Feeling hopeless about acid reflux. What next?

Hi Gallee,

I have too much acid, so I am a bit weary about using the digestive enzimes which contain betaine hcl. I need to go and see my doctor and my nutritionist  because it can give more pain if taken the wrong way.

I do not wear tight clothing and eat small meals often.

Thanks for you advice, I am much better and I will see about those enzimes, if I can take them then I will.

 

Hi Daniela,

If you have too much acid, and/or an inflammation of the stomach, betaine hcl will make things worse. The acid prevents the stomach to heal and will irritate it more. Dr Jamie Koufman on her website confirms this, she treats a lot of patient with acid reflux problems.

Hi Ines,

Yes, I know! I am not taking any enzimes. I am keeping an alkaline diet, low fat, low salt and what I am using and it helps me is apple cider vinegar 2-3 tsp in water 30 min before meals. Very good!

I am fine, not cured yet but on my way...

I have Dr. Jamie Koufman's book and is really good and very helpful! I also have a good nutritionist but I have allergies and some herbal remedies I can not take!

Thanks a lot,

 

Hi Daniela,

I am surprised you feel good with apple cider vinegar. Its ph level is 2.4 and it is not recommended in an alkaline diet. Like all vinegars, it is very acid.

I think it's more to do with the effect it has IN the body, rather than its PH level before it hits the body!  Some claim although it is acidic, it has a very alkalising effect on the body.  Not proven however, but a lot of people use and highly recommend it.

Hi again,

I am fine! Funny enough I am just fine. I have been using it for a few day now and I am all right. It may go against many things but whatever happens inside my body after I take it ... it works. I tried it very reluctantly, I must admit !

Hi, do you suffer with bloating. If so you may not have excess acid. The bloating can be a result of un digested food gassing off in the bowels. This put upward pressure on the stomach causeing acid reflux with only a small amount of stomach acid. If the enzymes with betaine hcl cause a burning sensation then yes you don't need it. Use Zantac to calm it down. Alternatively use "ultra women enzyme complex" these don't have betaine hcl in them but have a good selection off enzymes.

Hi Ines,

I had a look on Dr. Jamie Koufman's website about the reflux book she wrote and she mentions apple cider vinegar as a remedy for anything from weight loss to reflux, no medical research to support its use, though!

I tried it out for a bit but I am no longer take it as I want to stay true to the induction period from Dr. Jamie Koufman's book. I feel much better since I started the very strict diet and I can really feel the good effects of it.

I also fell the burnig sensation fading away. I also saw my doctor yesterday and he totally agrees with Dr. Jamie Koufman and he has been pleased about my diet, no enzimes he said, pepzin GI I can take twice daily and I am taking omeprazol once a day. I will have an endoscopy later on, not just now. No vinegars! I stayed away from vinegars for years because of my hiperacidity. I also had gastritis about ten years ago, so really watching my acid intake has been more or less ongoing. Dr. Koufman said that full recovery is in one year! I am talking about the oesophagus and the larynx, which need time to heal properly. I can feel both of them having some damage from the reflux. So, I am keeping this induction stage for at least two months or until I really feel out of the woods, safe within myself to move on to the next stage. It may take longer...

Abot the Manukka honey Dr.Jamie Koufman  says it is good for burns, it eradicates H.pylori and good for other digestive problems including acid reflux. She recommends to take it with tea. I can not take it at all and you said the same thing.

Have you taken anything for the larynx to soothe it ?

For me as my doctor said it will be to watch what I eat at all times and avoid at all costs acid food, having little occasionlly! I need to take breaks from talking, as I get tired and my voice gets affected, so it is very serious!

This has been a long message, I hope you do not mind!

Wishing you well,

 

Hi Gallee,

I have hiperacidity and yes I feel bloated but not always.

Since I am on Dr. Jamie Koufman's diet I feel much better and because I do not eat acid food and drink alkaline water I hardly ave any bloting at all. I saw my doctor yestarday and he said no enzimes at all ! I am taking pepzin GI twice daily. Enzimes later on when I am much better, no probiotics! 

Take care,

Hi Daniela,

I am happy to help if I can. For the larynx, I am not sure what you can take as I am not sure what will reach there. I took Evamor water Ph 8.8 for my thoat in general and I felt that it was soothing. According to the book of Dr Koufman alkaline liquids deactivate some of the pepsin that causes problems in the throat and esophagus. Supposedly DGL licorice has a slight anesthetic effect on the throat but I did not feel that it was significant. My guess is that your larynx will heal slowly with the absence of excess acid, and also sleeping on a wedge in bed is very important for mechanical reasons. For my esophagitis I felt that eating reasonable portions of food was important, no more than 3 cups/meal so the stomach is never too full.

Like you I stayed on the strict inductive diet (nothing below ph level 5) for a few months. I was incredibly strict with it, eating only home-made food, as I felt that every time I would not follow it, it would hurt for a few days and delay my recovery. Now that I feel good again I am still staying on the more relaxed diet (ph level 4 and above) for a few months. Even though I don't have pain in my stomach anymore or excess acid, I feel that my stomach needs to get stronger (if I eat something acidic, I feel some discomfort, also my stools, although much better than they used to, are a little softer than they should be, sorry for the dirty details).

Dr Koufman's diet is really a key in the recovery but I disagree with her on 4 things: aloe vera, manukka honey, milk products and salt:

I tried aloe vera fresh, and it has an unpleasant taste and texture (like raw egg white), also it has toxins, I did not feel that it helped. I tried the aloe vera lily in the valley but its Ph level is around 3.8-4 and it felt acidic and/or astringent. Maybe it is ok in the more relaxed part of the diet, but honestly I tried aloe vera many times for many things and I never felt that it had much effect.

Manukka honey (ph 4) is too acidic for the induction diet and I suspect the essential oil tea tree that is in it is irritating for the stomach. I am sure it has a good reputation for a reason but I don't think it is the right thing for gastritis or irritated stomach.

Milk, even though very alkaline, makes the stomach produce more acid. I am not sure if it is because of its high content of calcium carbonate (which is why tums gives relief from acid burn for 45 minutes then make things worse) or for some other reasons (I asked a Doctor who gave me a complicated reason for this having to do with babies and the pancreas but I forgot the details) but the fact is there. I got some great improvement when I stopped it. Now, since I am not on the inductive diet anymore, I take from time to time almond milk, I feel that is is not ideal (maybe because of the added calcium carbonate) but it is not too bad either. I used to not tolerate it at all (same for soy milk).

Finally salt, Dr Koufman does not say anything about salt but it is scientifically proven that excess salt is irritating for the stomach and can even cause gastritis. I used to eat a lot of salt (I have low blood pressure) but when I reduced it, it felt less pain after eating.

Providing your not taking medication to reduce acid the enzymes with betaine hcl work almost immediately. It's not like you have to wait weeks to see some results. The other point is it's far less restrictive on what you can eat. 

Daniela,

Why no probiotics? Even dairy free probiotics? I am taking Culturelle and feel bad again digestion-wise. I have been on and off probiotics for years. I feel better off of them. 

I just started enzymes a couple weeks ago and the bloating and gas on them was bad. It's beginning to ease up now. I read that if that happens, you have a lot of undigested protein and so bloating will occur when enzymes are introduced. My reflux seems to be getting bad again lately. I was on a nice little upswing for a few months. Any advice is appreciated. 

I am not sure what to think of probiotics either. I know all the theory about the bacteria in our guts. I actually read some recent articles showing when there is inflammation in the esophagus, the bacteria in the esophagus are different than when the esophagus is healthy. So sometimes I take probiotics, sometimes not and I really don't feel a difference with or without it.

I had a very bad week last week. I was feeling well before, I thought I was cured, than I got invited to a dinner party when I ate dishes with garlic, acidic fruits, milk, fried stuff. I got so sick afterward. I guess it was too early to get out of my diet. I felt so sick for a week. I tried mastic gum to get better as I felt I had not given it a fair try before and I read that it has some impact on the bacterial flora in our stomach. But it made me feel so much worse: stomach cramps, worst reflux ever at night. I still took it for 4 days as many people say it takes 4 days to work, but I just got worse and worse. Now I have been back on my old regimen and I am starting to feel good again. I dream of the day, if it ever happen, when I will be able to eat normally without getting sick. Anyway for now I guess I have to accept that I must listen to my body and eat only what feels good for a few months.

 

Small meals really help any stomach issue. The only thing I can eat alot of and not have any problem is ice cream.  I stick to "coating" foods.  Soup makes my stomach explode all night! And forget vegetables, too hard on stomach.

Ines. The first time my stomach got bad was right after eating some garlic. The next time it suddenly got much worse was right after eating three biotic capsules. Garlic can affect the flora by removing a lot of the bad, it also has sulphur which some are allergic to. Very similar to you where I felt better and then suddenly got worse again.

Sometimes we develop allergies bcause of the other problems.