Acid Reflux (GERD)

[ant]

Not all Doctors. Some are wonderful and caring and you would be one of those, like Dr. Polly forinstance.

Now, when will Big Parma find a way of turning a derivative of Apple Cider Vinegar into a prescribed drug with a expensively research patent approved by the FDA and only avaiable with a Doctor's prescription?

Love from cynical old Ant (actually I am a hopeful Ant, but need to see the world as it is to try and survive)

[Stanz]

You would have never been one of "those" kind of doctors.

[tex]

Maybe. Look at what happens to "good" people when they become politicians, though, for example.

Tex

[Issy]

Hi Connie and Tex,
Thank you so much for putting me onto Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV) for treating acid reflux (GERD).

Since my last post I followed your advice and found a lot about using Apple Cider Vinegar with respect to GERD (on the internet) and apparently it has helped a lot of people when their prescription meds didn't.

A little update about my acid reflux:

This past Friday I took a PPI (Prevacid24) 3 anti-spasm pills and a Zantac. On Saturday morning I didn't have any pain so I decided to forgo the GERD meds and drank 2 Teaspoons of Apple Cider Vinegar (Heinz) mixed with 8oz of warm water and 2 Teaspoons of Honey. I wanted to see if it would have any negative impact.
I immediately felt very full and had some burbing....but that was all and it didn't last too long.

I didn't have any pain all day. However I am not sure if that is because of the AVC drink or because I took so much meds on Friday.

On Saturday evening I took another drink in the evening even though I wasn't experiencing any pain.
This time I mixed only 1 teaspoon of ACV and 1 teaspoon of honey with 8oz of warm water.

On Sunday morning and at noon I did the same as Saturday evening one teaspoon of ACV.
On Sunday afternoon I purchased Braggs Apple Cider Vinegar....with the "mother" and in the evening before my dinner I took 8oz of warm water with the Bragg's ACV and honey. However as this tasted much milder than the Heinz filtered ACV......I decided to add another teaspoon.

Shortly after dinner I began to experience some chest pain......burning.
I took a Zantac150 and this helped.

When I awoke this morning I still had some mild burning but decided not to take the PPI or Zantac.
Since I wanted to give the ACV more time to work, I took the Bragg's ACV (1tsp) with 1tsp of honey and 8oz of warm water. In about 15 mins the pain was gone!

This afternoon the pain began to return...so I took my second AVC drink and again it went away.

At this time it is just slightly uncomfortable, but no horrible spasms in my upper abdomen, chest and back.
I am going to take one more drink shortly.

One nice thing I have noticed already is that after drinking the Bragg's AVC I feel very calm and relaxed. One study suggests that it may actually help to stabalize blood glucose levels and that is a big bonus for me since I have diabetes....which I manage with diet and exercise alone.

Although I cannot say if ACV will help my acid reflux in the long run, I definitely intend to keep taking it for awhile to see if it helps with my GERD and my blood glucose.

For anyone who has GERD and would like to try drinking ACV I highly suggest the Bragg's unfiltered organic AVC (with the mother). It is much milder than the regular apple cider vinegar you can get at any grocery store. I bought it at a Health Food Store. It is very inexpensive. Please mix a little honey in it to make it easier to drink as well as for nutritional benefits.
Do not take any ACV alone as it may burn your throat. White doesn't substitute for yellow and the unfiltered raw is much more nutritional and milder. And start with a low dosage and build up.

For further reading on what others have to say about drinking ACV for acid reflux please click the link below

http://www.earthclinic.com/CURES/acid_r ... egar2.html

Issy

[tex]

Issy,

That sounds very promising - I hope it continues to work for you.



Tex

[Stanz]

So glad to hear this, Issy, think of the money you'll save.

My daughter that I spoke of upthread is here now visiting with my new grandson so we talked about this the other day. She only used the ACV for about 6 months, at which time she didn't seem to be having any more problems. She rarely has to use the ACV now, so I don't know if this course of action somehow "corrected" the alkaline/acid imbalance semi-permanently or what. With a 3 month old, you'd imagine that sometime in the last year she'd have had problems as she had always related her symptoms to stress.

Onward & upward.

[Issy]

Well today was a horrible day, for "Me & My GERD."

I had to leave work early and come home to deal with a severe attack of acid reflux. I decided the best thing for me would be to take Zantac and Mylanta and an anti spasm medication. Tomorrow morning I am going to go back on the Prevacid24.

In my earlier post I mentioned that I was trying the ACV and actually thought it may be helping, but my attack today was so severe the apple cider vinegar gave me no relief at all.

I just discovered that the prescription medication Sanctura that I have been taking for a couple of years could be causing my problem. However, I think I am genetically inclined for having GERD because my father suffered with GERD as well. Also, I know that certain foods and beverages will bring on heartburn for me. So for now I am going to stop Sanctura and stay on the PPI until my chest is no longer "on fire".

Issy

[Stanz]

Sorry to hear this, Issy, not sure what else to say. I hope you feel better tomorrow and in following days. I still wouldn't give up on ACV as a possible solution at this point, but obviously do not share your gut.

[Syl]

Hi all, regarding GERD, here is my experience with it. Had it in my 20's when I was pregnant. Didn't have it after that until my 40's. What sets it off for me is: chocolate, tomato sauce in a hot dish, chili, pizza, bananas, etc., overeating in general (too full) and bread of any kind, plus soda pop, greasy, fatty food, etc. I was gluten free for about six years, ran into a D flare and had colonoscopy by a Mayo doctor plus blood tests for Celiac. He told me the blood test did not indicate Celiac, so I could go off the self-imposed gluten-free diet...in fact he said on your way home, pick up a pizza! Start to live! I actually believed him and started eating bread and bread related products. Heartburn started with a vengence! It was soooo bad I was desperate. How can anything hurt that bad and not really do harm? Still, he said gluten was not the problem. Then the colonoscopy....he phoned me the next day very excited and told me I had LC, and to start using Pepto-Bismol and Imodium. The heartburn responded to prescription strength Pepcid, but it was an ongoing struggle. Finally, I just went back to gluten-free eating, and the problem went away. Then, for a number of years I have been eating anything and everything and for the past couple years, fighting heartburn. In January, a very bad flare of LC with lots of D, and in addition to the heartburn....life was bad. So, I decided once again, to go gluten free. Within less than two days, the heartburn completely was gone. I couldn't believe how good I felt in the absence of the constant burn. I have controlled the D with diet and an occasional Imodium. No more D. Everything has normalized for me now, but I remain gluten-free.

[Issy]

Connie and Syl,

At this time I am off the ACV, but still am dealing with acid reflux. Back to treating it with a PPI somedays and Zantac or Tums on other days. If I can ever get this acid reflux problem under control, I may try to take ACV again....for the health benefits.

When I was diagnosed with LC in 2007 (colonoscopy) my GI told me it was not necessary to go GF (I also had a endoscopy at that time for gluten sensitivity). So until recently I had not stopped eating gluten. But while I have cut back quite a bit, I am still not GF entirely.

I have even noticed that when I eat white bread, which I try not to do too often.....my stools seem to be much better.
However, I gave up whole wheat bread several years ago, because I could see a direct correlation between eating whole wheat and diarrhea.

I can't relate eating white bread (or anything with gluten) to heartburn. However, if I ate pizza I would probably have heartburn because of the tomato sauce.....which is too acidic for me.

Thanks so much for your replies.

Issy

[GLJ]

Hello all, I was DX with hiatal hernia. I don't experience burning in my chest though. I experience terrible burning in my stomach and upper stomach. I am on prilosec which doesn't help. Would the vinegar test work for me to?

GLJ

[tex]

It's certainly worth a try. The reality is, almost no one produces too much stomach acid, (the stomach is designed to handle extreme acidity, and it works best that way), but if a patient complains of your symptoms, most doctors immediately prescribe an antacid, or a PPI. They should test the patients stomach acidity, first, but they prefer to write a prescription instead, since it's so much easier, and faster, and it makes both them and the patient, feel as though they are doing something.

Unfortunately, the drug sometimes makes the patient feel better at first, but it almost never resolves the issue, in the long term, as you have noticed. Your symptoms may be due to some of the other drugs that you are taking, however, and their use might need to be curtailed, also, since apple cider vinegar can't be expected to overcome the effects of all sorts of powerful drugs. It's certainly possible that it might be sufficient, though, if you just eliminate the PPI. If that doesn't relieve your symptoms, then you would need to consider eliminating, or cutting back on some of the other drugs.

The gastritis is probably connected with your MC, (it's due to inflammation caused by increased lymphocytic infiltration in the mucosa of your stomach, much like LC is due to inflammation caused by increased lymphocytic infiltration in the mucosa of your colon), and when you get your MC symptoms under control, the gastritis should resolve, also. There's no point in asking your GI doc if there's any connection with MC, though, because GI docs mistakenly believe that MC can only affect the colon. In reality, it can affect the entire GI tract, similar to Crohn's disease.

Tex