forsoger said...
Thanks so much for your reply. I will call to make a GP appointment Monday morning. My fear is that i'll be pumped full of medications and 'fobbed' off but if the medications can help me reach an equilibrium then I should embrace that. Yes, I do need answers now, along with a plan etc.
Thanks for helping me feel like I am not alone.
Interesting about dairy as I have actually upped it these past 6 weeks to compensate for the loss of grains in my diet. I must have cottage cheese, yoghurt and a glass of milk on a daily basis. Most certainly a clue and something I can read up on in preparation for my GP appointment.
I will retell my journey in getting to the bottom of this, or just coping with it because I see how so many threads have helped me tonight.
I very much appreciate the time you've taken to support. Thank you :)
You are definitely not alone forsoger. Unfortunately, there are millions of people around the world that suffer from GERD as well as the many problems it can cause.
Over the weekend I re-read all of Chris Kesser's articles regarding GERD and how to fight it. There are some controversial points he makes it in, but he does cite some references and I found it very thought-provoking.
http://chriskresser.com/get-rid-of-heartburn-and-gerd-forever-in-three-simple-steps/
It would also explain why dairy, barley, and other grains might be bothering you. The theory is that certain carbohydrates go undigested and they begin to ferment in your digestive tract and these sugars begin to feed the bad bacteria in your gut. The bad bacteria release gas and begin to thrive, thus placing pressure into your stomach and thus causing reflux.
It's only a theory that he has based on another researcher's work and the groups they used for the studies were incredibly small so it's not a statistically significant group sample. Nonetheless, the results for those small groups were overwhelmingly positive when they kept to low-carb diet for a certain period of time.
I also struggled a bit and lost a lot of weight because I wasn't eating any rice, any grains of any kind, and no dairy. I started to eat more vegetables (steamed and boiled mostly), more fish (wild caught), and added protein powder to my vegetable smoothies that I make in my Vitamix blender (though I didn't make any vegetable smoothies for the first two months because my esophagus was too raw to handle it. I've been drinking almond milk now and my body seems to like it.
The more I read and learn about proton pump inhibitor drugs, the more I am beginning to wonder if the medical establishment has this completely backwards. If, according to Dr. Kesser, most people suffering from GERD are actually producing LESS stomach acid, then giving them PPIs would make their condition worse because the body begins producing more gastrin, which is WHY people get rebound reflux when they come off these drugs. Are the pharma companies knowingly doing this to keep us dependent on PPIs?
I'll be honest, that thought has crossed my mind more than once.
It would seem logical to me that the medical community first needs to test the stomach acid levels for starters to see if the person suffering from GERD is producing too little acid. And then from there, determine if the LES (lower esophageal sphincter) is working properly. Dr. Kesser makes a very good point, if your LES is working properly, then it doesn't matter how much acid your stomach produces because the LES would not let the acid go into your esophagus and cause you pain and/or reflux.
Instead, doctors are trained to give you H2 blockers like Zantac or PPIs like Nexium and see what happens after a few weeks or 3 months; and without knowing if you have a properly functioning LES, I think this approach doesn't make any sense. It certainly makes the pharma companies billions of dollars every year, but it seems to be exacerbating the problem, not making it better.
I know I'm ranting, but it's because I've been frustrated by doctors telling me I just need to take my Dexilant and let it do it's thing. When I ask them about the dangers of low stomach acid in my stomach because bacteria will proliferate and I won't be able to absorb nutrients as well because that's what stomach acid does, they just tell me it's only for "3 months" and that everything will probably be okay. They cite that bogus "90%" statistic.....you know the one, the one where they tell you that PPIs have a 90% success rate. I am very skeptical of that figure.
Then I ask them about nutrition and diet, and of course they tell me to keep a food journal and stay away from all the common GERD triggers, but nothing beyond that (if that).
There are tons of people suffering with this dreaded disease and their best answer is to give us pills that might actually make us worse. I think this is a travesty.
Never forget, you are not alone, and if you're looking for support and want to find out what is working for other people, you have come to the right place.