Q: Please provide information on acid reflux and hiatal hernia.

A: Bear with a short anatomy lesson that begins with the esophagus. It's the long swallowing tube that travels from the throat through the chest to the stomach in the abdomen. It has to pass through an opening in the diaphragm, the horizontal muscle that separates the chest and the abdomen. That opening is a hiatus.

A hiatal hernia is the upward bulging of the stomach into the chest through the opening in the diaphragm.

Acid reflux -- more correctly, gastroesophageal reflux disease, or GERD -- is the upward spurting of stomach acid into the esophagus. The esophagus isn't prepared to handle corrosive stomach acid. Acid in the esophagus produces the familiar pain we call heartburn.

Heartburn happens to people who do not have a hiatal hernia, but it happens frequently to people with a hiatal hernia and the two conditions are not the same. The treatment of heartburn (GERD, acid reflux) lies in neutralizing stomach acid with antacids or curbing the production of acid. Proton pump inhibitors -- Nexium, Prevacid, Prilosec, Protonix and Aciphex -- reliably cut back acid production and almost always can stop heartburn.

Not lying down after eating and avoiding chocolate, peppermint, caffeine, spicy foods, citrus foods, tomato products, onions, fried and fatty foods and alcohol also control heartburn. Propping the head of the bed with 6-inch blocks under the bedposts keeps stomach acid in the stomach while sleeping.

Sometimes, people who have both hiatal hernia and heartburn find it difficult to control heartburn symptoms with medicines. These people might require surgical correction of the hernia to obtain relief.

The booklet on hiatal hernia, heartburn and acid reflux delves into these matters in greater depth. Readers can obtain a copy by writing: Dr. Donohue -- No. 501, P.O. Box 536475, Orlando, Fla. 32853-6475. Enclose a check or money order (no cash) for $4.75 with the recipient's printed name and address. Please allow four weeks for delivery.

Q: I am an 80-year-old widow. I weigh 145 pounds. I walk a lot. I take care of my 54-year-old son, who is in a wheelchair because of a car accident in 1974. My husband passed away from lung cancer, and I cared for him during his last two years. I live on 20 acres and have a lot of mowing to do, along with a big garden and a flock of chickens.

My problem is my blood work. My triglycerides are 340, but my cholesterol is OK. (This wasn't a fasting test).

A: The normal value for triglycerides requires 12 hours of fasting before the blood is drawn. Your nonfasting value has no meaning. You can forget it.

Your activity level puts you in a category of health way above the rest of us.