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OTC acid reflux prevention

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Comments

  • DakiniDakini Veteran

    @federica said:
    Cystitis is an acute imbalance of alkaline in the urine.
    I wouldn't wish a severe attack on my worst enemy.
    I tried drinking water and lemon juice once, to counteract the amount of alkaline in my urine, but it only made it feel worse. My doctor explained that it was because my system had converted the lemon's acidity to an alkaline. He advised me to drink alka seltzer, and as much barley water as I could stand.
    I did. After 2 days, the attack was gone.
    Making nettle tea, dandelion tea, or goosegrass (cleavers) tea also helps enormously, particularly the last...

    That's a much more efficient way of resolving it than they do here in the States. I resolved a case of it by going off fruit (especially citrus) and sugar for a month.

  • DakiniDakini Veteran

    @silver said:
    My limited study of gluten leads to the 'news' (for me) that modern wheat is NOT the same as wheat way back when and the hybridization many times over is what has caused modern societies to suffer from eating this modern wheat not to mention that it is now GMO.

    I guess that explains why some naturopaths tell patients to eat bread made of kamut or spelt. They're not hybridized forms. But they still have gluten, so knowledgeable MD's tell patients--no wheat-based breads at all.

    silver
  • ZenniZenni Veteran

    @Jeffery - I'm not sure if you can buy "Omeprazole" OTC in your country.
    I took it when I had acid reflux.

    Importantly, prevention is better than cure....

    I hope my copy and paste works...

    http://www.everydayhealth.com/gerd/preventing.aspx

    Jeffrey
  • ZenniZenni Veteran

    Yeah! The link came up in red

  • silversilver In the beginning there was nothing, and then it exploded. USA, Left coast. Veteran

    That was a good article, @Zenni, but it didn't tell about omazeprole - which is just the drug name for your typical rx or otc pills to cut down the stomach acid.

    http://www.medicinenet.com/omeprazole_delayed_release_tablet-oral/article.htm

  • ZenniZenni Veteran

    @silver - thanks for the add-on.

    Antacid relieves the discomfort quicker.
    Omeprazole (delayed release) though a little slower, last longer.

    I took a course of it. During which, I change my habits (the link).
    No more reflux B)

    @Jeffery - hope you get well soon <3

    silverJeffrey
  • ZenniZenni Veteran

    P.s. Brand name is Omesec

  • I can't describe the difference my PPI has made to my day. I was having chest pains every day due to GORD and some days I'd be on my knees with the pain but I can't remember the last time this happened since starting on Esomeprazole.

    On top of that there isn't a week that goes by that I don't have to tell a patient that they have Barrett's Oesophagus, scarring from persistent reflux that leaves them prone to precancerous changes.

  • JeffreyJeffrey Veteran

    What is PPI @FairyFeller?

  • karastikarasti Breathing Minnesota Moderator

    Here is what I figure, with regards to any health issue. Any natural method is worth trying as long as any side effects don't contradict with other meds and such. It happens, but isn't common. I'd rather try any of those before medicines with so many adverse side effects.

    I was told 6 years ago I'd have to have a growing ovarian cyst removed. I had just had a c-section 6 months before and did not want more surgery. Looking around online, I found various natural remedies. I tried many. The logic didn't always make sense to me, but I also know our medical and science fields understand only a small portion of how the body's chemical and hormone balance works. Nevermind all the individual variances. It turned out that after taking a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar a day (in about a quart of warm water with honey) 4 weeks later, the cyst had shrunk so much I didn't need surgery...despite the cyst having been growing for 6 years. Today, it is gone. So for me, it was worth it.

    I think sometimes we give science and medicine more credit that it deserves as far as our health and bodies go. It has a place, for sure. And both have done some wonderful things for people who previously would have died from things we consider easily treatable now. But there is more that we don't know than we do, and our western systems and minds do a pretty horrible job with considering natural items to be valid treatments. And worse, we deal horribly with understanding root causes rather than just treating symptoms. So that is always what I look to myself and 90% of the time finding ideas to treat root causes doesn't jive with known science/medicine. I'm ok with that. Other than pregnancies, I have been to the doctor twice in the past 10 years. Once for strep throat and once for a knee injury that required surgery. Knowing my body and figuring out the triggers for things has been far more valuable than just trusting medicine to figure me out.

    I understand, @Jeffrey, why you don't trust the chemistry portion of it. But enough people have said it works that it seems worth trying. If it doesn't work, then no harm done though I'd recommend diluting any vinegar products if you have GERD because it can be hard on the throat. Actually one of my favorite things to do is use my fruit infusing water bottle, put a tablespoon of ACV (which I only do a couple times a week anymore, when I feel a need) with apple slices, honey and a cinnamon stick. Very good! The best remedy for you is going to be that which helps to treat the root cause. The best way for you to figure out what that is is to track everything for a week. Keep a notebook close by and write down the date, time, what you ate/drank and what time any reflux symptoms presented. Then after a few days, or a week, look for patterns.

    silver
  • karastikarasti Breathing Minnesota Moderator

    Forgot to say that most people who use vinegar aren't necessarily doing it for the benefit of the acid as they do with lemon juice and other things...but they specifically choose unflitered vinegar because it has bacteria present that is good for the gut. Increasingly, gut bacteria diversity and health has been found to be of utmost importance in many areas of our health. Fermented foods help to increase the healthy gut bacteria.

  • JeffreyJeffrey Veteran
    edited May 2015

    thanks @karasti. I would hope to think that 'general experience' (as I described once in the thread) is worth something. A counter punch to that is that some things people have done traditionally are crazy such as drilling holes in peoples skull to release spirits. That is an extreme example but I see a lot of people deviate from science who might be hurting themselves.

    Can't think of examples to flesh what I am saying. But I guess 'the middle path'..

  • karastikarasti Breathing Minnesota Moderator

    Absolutely. Not everything ever tried is valid as a treatment. I certainly am not a fan of blood letting :lol: It's just one of those things we have to judge the best we can with what information we have. If you don't think it's right for you, then by all means don't try it. But at the same time, if you think it could help, don't let only a lack of scientific explanation keep you from it, either. Good luck to you, it can be a difficult thing to deal with for sure.

  • @Jeffrey said:
    What is PPI FairyFeller?

    Protein Pump Inhibitor, in my case Esomeprazole but there are other (cheaper and as effective) on the market. As with all meds there are side effects and potential risks but they worked for me while I put some lifestyle choices into place and lost 20% of my body weight. I am due for a consultant review and might ask for a trial without though.

    Jeffreysilver
  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator

    @karasti, @Jeffrey, my mother eliminated 37 gallstones by drinking fresh, non-concentrated apple juice for 7 days with normal meals (1 litre/day) and on the 7th day, eating nothing and drinking only the apple juice.

    At 9.00pm, she drank a cup of mild olive oil mixed with an equal quantity of lemon juice, went straight to bed and lay on her left side, knees drawn to her chest.
    She fell asleep.
    Woke up two hours later, desperate for the loo, but sat instead on her bidet, because something felt.... unusual.... and passed the gallstones thus eliminating (as karasti did) the operation her doctor would have subjected her to, to remove her gallbladder.
    Here we are, several years later, and she drinks ACV in water, three times a day.

    She has never had a recurrence of gallstones.

  • JeffreyJeffrey Veteran

    wow that is amazing and interesting. sounds like quite an ordeal. i like the taste of olive oil just testing if rancid but haven't ever drank nearly a cup. with any luck she also likes olive oil. What is ACV water?

  • silversilver In the beginning there was nothing, and then it exploded. USA, Left coast. Veteran

    Amazing story about your mom, @Federica! I'd love to give that method a try...just where to find truly fresh apple juice - I;'ll have to look. I've seen the typical gallstone treatment and could never see myself going through all that rigmarole. Thanks for sharing. Did she make her own juice?

  • @Jeffrey said:
    wow that is amazing and interesting. sounds like quite an ordeal. i like the taste of olive oil just testing if rancid but haven't ever drank nearly a cup. with any luck she also likes olive oil. What is ACV water?

    Apple Cider Vinegar at a guess?

  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator

    @Jeffrey sorry... this thread is a bit all over the place with acronyms! Apple Cider Vinegar.
    Try obtaining organic.

    @karasti, again, she bought fresh organic apple juice in either bottles or cartons, to drink undiluted.

  • karastikarasti Breathing Minnesota Moderator

    ? I think Jeffery was asking about the apple juice, not me :)
    I have read about the same process, basically, that your mom used, with good results for almost everyone who tried it.
    It quite amazes me the things people in "old times" managed to figure would work to eliminate problems that today we operate for. Or, prescribe drugs with insane side effects. The idea that "you don't need X organ" is crazy to me! Sure, yes, technically we can live without a spleen or a gallbladder. But they are obviously there for a reason and we shouldn't be removing them nearly so often as we do.

  • WalkerWalker Veteran Veteran

    I had my gallbladder taken out about 15 years ago. I had gallstones, and they were wreaking havoc on my colon. I had just been diagnosed with ulcerative colitis about a year before. I think I was in hospital about 5 times during those two years. :(

  • I can't believe I haven't taken my own advice though. I hand out advice to my patients all the time about Esomeprazole, Omeprazole etc. and when I started on it I told myself it would only be a temporary thing until I made the lifestyle choices to help with the GORD.

    14 months on and 35 pounds in weight gone I'm still taking it and it's only through typing on here that I've thought some of my other issues could be caused by them but apparently that's me, always think of everybody else before I consider my own needs.

    Thank you @Jeffrey for starting the thread, it's helped me answer a question about my own health my body has been trying to ask that I wasn't listening to.

  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator

    @karasti you asked me if my mom made her own juice....? hence my response... (I wish we could number posts, it would make identifying comments so much easier!!)

  • silversilver In the beginning there was nothing, and then it exploded. USA, Left coast. Veteran

    I was the one who asked if your mom made her own juice. ;)

  • karastikarasti Breathing Minnesota Moderator

    Nope, lol, wasn't me, I hadn't posted after you shared your mom's story :) In any case, good information!

  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator

    I need some sleep!! Sorry guys, I'm off.

    be good! ;)

  • JeffreyJeffrey Veteran

    good night!

  • ZenBadgerZenBadger Derbyshire, UK Veteran

    I lived with gastric reflux on and off for 30 years until I used a detailed food diary to sort it out. In my case the remedy turned out to be very very simple. I eat a normal breakfast, a generous lunch and then early evening (before 6pm if possible) I have a light dinner of vegetable soup and a small amount of bread (50-75g). Strangely enough the thing that led me to this diet was a recent retreat in a Buddhist community where eating after lunch was prohibited, I took a full bottle of gaviscon with me and it was still unopened a fortnight later. Working in an office had got me into bad habits, no breakfast, sandwich lunch and then feasting on a full dinner just a couple of hours before bed. Its no wonder my digestion was suffering and my weight piling on again. Since going onto a diet loaded toward breakfast rather than dinner I have lost a bit of weight, reduced my joint pains, stopped my gastric reflux altogether and increased my sleeping. Might be worth a try as it costs nothing to do. Vegetable soup is cheap to make in lots of varieties and you can cook it in batches and then freeze it for convenience.

  • silversilver In the beginning there was nothing, and then it exploded. USA, Left coast. Veteran

    My own very recent experiences have seemed to shed some light on MY suffering from this horrid situation -- Late yesterday for the first time in a week or two, I had bad acid reflux and then again this morning after I took my medications. I took them on an empty stomach which is what I usually do so I decided to eat a couple spoons full of cold rice with a dash of milk and cinnamon. I also took a Tbsp. of colloidal silver, as I remembered it seemed to help stomach problems before - ones that I didn't know if they were necessarily acid reflux or what. It seems that this combination did help so I don't know which or both did the trick. I guess giving the stomach something to 'chew' on is a temporary fix. I don't want to get started taking the omazera-whatever.

    Hey, I've found a good reason to be MINDful! I've lived my life in a very distracted manner for so long now...Oh, also I meant to say that nerves can do it to you, and adds to the acid reflux problem.

  • vinlynvinlyn Colorado...for now Veteran

    What I've learned about my acid reflux is that it's almost totally unpredictable. The one thing for sure, if I drink milk before my main meal, I'm in trouble. After my main meal, no problem.

    Everything else is unpredictable because it isn't any one food, it seems to be different combinations, which makes it difficult to figure out.

    Spicy doesn't bother me a bit. Pepperoni pizza no problem 19 times out of 20. Then it might be a problem that one time, so I think it's when other things in my stomach combine that the problem occurs.

  • silversilver In the beginning there was nothing, and then it exploded. USA, Left coast. Veteran

    I tend to agree, @vinlyn. I don't have problem with spicy foods, either. I tend to suspect the gluten in standard breads and pizza, etc., because I bought gluten free pasta and didn't have a problem at all with it, unlike regular pasta. I think the main thing for me is nerves, and I think many people play it down so they miss that probable cause.

  • gracklegrackle Veteran

    @silver. I had quite a struggle with GERD. The usual medications didn't work well and one of them made me feel as though I'd received a good blow to the solar plexus. After reviewing the literature I came upon Manuka honey. A year after beginning with the honey everything cleared up. Now it's 10 yrs later with no flare ups.

    Upsetting thoughts and emotions can certainly affect our digestive cycle. You can really feel that acid churning.

  • silversilver In the beginning there was nothing, and then it exploded. USA, Left coast. Veteran

    Hey @grackle, thanks for the feedback. I bought Manuka honey a while back, but since I don't normally use it much, it's just sitting around. How much do you take and how often? Just to get an idea...

  • gracklegrackle Veteran

    @silver. In the beginning 1tbs three times a day. 30 minutes before a meal I would put a tbs on a cracker and slowly consume it. Presently generally 1tbs once a day. There are also days where I don't use it at all. But it made quite a difference in quality of life.

    From my experience its best to go with the honey having a umf of 15 or using the newer scale an mgo of 550.

  • silversilver In the beginning there was nothing, and then it exploded. USA, Left coast. Veteran

    I spent a pretty penny on my first jar and I got some on sale the next. (I found it on line at Vitacost.com -- they're a great place to get vitamins, supplements, etc.) I'll get me some crackers then and try that.

  • DaozenDaozen Veteran

    In my personal experience of reflux (which I was diagnosed with several years ago after some quite severe episodes led to a hospital visit and follow-up tests), the most signifcant factors for me are:

    1. Stress
    2. Diet

    If I manage stress (hello meditation!) and avoid too many spicy/heavy foods ... then I will go months without any episodes, and those that occur are often quite mild, and are usually because I've eaten something I probably shouldn't have.

    In regards to mediation, I was prescribed Pariet, and still have a few in the medicine cabinet. When I first had reflux I took them regularly, but as I have learned to manage my symptoms, I take them very very rarely, to the point where they will probably expire before I use them all. Pariet is a Protein Pump Inhibitor, which work differently to antacids, in that instead of "fighting" the acid, they actually reduce the amount produced. In my experience they work brilliantly if you are having severe episodes.

    Namaste and peaceful digestion to all

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