like, if I stop smoking, will my growth continue to do what it was originally going to do? Any information is helpful. Thank you I love this site.