Over a month and no PPIs!

Thanks for the feedback nikib5.
I feel pain in my abdomen 1 1/2 to 2 hours after a meal.
Due you feel any pain or it's only bloating that you experienced.

I really don't know what to make out of my situation. I feel the lump in the throat sensation and pressure around my upper abdomen but have never experienced reflux.

I am on day 6 of no nexium and I too feel better. I am not 100% heartburn free but the overall yucky feeling is almost gone. The pills just made me feel off, know what I mean? I am on zantac (low dose) lots of probiotics fiber pills to try to cleanse the system and I was on oil of oregano but I think it may have been a little strong so I am gonna back off for awhile. We will see. Glad you are well....

Thanks for the advice, Dr. Norm. I cut my carbs way down yesterday and I did feel so much better. No bloating, no heartburn. I slept great. I think you're on to something

~Niki

That is so great you are off the ppis!! I have been tapering off protonix for three months now. I am down from 7 pills a week to three. I just started taking enzymes , glutamine , and probiotic. I am hoping this will help. I can't wait to be a success story!!

Heather

Yesterday, I had a little bit of heartburn during the day, so I took some papaya enzymes and it went away. In the evening after I ate (a meatless goulash), I had that feeling of a lump in my throat. It's strange because I never had that before. I ate a yogurt later on and it soothed it and I slept well and feel better today. It's strange that I had the lump, but no heartburn or other stomach pains.

I'm still trying to keep the carbs low. I find I do better with any carbs earlier in the day than in the evening. Every day I don't know what to expect.

~Niki

I wasn't really wasn't feeling much better either. I did initially, but as time went on I would have bouts of stomach pain and nausea and bloating. The PPIs helped the heartburn though. I read a couple articles about how it's probably not good to take them forever because you need your stomach acid to digest your food and kill off bacteria in your stomach. It seemed like my food was sitting in my stomach much too long too.

I can honestly say that my stomach feels better now and I'm glad I decided to stick it out the first week. I guess I'll see how it goes.

~Niki

Hi Jennifer,

Well, maybe popcorn wasn't the best thing for me to choose, but I love it. My stomach and intestines got very rumbly afterwards though. I air-pop it and won't eat the microwave corn because it's so greasy and can upset my tummy.

The real test will be this weekend. We're celebrating my birthday and there will be cake and soy ice cream (for me, anyway because I'm lactose intolerant).

I find I can tolerate more carbs in the morning than in the evening. I haven't been cutting out all carbs, just lowering them. With me being vegetarian, I like to eat some grains. I've cut out more sugar and breads than anything else.

I don't post in the IBS forum. Mostly the IBS is under control and I don't feel the need to right now. I do know of one person, however, who says low carb and IBS don't mix because we tend to need the grains in our diets and for her veggies are a big trigger. I do feel the two conditions go hand-in-hand though. When my IBS is bothering me, the GERD usually starts too. When I had my worst episodes of GERD, I had awful attacks of IBS with it.

~Niki

Hi everyone,
I just thought I'd check in. I've been feeling so well that I haven't really needed to visit the forum. I've been low-carbing for a month now and it's going great. I haven't touched a Tums or other antacid in over 2 weeks and I haven't even been using the papaya enzymes I bought. I have increased some of my carbs to experiment. I tried pizza and pie a couple of weekends ago and felt nauseous, but no heartburn. I've been eating occasional pasta and couscous, just very small amounts with no problems. Gone are the days where pasta would be a main meal. Popcorn is still a big problem for me as well as bananas. It's not hard not to eat something if it makes you sick, you know? I do find that I do better eating the bulk of the carbs early in the day. I'm not sure exactly how many I'm consuming. Probably 80-100/day. It varies with how I feel.

I also want to add that my IBS is doing well too. I had a bowl of broccoli with my casserole the other night and that is something I would have been afraid to do before. Surprisingly, I had no gas.

Anyway, I wish you were all feeling better. Take care!

~Niki

Niki,
I am so happy to hear how well you are doing using my recommended carb controlling approach for treating GERD. I have been posting on this for awhile, but hearing from people experiencing the relief from heartburn and IBS symptoms using this approach is just the best.

All the best,

Norm Robillard