Reflux Treatment

bigv wrote:

I wonder if i need to have esoph stretched like you guys or if allergy?

I’m guessing you’ll need an endoscopy to determine that. For me I have an allergy (eosinophilic esophagitis). I believe he did mention that stretching would be an option but I think that was before the endoscopy.

bigv wrote:

Only way to heal that is by taking the 40mg omep for several weeks everyday. I found that if I take about 3 pills a week I do well. Seems if I keep it in system I don’t have a lot of issues.

I wasn’t going to comment on this because I believed I touched on it before but I felt it is important. I’ll argue to death that this isn’t the only way to heal your esophagus. That’s what the GI will tell you because anything otherwise is outside his/her expertise. The goal is to stop the acid reflux so your esophagus can heal. I chose a different path because I believe the omeprazole to be a path of endless problems.

I just learned something really ironic just now as I was searching for the side effects of omeprazole. A listed COMMON side effect is acid reflux
https://www.rxlist.com/consumer_omeprazole_prilosec/drugs-condition.htm#

lol well that is ironic. I guess I don’t know any other way but it works for me. When I get that lump I take a pill everyday. After a couple weeks its gone. How…I guess I don’t know.

Did you ever mention the results of the H.pylori test? That was the first thing that came to mind. Awful little bugger.

Interesting that the antibiotic would temporarily relieve the GI upset. The seem to be the cause of it in a lot of people.

Bass Thumb wrote:

Did you ever mention the results of the H.pylori test? That was the first thing that came to mind. Awful little bugger.

Interesting that the antibiotic would temporarily relieve the GI upset. The seem to be the cause of it in a lot of people.

I did in one of my previous posts. It came up negative. The naturopath said improved reflux symptoms are a common side effect of antibiotics. I can’t remember what she said that but I think it had to do with reduced inflammation temporarily. In the end it really screws with your gut flora and it takes a lot of work to get it back to normal.

Of course a naturopath is going to point at guy flora, inflammation and micronutrients as the cause of everything, but I do believe there is a lot of correlation there.

Our foods contain glyphosate especially oats and grains. They are spraying the fields right before harvest.
They think glyphosate May be killing bacteria in our bodies including the bacteria responsible for reducing inflammation. Celiacs, Gerd and gluten intolerance becoming common.

MnPat1 wrote:

Our foods contain glyphosate especially oats and grains. They are spraying the fields right before harvest.
They think glyphosate May be killing bacteria in our bodies including the bacteria responsible for reducing inflammation. Celiacs, Gerd and gluten intolerance becoming common.

That’s interesting. I recently reviewed a study that found a very strong link between E. coli (or salmonella I forget which) and the absence of people with celiacs. So basically people that lived and ate in unclean conditions that had a higher incidence of these infections were far less likely to have celiacs.

Your point seems to support that.

Been reading this thread with interest… just went thru all this past Fall/winter:

•Constant Heartburn
•Food getting stuck in throat, one day I almost cashed it in

So I went to the GI doc… endoscopy. I had EE slight food allergy, a bit of a forming “Schotzky’s Ring” in lower esophagus.

I’ve never seen a doc more emphatic to go on Omerprazole. He said it will work and if untreated even though you may not have heartburn the acid is doing damage.

He insisted all of the negative about Omeprazole was absolutely “Fake News.” The studies about bleeding and dementia was done on a test group of people primarily in their 80’s with higher risk for these things.

He said the media is after big Pharma (he said in many cases rightly so) but they are hyper-reporting anything and everything right now – and unfortunately Omeprazole is not even close to being one of the drugs that should be scrutinized. In his 30+ years of practice he’s only ever seen one person with any serious side effects from it.

So I took it for two months, had another endoscopy. Things look good, he said to continue with Omeprazole. I didn’t… only take it a couple times a week so far if I eat anything spicy or heaven-forbid… with MSG in it..

But I wonder if I’m letting damage happen by not taking Omeprazole regularly and the acid damage is still ocuring in my esophagus even if I don’t have heartburn..? Sucks not knowing..

without going into a lot of detail about the endless issues with my endocrine/central nervous/digestive system thanks to chronic exposures to ag chemicals and then getting antibiotic induced colitis thanks to a broad spectrum antibiotic for an infected tooth,I will say that pure oregano oil taken as directed has done wonders for my digestive system.

It’s sounds as though as we have very similar condition. I’m going to go back in for an endoscopy around the end of the year. It’ll be interesting to see how the EE looks at that point.

A guy I work with had trouble swallowing without ever having any other reflux symptoms. He went to the GI and was prescribed omep. He has some significant damage of the esophagus so it’s absolutely true that people can have it without the burn.

I have reviewed the study on dimentia myself and did find it to be somewhat irrelevant because they did test on older subjects. Several other studies about the negative effects of long term maintenance use of ppi’s is are very well documented.

Here is a very good review of a number of studies for ppi use. Very much worth a read for anyone taking them long term for maintenance.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5427147/

Iowaboy1 wrote:

without going into a lot of detail about the endless issues with my endocrine/central nervous/digestive system thanks to chronic exposures to ag chemicals and then getting antibiotic induced colitis thanks to a broad spectrum antibiotic for an infected tooth,I will say that pure oregano oil taken as directed has done wonders for my digestive system.

That’s a new one I haven’t heard of. I’ve recently heard about celery juice, have you tried that at all?

no I havent tried celery juice,celery is one of the many foods that I react to.
to give you an idea of how complex my life is,my reactions shift from day to day and week to week depending on what I am exposed to in the work and home environment and what I have eaten/drank that day.

I have to rotate many foods in and out of my diet,usually a two week rotation before I can have them again.
the time of year makes a difference as well due to where the foods come from and what is used to grow them and those things are NOT listed on the package,only place of origin.
its a damn tough game to play in my world.

the first year and a half of struggling through this I could not eat very much at all and I was fed by an IV twice a week that was made up of several pure vitamins in liquid form,vitamin C for example was forty thousand times the normal dose,this was used to bond with the chemicals in my body and hopefully bring them out safely as well as give me a form of nutrition.
sad to say all three nervous systems are permanently damaged.

two weeks ago my wife bought the wrong scent of deodorant from what I normally use but it was the same brand so I thought I would be okay,WRONG!!!!
I got sent home from work three days in a row as I couldnt comprehend what my duties were and how to do them,and I was very argumentative over the dumbest little things,that about cost me my job but thankfully the manager knows me very well and knew something was wrong.
trying to remember how to get home the one day wasnt much fun but I made it and yes,I should of called my wife to come and get me but I didnt have the sense to.

I am Dr. Jekyll and Mr.Hyde somedays,problem is I dont know it until someone,most often my wife,points it out and I get to the doctor who treats me.
I have been dealing with this since 2001 and I was housebound for a little over three years,I am use to this life style but it is getting old.

Anyone see the story on KMSP/Channel 9 last night? 25 year old Iowa man with heartburn, trouble swallowing, thought it was a food allergy – but went in for Endoscopy and they found Stage 2 Esophageal cancer?

The doctor in the story that did the surgical removal is the guy I cited in my previous post that told me the negative news stories on Omeprazole were fake news…

Glad I had my Endoscopy and he didn’t find any cancer! Had the same symptoms..

I know I know, YouTube isn’t where you find proper medical advice. These videos are consistent with hundreds of other recommendations I’ve received personally seen online over the past year+. The one thing that your GI will never answer is what is the underlying issue causing the reflux. Go ahead and ask. I’d be curious what you hear (I’m not speaking in response to anyone specifically). I asked and was told it was an overproduction of acid. He told me that without data to support his theory. He never tested the acidity of my stomach to form that diagnosis.

I’ve been following this thread because I have had acid reflux for at least 20+ years

About 6 years ago I was scoped and was found to have Barrett’s esophagus. I was put on pantoprazole which helped with / eliminated the heartburn.

A year or so after the the Barrett’s diagnosis, I had Radiofrequency ablation to remove the damaged tissue in the esophagus. Biopsies showed the tissue was pre cancerous.

Last week I had another yearly scope to confirm the Barrett’s has not returned and had a bravo acid monitor installed in my esophagus. Had to where a pager like device for 48 hrs to record the acid. My insurance requires an acid study prior to any surgical treatments for this condition. The plan is to get a tif procedure to repair the valve at the bottom of the esophagus and get off medications.

I’ve tried some diet changes and home remedies but nothing worked. At night I would occasionally wake up after breathing in stomach acid that drains into my mouth. Talk about uncontrollable coughing.

I’ve also read about low acid causing the problems. I’ll know more in May when we review the test results and come up with options and a plan.

Crazy how many of us have this / similar issue.

I was diagnosed with GERD about 2 yrs ago. Was pretty miserable, burping a lot, stomach pains, waking up at night. Got the stomach scoped and put on omeprazole and ranitidine. Was good for about 1 yr. Then all the issues started coming back.

I also believe there is a link to anxiety and stomach issues. Although I can’t say for sure which causes the other.

I was getting pretty miserable again about two months ago. Pulled myself off the omeprazole (still taking ranitidine) and changed my diet and started working out a lot more. Lost a few pounds. I am also taking DGL before meals and drinking aloe vera juice. I feel much better.

I am also scheduled for the Bravo test and another scope next week.

Not really sure which direction this will go but there is good information in this thread. Just sucks though, spaghetti, pizza, and chili are some of my favorite foods….. not to mention anything spicy, coffee, alcohol, chocolate, etc, etc, etc

lindyrig79 wrote:

I also believe there is a link to anxiety and stomach issues. Although I can’t say for sure which causes the other.

I think I have this as well. I get a severe feeling of fatigue right in the area of my hiatal hernia. I don’t have any reflux symptoms anymore but I believe this feeling is a flare up of the HH. It leaves me with what I would describe as anxiety. HH is known to cause heart palpitations. I can’t help but think these are linked.

I am really happy that I’ve found a solution. I am curious what exactly your diet is. I really truly feel that anyone could eliminate all of their acid reducers or blockers if they followed an anti-inflammatory diet. I think it takes many months of healing before you can introduce a small amount of the prohibited foods. Although, I have already accepted the fact that I may never be able to eat even a fraction of the wheat or dairy that I had before. I’m ok with that now.

Man, that Wolford link makes a lot of sense. A huge part of my problem seems to be bloating and burping (or can’t burp but desperately want to). It feels like my stomach is always under pressure and make sense all that air would push stomach acid back up.

The last few weeks sure has put my stomach to the test. A week of fishing with the guys up north eating tons of refined carbs. Then getting home to birthday cakes, hot dog, hamburger buns and a house full of up coming Easter sweets. My stomach is hanging in there but giving me signs I better get back to eating better soon. So far a simple treatment of adding more water settles the stomach down. My understanding is water aids in digestion. Stomach doesn’t need to produce all the liquid (acid) for digestion and over all doesn’t have to work as hard. So far this has kept me from reaching for a pill but need to get back to eating better for the long term solution. Need to also get back up to 100oz of water a day also. Guessing I might be hitting half of that lately.

I disagree with water helping reflux. Specifically when you drink it before during or immediately after eating. By doing so you raise your ph and as a result have trouble digesting your food.

I can attest because I used to drink roughly 16 oz with lunch and another 16 oz immediately after. At times, reflux would occur 1-2 minutes after taking a swig of water. I try my best to drink water at least 1-2 hours before or after eating.

I’m also of the belief that drinking large amounts of water has little or no benefit. In fact, drinking too much water has a negative effect. It literally flushed out the healthy minerals out of your body, including salt. Your body has a natural reflex that tells you when you need water and when you need salt.

I have been taking Prilosec for decades and no side effects EVER.

I got my reflux under control by watching what I eat. Sweet sugary things tend to cause it to flare up. Others may have it triggered by spicy stuff etc

Lou W wrote:

I got my reflux under control by watching what I eat. Sweet sugary things tend to cause it to flare up. Others may have it triggered by spicy stuff etc

Sort of confirms what I’ve learned thus far although just “watching” what I eat wasn’t enough for me. I cut way down on dairy, wheat and sugar for weeks at a time in the past and had 0 effect. Everyone is different and some only need slight modification to their diet to see results.

I’ve also learned that there is a lot of false info regarding what to eat and what not to eat. It’s said that fatty foods a cause reflux which is totally false. Vegetable oils yes but animal fats and animal collagen are some of the best for curing your reflux. Vegetable oils cause inflammation and are very difficult to digest.

It’s said that grains are good but that’s totally false because grains and complex carbs take a very long time to digest. This creates gas and pressure in your stomach which will result in your LES weakening and allowing stomach contents to enter your esophagus.

Having an unhealthy gut flora also causes gas. The burping you get after eating Macdonalds or white castle are from the bread and lactose from cheese being digested by unhealthy gut flora. This pushes your acid back into your esophagus.

I may introduce grains and dairy back in at some point in small amounts but I’ve already accepted that these are what is making me feel like crap. And there is no way in hell I would take a ppi ever again. They are probably one of the most ludicrous forms of treatment for this condition.

biggill wrote:

Having an unhealthy gut flora also causes gas.

I’m getting more curious about this also. I was on the PPIs and antacids for so long I’m wondering if that allowed an over-growth of bad bacteria.

The low(er) PH in the stomach allows the bad bacteria to take over and causes a bunch of subtle problems (just read an article about Candida) including gas, which would put more pressure on the stomach and LES.

I had the upper endoscopy this morning and Bravo PH test. The endoscopy didn’t show any tumors or ulcers (thankfully). However, the Dr said he found “erosions” in my small intestine that could be described as “surface ulcers”. They took biopsies and I am awaiting those results.

Just a difficult thing to figure out.

I think I am going to try the Swedish Bitters and a course of probiotics after this Bravo test is done.

Iowaboy1 wrote:

two weeks ago my wife bought the wrong scent of deodorant from what I normally use but it was the same brand so I thought I would be okay,WRONG!!!!
I got sent home from work three days in a row as I couldnt comprehend what my duties were and how to do them,and I was very argumentative over the dumbest little things,that about cost me my job but thankfully the manager knows me very well and knew something was wrong.
trying to remember how to get home the one day wasnt much fun but I made it and yes,I should of called my wife to come and get me but I didnt have the sense to.

Iowaboy – With your sensitive system you may want to try the products from this company.https://www.psico.com/ They are based in Rochester, MN and make pharmaceutical grade soap, shampoo, deodorant, sunscreen, etc. that are scent-free and non-allergenic. They also double test all the products for purity.

With regular consumer products you never know when they are going to change ingredients, scents, etc. and using these consistently produced non-allergenic products could remove some “variables” from the challenges you’re dealing with.

A general comment for the folks dealing with digestive health issues – have you had your home water tested? Especially if it’s well water there could be contaminants that are an issue. Just a thought.

Bassn Dan wrote:

A general comment for the folks dealing with digestive health issues – have you had your home water tested? Especially if it’s well water there could be contaminants that are an issue. Just a thought.

I actually drink bottled water and have for the past 2 decades. This is something I know I need to change so I’ve been looking into a good quality RO system for my home.

We have well water and have been meaning to get it tested by Anoka Co. I will hopefully get that done very soon.

Do you happen to have any experience with water testing? I am very curious what I should be testing for. The county only tests for the most prominent water issues. I researched in the past different water tests you can have done and it could cost upwards of $500 or more to get a full analysis of your water. I’m sure this is completely unnecessary especially if I put in a RO system.

biggill wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Bassn Dan wrote:</div>
A general comment for the folks dealing with digestive health issues – have you had your home water tested? Especially if it’s well water there could be contaminants that are an issue. Just a thought.

I actually drink bottled water and have for the past 2 decades. This is something I know I need to change so I’ve been looking into a good quality RO system for my home.

We have well water and have been meaning to get it tested by Anoka Co. I will hopefully get that done very soon.

Do you happen to have any experience with water testing? I am very curious what I should be testing for. The county only tests for the most prominent water issues. I researched in the past different water tests you can have done and it could cost upwards of $500 or more to get a full analysis of your water. I’m sure this is completely unnecessary especially if I put in a RO system.

Just general knowledge of water testing. Even if you mainly drink bottled water, you probably still consume some well water via cooking food and other incidental amounts.

Do you have an unusual number of neighbors with odd health issues?

If not, I’d probably just do a general water test.

If so, that could point to well water as being a possible common link. Then depending on the area (nearby industrial sites, agriculture, mining, etc.) I’d probably focus on other tests to look for the most likely possible contaminants like metals, petroleum/chemical pollutants, bacteria, and nitrates.

Good luck. As advanced as modern healthcare is, it’s still a very new science and some day they’ll look back on some of the things done in this era the way we look at past quackery like blood letting.

Just a quick update from me. I got my biopsy back and it was normal. The GI doctors have no answer, other than more medications and surgery to put a clamp on the LES.

Meanwhile, my chiropractor told about a product called “Restore” that is available on Amazon. I researched it and decided to give it a try. I have only been taking it for two days but all I can say is WOW. I feel like a new person and am off all medication. My reflux is virtually gone. It doesn’t hurt to wear a belt anymore (stomach inflammation is way down).

If anybody is still suffering from reflux or other seemingly connected digestive issues I highly recommend you look into Restore. There are pages and pages of amazing reviews, in addition to mine. Nothing short of a miracle after dealing with this for years!

lindyrig79 wrote:

Just a quick update from me. I got my biopsy back and it was normal. The GI doctors have no answer, other than more medications and surgery to put a clamp on the LES.

Meanwhile, my chiropractor told about a product called “Restore” that is available on Amazon. I researched it and decided to give it a try. I have only been taking it for two days but all I can say is WOW. I feel like a new person and am off all medication. My reflux is virtually gone. It doesn’t hurt to wear a belt anymore (stomach inflammation is way down).

If anybody is still suffering from reflux or other seemingly connected digestive issues I highly recommend you look into Restore. There are pages and pages of amazing reviews, in addition to mine. Nothing short of a miracle after dealing with this for years!

That’s really good to hear. It again confirms the misguided information being fed to is from GI doctors. It’s a classic case of treating symptoms rather that the cause. I recall my visits with my GI where we discussed diet. I explained to home truthfully what my diet looked like and he said that he could send me to a nutritionist but wanted to leave that decision up to me because he don’t think my diet was causing any problems.

I will keep that restore stuff on my mind. I’m not going to start taking anything my naturopath hasn’t approved due to the fact I’m taking quite a few supplements already.

I’ve also been seeing more and more evidence that fasting could be a good solution. There is a ton of solid evidence that fasting creates sort of a reboot for your digestive tract in a very short amount of time. In some cases as little as 48 hours. This really confirms why the keto and carnivore diet are great for people suffering from reflux. These diets mimic fasting in that your body creates ketones which promote healing of your cells. It sort of flushed out damaged cells and promotes growth of new cells. During a fast, your body creates ketones as well.

It’s so nice to not have to be married to prescriptions for acid reflux knowing that they are masking a larger problem and likely contributing to the overall problem.

More than 6 months in now. I may get slight reflux symptoms twice a month. This only happens when I cheat on this diet. But now, I have been reintroducing foods back in. I feel now I’ve narrowed my trigger foods to dairy and wheat. When I have these two together I have issues. Add in overeating and its a sure bet.

I’ve recently learned about a protein in milk that causes digestive issues in humans. It’s called the casein A1 protein. Cow dairy had undergone a mutation about 1000 years ago introducing the A1 protein when previously it had only the A2 protein. I also learned that goats milk only contains the A2 protein.

Since learning that fact I’ve been eating goat cheese with almost every meal and have had zero issues. I even had Chipotle today without sour cream and cheese. I added my own goat cheese and felt great.

I’ve also stopped most of my supplements recommended by the naturopath. I still take fish oil and a probiotic. I also take HCL with pepsin when I know I’m going to consume a lot of meat.

Based on my allergy tests, I’m going to continue to avoid soy. I’m also going to keep sugar, wheat and peanuts to a bare minimum. Based on the how the diet went, I truly believe that I need to avoid cow dairy at all costs.

Though all this and my own research, I’ve learned a lot about foods that are very damaging and what to look for in truly healthy food. It’s quite amazing to me to think that I’d be medication and surgery free with absolutely no reason to think I’d ever have to go that route.

One thing that really pisses me off in all of this is that GIs are armed with the option to treat their patients with an elimination diet. This involves removing dairy, wheat, soy, peanuts, shellfish among a couple other things I believe. This is a fact. Ask your GI next time you see them. On top of that it has proven to be the most successful treatment for reflux. They don’t typically offer this as a first option because it is “too difficult”. I get it. Healing is too difficult so we instead will make someone else rich off of harmful counterproductive pills.

lindyrig79 wrote:

Just a quick update from me. I got my biopsy back and it was normal. The GI doctors have no answer, other than more medications and surgery to put a clamp on the LES.

Meanwhile, my chiropractor told about a product called “Restore” that is available on Amazon. I researched it and decided to give it a try. I have only been taking it for two days but all I can say is WOW. I feel like a new person and am off all medication. My reflux is virtually gone. It doesn’t hurt to wear a belt anymore (stomach inflammation is way down).

If anybody is still suffering from reflux or other seemingly connected digestive issues I highly recommend you look into Restore. There are pages and pages of amazing reviews, in addition to mine. Nothing short of a miracle after dealing with this for years!

@lindyrig79 I am curious how thing are going for you.