Severe heartburn and acid reflux

Hi itsymom -

So sorry you are dealing with this - sounds scary and miserable.

I have a hunch about something - but would you mind sharing a little more - what are your diagnoses? What are you treating for? What other meds and herbs are you taking? How long have you been treating? Do you have any history of GI issues?

Thanks!

-p

I used to always pride myself on my cast iron stomach. I could eat anything. Not since lyme. And I learned what is heartburn and acid reflux - good grief!

Sometimes things (no rhyme or reason or consistency) some foods just either don't mix together any more or I developed tummy stress from them.

Here is my go to. I do 2 tablespoons of apple cider daily. Sometimes in water and chugged, sometimes on a salad with olive oil and I drink the dressing that is left over in the bowl with a spoon and sometimes I just gulp the 2 tablespoons because I have to get it down.

And, if it is uncomfortable at the present time, I put a tablespoon of baking soda in a glass of water and chug that. Instant huge burp and relief. The baking soda also regulates the ph in my tummy.

Easy and inexpensive. But.... not tasty by any means. The rewards win out over the taste.

Laura, probably your sis will really dislike the taste.

PeteZa, I also prided myself on having an iron stomach until recently!

I do sip on baking soda/water when I start feeling the burn in my chest. Doesn't seem to help much. The pain ONLY goes away after vomiting.

Also, I do not have symptoms after a meal. It is always in the morning, after 7-8 hours of having digested my last meal and Abx.

Chapelle, I do take food and water with the Doxy.
I will try the Alkaseltzer gold, thanks for the tip!

I bought the alka seltzer gold for a detox - when I'm herxing.

But, I ended up using it every once in a while - when I take the minocycline. It seems like it's crawling back up my throat...and also I develop phlegm from it.

The Alka really worked for me.

Hi itsymom -

Lots of good info here. Sorry I delayed my response - I haven't checked the forum for a couple of days.

I think you're right to suspect a GI issue rather than a heart issue. But it's great that you got checked out - one less thing to wonder about.

The abx could be impacting lyme & co infection in your gut, causing the digestive functions to, well, malfunction. Also, have you been checked for bartonella? Bartonella can sometimes cause GI distress and a condition known as "palsy of the gut" which for me, includes acid reflux and low acid. This could be a straightforward malfunction or a complex one that actually causes a lack of digestive acids, which creates many of the same symptoms as acid reflux, believe it or not. LauraJK posted what I was going to post:

"...acid reflux and heart burn is most likely due to low stomach acid rather than too much. I have this same problem and take care of it with Betaine/HCl before meals. For my sister, we seem to be managing things by giving her digestive enzymes that contain Betaine/HCl and pepsin (Now brand Super Enzymes) and black seed oil pills before meals."

You also might have just disrupted the gut flora to the point that you're creating a very acidic environment and the loss of good bacteria has caused yeast/fungal overgrowth. Do you have any other symptoms of y/f overgrowth? If so, let me know and I can make some good suggestions.

You can try anti-acids but if they don't work, I'd investigate doing a digestive acid "challenge" by getting some HCL (hydrochloric acid) capsules, with pepsin is even better, and take one per meal. Increase to two per meal, the next day, and so on until you start feeling acid reflux symptoms. If you feel them right away, you'll know low acid is not your issue. Whatever number of capsules you work up to once you "feel the burn", the following day you'll ramp down again, one capsule per meal at a time -- just exactly backwards. This helps jumpstart the communication between your pancreas and your stomach to get the acid production back in balance.

If the anti-acids or the HCL don't work, (I'd try the D-limonene too!) then it's more likely that you're stirring up the infection in your gut with the abx, causing the erratic acid production. If this is the case, you really need to work through treating the infection in order to get past it but hopefully you can find a remedy for the symptoms, too. Until you figure out how to address the issue, I would be careful with acid-trigger foods and always take your abx WITH foods.

Another question - what are you doing to detox? It could be possible that the lyme you're killing in your GI is causing a herx because the dead debris is not getting flushed out of your system. Are you on a binder?

Just a few thoughts - let us know how you're doing.

-p