CAN YOUR BODY HEAL FROM GERD??

Mine went away for several years due to diet and lifestyle changes, but it's come back recently despite me eating healthier than I ever have. I don't know if a 'cure' is possible.

GERD doesn't cure itself. You have to find the cause of the problem.

A camera down the throat doesn't catch everything, and I have no idea why they did a sonogram, looking for tumor maybe. A barium swallow, non-invasive, is pretty good to see what your stomach is doing when you are awake and swallowing and whether the valves are working.

Changing diet and getting rid of bad habits works for some, unless there is a valve problem, which may have been caused by bad habits. Valves don't get better. Sometimes, just sometimes, a contributing problem can be sensitivity to certain foods or chemicals. Look in the archives (search box at the top of the page) for "food journal."

Your stomach makes and needs acid to digest food. The problem comes when it doesn't stay where it's supposed to be. The esophagus is very sensitive to acid and gets "burned." A lot of people take a little acid (vinegar or lemon juice) before eating to tell the stomach not to make so much acid.

If diet doesn't work your doctor may put you on an acid reducer like Zantac. And if that doesn't help the next step is PPIs.

Personally, I was able to live happily with a very bad valve, which needed Zantac and then PPIs, for a long time, because I kept a food journal and found which foods "triggered" my stomach to heave/reflux into my esophagus. Eventually, after 30 years or so, I needed surgery to tighten the valve. I still have to avoid my trigger foods.

You may have more than one factor contributing to your case. The medications you are taking might be relaxing the lower esophageal sphincter. You may also have a food intolerance you are not aware of -- different from allergy. One of the most commonly-cited intolerances in the case of GERD is casein, found in milk and milk products.

There are other, mechanical reasons for GERD, and these reasons are more difficult to treat. PPIs, short for proton pump inhibitor, shut down the production of acid. Some people (me included) can't tolerate this type of medication. You can purchase PPIs over-the-counter, but at a lower dosage than is available by prescription.

Be advised that you will still reflux under a PPI, but there will be less of an acid component. Another class of acid-reducing medication is known as an H2 blocker, but it is common to become tolerant of these over time, such that they lose effectiveness.

Bruce