Alternatives to PPI's

Lily and Joogle I'm praying that things get better for you really soon. (Hugs)

Post Edited (Mouche) : 4/17/2014 4:24:25 PM (GMT-6)

Lily,

I can imagine what you are going through with being on PPI's for so long. I didn't have any side effects while I was on them and just eating what I wanted when I wanted. The main reason why I wanted to get off them is because I didn't know how things would end up being for me if I stayed on them for another 20 years or so. I noticed when taking them I would feel food in my stomach for 5+ hours. Now that I'm off them I feel my stomach empty within 1-2 hours which is how it's supposed to be. I know that when you have constant heartburn all you can think about is wanting it to stop and are struggling with what to do and what not to do. You do all this research and find that one thing is supposed to help so you want to try that and then you find something else so you want to try that too but you are worried that if you try too much then it can cause more problems and not help as much. I tried ACV, HCI, mastic gum, probiotics, prebiotics, melatonin, L-Glutamine, D-Limonene, digestive enzymes, multivitamins, and DGL. At one point I was taking mastic gum twice a day, probiotics three times a day, prebiotics three times a day, melatonine once a day, L-Glutemine twice a day, D-Limonene every other day, digestive enzymes twice a day, multivitamins three times a day, and DGL three times a day. It was getting to the point that I was forgetting which to take when and the thing was, I had to take some with food and some without. I was starting to think that I should go back on the PPI's because it was a lot easier to remember to take one tiny little pill once a day in the morning than to take all these other ones. And with my insurance it was a lot cheaper to be on the PPI as well. But I kept reminding myself that all of those natural supplements were doing me much better than that one PPI because in the long run the PPI would cause more health problems. That's the only thing that kept me going was thinking about my overall health. I think it's good that you haven't given up at this point and hope that you continue forward to get your life back. I know it sucks at the moment going through with it but the closer you get to being free from the PPI's the more you will enjoy things. I am really happy I stuck through with it. I think if you stick with the ACV for a week or so then things may improve. I hope that will be the case for you.

Thanks javery - your last post described exactly what i was doing last time i gave up PPI, I took so many things that I was forgetting what i was taking and what if anything was helping. I really wish i had stuck it out at that time. I may skip my PPI today since the Aciphex hasn't helped in past 4 days, since i still have been having slight heartburn. I may just go back to Zegerid 40mg since it seems that is the same equivalent. I did buy that product Acid-Ease , forgot who had recommended it, took it last night but didnt notice a difference, may try it again today.

I may go out and buy some of the liquid stuff like Mylanta, so if i do get heartburn to drink it, it seems those seem to act faster than tablets. Is there a brand you tried that you can recommend for immediate relief? I think the key is to attack the heartburn early on otherwise it lingers, thats just my opinion.

I talked to a close friend of mine who is a PCP, she told me to take the PPI 3 times a week and see how i do, and let her know in 4 weeks, that was her opinion.

Not sure if I will do that, today I will skip the PPI altogether and see how i do with Acid-Ease. Tomorrow I need to attend a wedding event so may take one then.

That's what I'm using too, so far with the step down to 20mg I am only feeling a slight burn in my throat in the am and I'm using the Gaviscon. When I was reducing before, going every other day with 40mg, I had to use Zantac on the days I did not take the Nexium. The Gaviscon makes my throat feel better, the directions say to drink water after them but I don't because I like to keep the coated feeling
as long as possible. I use the chewables but sure the liquid works just as well.

Hope you all have a good Easter weekend! I won't be checking anything over the weekend but will see if you have any questions or want advice from me when I check again on Monday. I hope things continue to improve for you. Be careful about how much candy you consume. I know that items with processed sugar in it causes problems for me, not sure about you. I actually got more heartburn from eating cookies than anything else towards the end of being on the PPI's.

ATTENTION MY FELLOW SUFFERERS:

I finally have a diagnosis that makes SENSE to me. I found a Holistic Physician, Chiropractor and he diagnosed my digestive sickness to an ‘open’ ileocecal valve. This is the valve between the small and large intestine that prevents ‘backflow’ from the large intestine into the small intestine. My ileocecal valve has been ‘open’ for years. I’m going for several treatments per week to get the massaging needed to get it to function properly again. I’ve been trying to treat ‘acid reflux’ and he tells me I DO NOT have acid reflux, but a faulty ileocecal valve.

4 or so years ago, my regular chiropractor told me my ileocecal valve was open and worked on it a few times and then never mentioned it again and I totally forgot about it until I found this Holistic Practitioner.

I’ve been put on a very strict diet and whole food supplements to flush out the toxins. I will also lose 20 lbs. as an extra benefit of this strict diet. I started on Wednesday; it’s NOT easy at all but I’m SO SICK, I’ll do anything he tells me to get well.

No amount of acid controller medications will fix this. NOTHING will fix my current bad health until this ileocecal valve functions normally again. I wonder if my gastro doctor even knows what this valve is?!?

Now it makes sense that NO acid controller on the market could give me any relief. I’m down to (1) 40mg Nexium and struggling with the withdrawal, but I hope to be totally OFF of them within a month or so.

Do some research on the Internet on ‘ileocecal valve’ and you may again have hope that there ARE holistic and naturapathic doctors out there who know so much more about our digestive system than ‘mainstream medicine’. The spine is connected to EVERYTHING. At least you can rule out a faulty ileocecal valve, if nothing else.

Llily, I only sound better because I have real hope to get well. Yes I’m having awful rebound cutting down on the Nexium. The diet and supplemetns are designed specifically for my condition. The doctor knew as soon as he examined me (my first appt. was Wed., 4/16) where my problem was.

You just have to find the RIGHT holistic practitioner and they have a totally organic approach to healing. Do a little research on ileocecal valve on the Internet .. you could have the same issue.

The Nutri-Bullet is great and I’m so glad I got one.

PLEASE find a HOLISTIC practitioner or kinesiologist. They know all about the digestive system and know so much more than those doctors who put us on that toxic medication that did NOTHING.

I will be back to update you after I've been on this 'toxic cleanse' for at least a week.

joogle,

It took me about a week or two before the heartburn started to calm down when I went cold turkey. I know it sucks and all you want is to get relief as you can't think about anything else but all that burning. The Betain tablets may or may not help. The only way to know for sure is to give it a try. I know that during my rebound is that I had heartburn at least 10 times worse than I ever had before I got put on the medication. A lot of people say that DGL or slippery elm helps the most. I took DGL but not slippery elm. DGL gave me some relief but it never lasted long. For taking the Betain for breakfast, I would eat a few bites then take it so it wouldn't be on an empty stomach.

When I went cold turkey I was prepared to hold out for 4-6 weeks as I had read that that's about how long it took for the gastrin levels to go down significantly so the rebound insn't as bad. Just thought I'd let you know about my experience so you can decide if you want to try and wait it out or try to taper off a PPI.

When I took pepcid, I took it at least half an hour before a meal. The medication triggers a response in the body to suppress the acid. If you take it after a meal, it won't do much good for that meal, but for the next meal. You don't want to take anything to neutralize or suppress acid after a meal because you need the acid to break down the food. The goal is to get your body to not produce too much acid during the meal so you want to try things to prevent too much acid prior to eating. What also comes into play is that different foods trigger the body to produce different amounts of acid. After learning this I then started to eat less meat and more vegetables as protein triggers the body to produce more acid than the vegetables. So if you start taking the Betain tablets keep this in mind. When eating more meat you'll need more of the tablets.

I really hated the taste of ACV so I used a straw. Another thing to take note is that I preferred the Betaine tablets over the ACV because the acid from ACV will eat away at the enamel of your teeth witch will cause other problems. The acid from the Betaine tablets are not exposed until it is in your stomach so there are less side effects from them. There are also other things you may want to consider when choosing. Inflammation in the esophagus will cause more discomfort with the ACV as it goes down. LPR symptoms may show up or worsen with the ACV.

I have heard about that test which I think would be a very good one to have done before being put on any medications as it will tell the doctor whether or not PPI's would even be helpful. I haven't had it done, but I think after being on any acid suppressing medications the test would be false and the only way to have an accurate test is to be off all medications long enough to bring your body back to its normal operations. I hope that you will find relief with the Betaine tablets and that things start to calm down.

That is a hard decision to make since you don't know if the results from the test will be accurate or not based on our research and theories. It may be worth it as it might give you some answers to determine the right route to go though.