My GERD History..Please Help ,(

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stevenharper1

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Hi,

I am new to the forum and hope to receive help and help others...

My personal history began when I had a case of vomiting/food poisoning, and took an antibiotic to get better. A few days after the antibiotic I felt GERD at night, then more frequently, and was eventually diagnosed and started with a PPI.

I am the type of person that hates to be sick and hates to be on medication long-term. This was my first health problem, and it happened three years ago when I was 24.

I was in Central America at the time and went on Nexium for 1.5 years. I had endoscopies done there and in Canada, which showed that my esophagus was in good health. In Central America they thought I had a hiatal hernia, but in Canada they said I did not, or if I did it is too small to even matter.

Regardless I would get heartburn ALL day regardless of what I ate. After 1.5 years I was sick of being on Nexium and began saw a Chinese Herbalist in Canada. She gave me a concoction of herbs to take as a tea twice daily, which I did. After 2 months I had to stop due to liver problems, supposedly caused by the herbs but not confirmed. After I stopped the herbs my liver got better, AND my heartburn was gone. I would get heartburn if I slept flat at night, but as long as I had my bed up I would be FINE, eating whatever I wanted.

Now recently I had to take a strong antibiotic for a prostate infection and it brought my GERD ALL back. I was so depressed, but thought maybe after the antibiotic I would be fine. I wasn't, and have continued with GERD. I was on Ranitidine, then two days with Omeprazole, then was fine for 2 weeks!!! This is amazing for me, because if I am not on pills I have HORRIBLE heartburn ALL DAY, so to be fine for 2 weeks without a PPI or Ranitidine was AMAZING. I thought I was better again, as when I took the chinese herbs, but alas, a few days ago my GERD returned.

Mine is so annoying because it is the same regardless what I eat. I had finally beaten it with the chinese herbs, but a new antibiotic brought it back! Now I can't take the chinese herbs again because the first time it looks like they had adverse effects on my liver.

I am 27 and recently married and TERRIFIED of long term side effects, i.e. barrets, as well as being on PPI's my entire life. Sometimes I feel so depressed and I just can't put up with it. I want to be better again.

Has anyone else had symptoms like this? As in, GERD is gone, then comes on with an antibiotic, then is permanent, then with 2 days of Omeprazole is gone for 2 weeks, then comes back? It is constant, regardless of what I eat, and I don't know what to do. I am TERRIFIED of dying from this long term.

Any help would be so appreciated. I am generally a strong willed, capable determined guy but with this sickness I have found my weak spot, and I have a hard time being optimistic.

PS. I have had endoscopies and motility tests done more than once, both confirm GERD. 24 hour PH tests have shown not a huge amount of acid, but I get worse symptoms than ANYONE I have ever heard of. I know of someone who got Barrets with very few GERD symptoms, so with my constant reflux pain I am so afraid of getting Barrets young, and dying of esophageal cancer.
 
Hey! Another alkaline diet advocate! Awesome. I'm actually a newbie myself.

I agree with you that figuring out the right diet is hard. I struggled with it for 15 years before a doctor gave me those food groupings. I've noticed that the food groupings that I was provided with conflict with what is sometimes said here and with what I find on the Internet.

Hopefully everyone here will figure out a diet that works for them as I don't think PPIs and other medication are a healthy solution long-term.
 
Steveharper...Onions are on the no no list for Gerd.....If I eat one even accidently, cooked or raw, I get bad Gerd...Maybe cut them out for a while to test it out.
 
Are you sure it's the onion that caused the Gerd? I've actually had good results with onion. I used it once to stop an acid reflux reaction that I was having after eating some pork. Every once in a while, for a semi-sweet snack, I will cut up one of those big, bell-shaped sweet onions and cook it in a frying pan. I don't use any oil or anything else during the cooking. I've done this several times and eaten the onion with no problems -- other than no one wants to come near me. :)

However, there's no reason for someone who is just starting an alkaline diet to start with something controversial like onion when there are so many other choices. I only added onion to my diet once I became comfortable that I could stop any acid reflux reaction with watermelon, sweet potatoes, and/or calcium pills.
 
Steve,

I found a web site that said oatmeal is highly acid. So it looks like you've got three potentially high acid fooRAB in your regular diet -- soy milk, multigrain cereal, and oatmeal. The only thing you regularly eat with a decent amount of alkaline to counter that is raspberries.

You appear to be in a similar situation as I was a few months ago. I thought I was eating healthy in regarRAB to fats, carbs, vitamins and minerals. However, I was mostly eating acid fooRAB and this was causing my acid reflux. When I balanced out the acid and alkaline in my diet, my acid reflux went away.
 
If your acidic it can take a couple of weeks to feel better. It is a huge lifestyle change. Red meat, pork are huge no no's....lean turkey and chicken are better choices. Give up any white rice, pasta, bread. The best bread is ezekiel sprouted grain bread. Keep us posted if you try it and how your doing. If it gets hard just remeraber this...even cancer cant survive in an alkaline environment because of the oxygen! So its really a win win for optimal health Good luck!
 
Although you say that the reflux occurs regardless of what you eat, you might want to check out the food groupings in this thread I posted the other day:

http://www.healtrabroadoarRAB.com/boarRAB/showthread.php?t=763999

I too thought that diet had nothing to do with my reflux. However, I never would have suspected that chicken, carrots, tomotoes, most nuts, and peas are acidic. My acid reflux has been virtually eliminated now that I am eating an alkaline diet in accordance with the chart.

If you find that you are eating mostly acid fooRAB, you might want to try eating more alkaline fooRAB and less acid fooRAB to see if that helps.
 
Ok, thank you, and I will.

Do you still get acid reflux and heartburn frequently? Not to bring up bad news...but I am just curious - are you afraid of barrets or any other long-term problems? I have never gotten a straight answer from a dr. of whether Barret's takes a couple years or a couple decades to develop...they always say "it depenRAB". That is why when I get heartburn for a week or two straight I feel like I am on my way to Barrets very soon...

My last endoscopy was 9 months ago, and the Dr. said my esophagus was fine. But I am always having heartburn, and it must have an effect...
 
@ acidbegone,,,true, very true! Im a huge believer in being alkaline... I eat mostly alkaline but yesterday with lunch I had a pickle and some of my daughters sunkist fruit snacks, and several hours later, wham..horrific pain. Sometimes its hard to pinpoint with the diet because what you eat even days before can build up, making you acidic and causing Gerd...thats the frustrating part. Good point to bring up to a newbie!
 
thank you very much. I will try this. Do you know how long I should try it before I should notice results? a week? a month? How long after you were on it did your acid reflux leave?
 
Ok, thank you.

The one surprising thing there is onions...usually they are recommended against since they supposedly cause heartburn...

I suffer heartburn but not acid reflux in the throat or anything like that. it is always by my breastbone on my left side, and rather constant. I actually ate a canteloupe today and it didn't change the heartburn at all...next time ill suck on it like you say, and try watermelon.

Thanks so muchh
 
Idont eat any meats save fish, so I generally eat healthy. Ill keep in mind the white bread/rice...I eat that sometimes, but prefer the multigrain more.

Good, I am happy I found this and can give it a shot. It gives me some hope.

I think I do well generally though. I a day I generally eat the same stuff, the following.

bananas
blueberries/raspberries
multigrain cereal
soy milk
yogurt
brown rice
fish (not every day)
vegetables (zuchini, lettuce, spinach, etc.)
oatmeal
lots of water
eggplant

no sauces with salad, etc., I try to eat really healthy. I just find it makes no difference.

any idea if raw onion or cooked onion is bad, or both are good?
 
The diet worked for me immediately. Right after I got the food groupings, but before I had a chance to buy any of the alkaline fooRAB, I had an acid reflux reaction. I couldn't swallow and the acid reflux just kept coming up my throat. I did however have some chewable calcium pills. I started trying to eat some of those pills. I was able to chew one of the pills up, tried to swallow it, and back up it came with the acid reflux. I tried another one. With each pill, the acid receded further down my throat and eventually I was able to get a chewed up calcium pill to stay down. I think it took somewhere between twenty minutes and an hour, but eventually the acid reflux went away entirely due to the calcium pills.

I subsequently experimented with sweet potatoes and watermelon and they both worked to stop an acid reflux reaction in its tracks. If your acid reflux reactions are so bad that you can't swallow, I recommend experimenting with some kind of melon. According to the food groupings, watermelon is the most alkaline melon. With melon, you can put it in your mouth and then just try to suck the juice down your throat. That's much easier than trying to eat some type of mostly solid food or a chewable calcium pill. Also, I've found that starting each meal with something alkaline is very helpful.

My doctor says that he has a sweet tooth and he eats 10 chewable calcium pills each night before bed to keep the acid reflux away. When I was first starting out with the alkaline diet, I think I ate something like 30 of those calcium pills one day. I didn't feel so hot and got diarrhea, but at least I didn't have acid reflux! :)

Although the diet may work for you right away, it will likely take some experimenting for you to find the fooRAB that you like and can eat and that provide the right balance between alkaline and acid. I rarely take calcium supplements anymore as I have now found (after a few months of experimenting) the right balance of fooRAB that works for me. However, its good to keep them on hand in case you have an acid reflux reaction.

For me, I eat a lot of melons and sweet potatoes. I love the sweet fruits and vegetables as I find they satisfy my sweet tooth and keep me away from acidic sugary sweets. I still eat meat, too. I love a good pork chop smothered in onions (as you can see from the food chart, onion is very alkaline and will neutralize the acid from the pork).

One more thing, I've found that when I eat too many alkaline fooRAB, I can get heartburn, but I won't get acid reflux.

Hopefully this will help you. Good luck!
 
I broke down your fooRAB above based on the food groupings. You don't have anything that is more than slightly alkaline other than raspberries and eggplant.

Here is what I usually eat in a day:
2-4 personal watermelons: most alkaline
2-4 sweet potatoes: most alkaline
1 cantaloupe: More alkaline
grilled half chicken: More acid
ground flaxseed: slightly alkaline
almonRAB (snack): Low alkaline
grilled onion: Most alkaline
1-2 pork chops (not every day, but 2-4x per week): More acid

If I eat a candy bar or some other type of sweet, then I will usually eat between 5-10 calcium pills to compensate. If I have acid reflux and don't feel like eating real food, I will take/eat several calcium pills.

I grill my onions and they are still alkaline as far as I can tell.

By the way, you don't need to suck the juice out the melons. I had to do that when I first started the alkaline diet because, when I had an acid reflux reaction, my throat would fill with acid and I couldn't swallow. If you don't have this problem, then just eat the melons normal.

If you can, switch to a verifiably alkaline diet in accordance with the food groupings for a couple of days and see how you feel. Note that I've never been on PPIs or any other type of acid-blocking medication, so I don't know if they would make it more difficult for an alkaline diet to work. It doesn't seem like they would, but they might.
 
Sometimes I get it, but not nearly as often as I used to and nowhere near as severe as it used to be. Plus, I always know the cause now.

For example, the other day, someone brought donuts to work and I decided to eat one. I knew it was going to give me acid reflux, but I was prepared. As soon as I felt the acid reflux starting, I ate 10 chewable calcium pills (5,000 mg of calcium or 5x the RDA). That stopped it in it's tracks.

Throughout the rest of the day, I ate my normal high-alkaline, low-acid diet. That night, I ate another 10 chewable calcium pills. I did have a slight film in my throat the next morning, but I think that was from my sinuses, not from acid reflux.

By the way, I've come to think that the RDA for calcium is way too low given the high-acid diet most folks eat. Most folks probably need something like 15,000 to 20,000 mg of calcium to counter their high-acid diets as opposed to just 1,000 mg.

Another thing, I've recently bought some of the calcium pills that you just swallow with water as I've grown tired of the chewables.



I had never heard of barrets until I read about it on this site a couple of days ago. But yeah, I was definitely worried about long-term consequences when I had no idea what was causing my acid reflux. I'm in my late 30's, so you will be way better off than me if you can beat this thing now in your late 20's.

From what I've read, Omega 3 fats and antioxidants are great cancer fighters. My understanding is that sardines and salmon have high amounts of Omega 3. Since you eat fish, you might want to add those to your diet if you haven't already. Flaxseed is another great source of Omega 3. I buy ground flaxseed from Whole fooRAB and eat that as a good source of Omega 3. The other day I ate like a 1/4 pound of flax seed in one sitting. I felt much better afterwarRAB. Ground flaxseed is great for corabating aches and pains.

Watermelon is an excellent source of antioxidants. Raspberries are too. It should be easy to find high-antioxidant food sources on an alkaline diet. It seems like high alkaline and high-antioxidant go hand-in-hand.

You should also do some research on the history of soy and grains. In the past, soy was typically only eaten by the poorest of the poor because it was cheap and all they could afford. It wasn't until sometime in the 20th century that it was marketed as a health food. As for grains, the archaeological record reveals that the bones of the earliest farmers exhibit dental caries and signs of malnutrition not found in earlier foraging populations.

The food pyramid that has cereal, rice, and pasta as the base was created by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Why is the USDA telling us what to eat? Why not the Department of Health?

I've been on a high-alkaline diet for a few months now and I'm starting to notice some great side benefits. I used to drink beer a lot, but I'm noticing that anymore I just no longer have much desire to drink alcohol. I still drink occassionally with frienRAB, but my alcohol consumption has dropped a lot. This wasn't something that I planned to happen or even wanted to happen it's just that the high-alkaline diet has just taken away my desire to drink.

I'm also eating sugary sweets much less often now. I used to love Hershey's dark chocolate, but my craving for that has been replaced with a craving for watermelon. Again, this is something that just kind of naturally happened.

An alkaline diet is also great for helping you to recover after a work out. If you are feeling sore after a workout, try chowing down on some watermelon. I've found that it can really help to take the soreness away.
 
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