Posted 5/23/2011 11:38 AM (GMT 0)
I too have GERD. I have learned thru much reading and experimentation how to keep it at bay. 1st I did a lot of reading, on this web site and all over the net. I learned about the various organs in the body that are involved and those that could be involved in causing GERD. I learned where they are at and what they do, what they don't do, what they like and what they don't like. (For example, the liver does not like protein (like the protein in meats), it has a hard time digesting it.) Knowing about the organs, gave me leads to more info. I spent about 5 yrs reading on and off, but all and all it's helped me learn a great deal and as a result of applying much of what I learned, I now suffer very little from GERD. One web site that helped me a good deal was the diet for the gallbladder on gallbladder.com, which I got on AFTER being on a very bland diet (no fats, nothing fried, the typical GERD diet, also no dairy, no meat (other than a bit of white meat baked chicken and roast turkey breast, no sweets (low to no sugar), for over a year. She(the woman who owns the gallbladderattack.com web site) has a very helpful beat and lemon and flax oil recipe that did wonders for me and got rid of all my pain around my rib cage. That pain was, in my estimation, a result of the GERD. After being on her beat, lemon, & flax oil for 2-3 weeks,I then went on to her green soup recipe (I also only drank boiled spring water and ate nothing else). I lived on those 2 for 2-3 months, nothing else, other than my regular meds for other problems and many vitamins. It was the diet, especially the lemons that helped with the pain and I belive the GERD. Eventually after most of the GERD was gone, I found I could just take a table spoon or 2 of fresh squeezed lemon and it would get rid of the pain that I would wake up with if I'd messed up and ate the wrong things the day before. My pain would go around the lower rib cage to the middle of my back. The lemons would get rid of the pain within 10 seconds, no matter how bad it was. Of course if I ate a lots of things I should not have the previous day (sometimes right after I ate the wrong things), like a lot of candy or sweets or something fried, the pain would only subside, but at least it would get better. When this happened I'd take the lemon juice every few hrs until the pain went away. Eventually I found things I could eat which ended up being mostly a very bland gluten free diet, but I could eat lots of fruits, (no oranges), and lots of apples and plenty of fresh and steamed vegies, but no fat at all, low carbs (no potatoes), only organic foods, no pre pared foods for the 1st 1-2 years, very low or no sugar and only Stevia as a sugar substitute, no dairy of any kind, no shell fish, and only things made of rice flour, no wheat. As you can see it's very limited, and not a diet that would work for everyone, but it really works for me and I have very very little GERD only once or 2x a month when I mess up and eat the wrong things. When GERD does come back, it only lasts for a few hrs and then I take a specific OTC med for heart burn, that really works. I do not take any other meds for GERD, nor have I for 3 years now. The Over the counter (OTC)heart burn med I take has one very important ingredient. The main active ingredient is Cimetidine. It really works for me. You can buy any brand of heart burn med with this ingredient in it. I buy the Rite Aid brand in the Rite Aid drug store chain. Wal-mart used to make a hart burn med it with this ingredient, but they no longer have it in my area. I'm not sure they make it at all any more. The brand was the Wal-Mart brand that starts with the letter E...(something like Equate)sorry I can't remember the brand name. It's important to make sure the active ingredient is Cimetidine, not anything else. You can read about it on www.lef.org which is the Life Extension web site. My suggestion is that you read all you can on GERD on the net and follow any leads you come across. Once I followed just one word that was in an article and it led me to a medicine that really worked for some other problem I have which is also related to GERD. Also, that is how I found the gallbladderattack.com web site with the beat, lemon, & flax oil recipe. I know how you are all suffering, but don't give up and keep researching. Dr.s do not know everything. They know a lot, but there is just so much time they have for studying and leaning new research. So if you find some med, test or treatment that you'd like to try, print out a copy of the info. and take it to your Dr. I did that and my Dr. gave me the medicine that I brought him info about. That medicine ended up really helping me with another problem I had (which I think, was also a result of the GERD). Something else I think is really important is to take probiotics, Digest ALL (a digestion enzyme aid) and HCL capsules every am (on an empty stomach). I do this every day as soon as I wake up. I'm sure, in my case, they really help. What works for me, may or may not work for you, but if you keep researching GERD you will find what will help you and just maybe what will cure you. Good Luck and thanks to all those on here who gave me inspiration and the determination to go thru all the years of reading and research and experimentation, even when many of the Dr.s tests didn't find anything.(PS..one very important thing to remember, many people will test negative for many things related to GERD when they really are positive. Many medical tests (even scopes) are not sensitive enough to reveal everything you need to know to get well. Follow your hunches...and read, read, read.)