Posted 7/23/2013 3:32 AM (GMT 0)
Hello,
I've been lurking on this board for a few years and have tried everything to get some relief.
I think I have found the cure for myself, maybe my experience can help someone else.
Brief background, I am an early 40's male, very thin and healthy with a BMI of 18.7 and no other health issues.
I have had severe acid reflux and LPR symptoms since my late teens, constant burning, cough and nasal drip. A Five years ago I developed total loss of swallowing, my weight quickly dropped quickly from 135 to 120 and I saw my doctor who put me on Prilosec which helped enormously. For the past 5 years I have been on Prilosec at least once daily, sometimes 2 or 3 pills per day and gradually it stopped working. I went in for a scope and my doc told me that my LES is functioning properly though he did see serious redness, irritation and inflammation. I tested negative for celiac and all other gastro disorders. He is a thorough and careful doctor who was truly stumped. He said I shouldn't be having any GERD or LPR based on his findings. he suggested I try eliminating different things from my diet and see what happens, Fo about the past year I have been doing just that, eliminating one thing at a time and experiencing varying degrees of success. I have recently tried something drastic with my diet. No sugar and nothing with wheat or gluten. There are studies showing that gluten causes an adverse immune response in a lot of otherwise healthy people, it was worth a shot.
I am happy to report that my GERD has resolved itself by about 90% as well as my LPR symptoms. My burping is also drastically reduced. I live in NYC and have enjoyed pizza, pastries and sandwiches daily for my entire adult life. No wheat means no candy like Twix or Kit Kat, no bread, no sandwiches, no cake or pie, no pizza, no crackers, nothing "breaded" like chicken fingers, etc... I love bread more than anything and stopping cold turkey was impossibly difficult. The interesting thing is that after about 5 or 6 days I completely lost all cravings for bread and now I don't miss it at all. I also loved candy bars, especially those little Justin's organic peanut butter cups, agin, I stopped cold turkey at the same time. I also cut out all dairy, no cheese, no gelato (I miss Grom Gelato in the Village like crazy) especially in this summer heat. If you live in NYC then you probably know Grom. It's crushing. Oddly again, a week without sugar and the horrible craving are completely gone. I've been basically living on brown rice, various beans, corn products, leafy greens like Kale, Spinach and lettuce, bananas, gluten free oats, quinoa, apples, potatoes any sort of chicken and turkey (except breaded or fried) and any berries I can get my hands on like blueberries, strawberries and black raspberries which can stave away GERD related cancers (according to studies I've read).
I also consume no red meat of any kind and switched from coffee to white and green teas with honey.
Lastly, for good measure I eliminated all foods containing Carageenan, Guar gum and Xanthan gum, all proven gastro irritants. You's be surprised how many food products contain one or more of these 3 additives. I had to give up soy milk because every brand I found has Carageenan, just rice milk for me from now on.
Like probably everyone else on this board I have researched every aspect of GERD to death trying to find the magic bullet to relive my GERD/LPR symptoms without surgery.
A simple Google search of gluten, inflammation and reflux will yield a lot of helpful information.
Imagine going from 1-3 Prilosec's a day to 1 or 2 Tagamet's per week? That's my experience with this diet change. I can't say exactly which single or combination of changes did the trick but that's my diet and I am easily 90% cured on my best days and 70% cured on my worst. I still plan to continue seeing my gastro doc once a year and will have a scope every 2 or 3 years just to be on the safe side. If I stick to this diet then hopefully I'll experience a better cure rate, so far it's only been a few weeks but honestly the best few weeks I've had in over 20 years. No more LPR symptoms, I even sleep on a flat bad the last two night, I haven't been able to do that for 5 years!
Anyone try anything similar with their diets? I'd like to hear anyone else's experiences or feedback.
Thanks for reading.