4 Years of GERD and What I've Learned!

GERD (ACID REFLUX)
SIGNS OF GERD
Lump in throat feeling 15-30 minutes after a meal
Heartburn (but many also do not have this)
Slight pain or discomfort near breastbone or around middle chest
Nausea
Heart Palpitations especially after eating and/or lying down (Uncommon)
Sick or sour stomach after eating
Anxiety feeling (uncommon)
Waking up with a cough during sleep and/or out of breath
Shortness of breath feeling specially 15-30 minutes after a meal

CAUSES OF ACID REFLUX
Not enough production of stomach acid like taking PPI’s (Prilosec, Omeprazole)
Nervous system stress like lack of sleep, nutrient deficiencies, physical and/or emotional stress
Not digesting properly (not chewing food thoroughly)
Laying down after a large meal
Bad food combining like eating fruits with protein
Hiatal Hernia (uncommon) or other health problems like of the gallbladder (Uncommon)

HOW EAT WITH GERD
1) Chew your food at least 30 times before swallowing
2) Eat protein with non-starchy vegetables and eat fruits by itself (see food combining chart)
3) Do not drink water 30 minutes before or after a meal
4) Eat easily digest foods like fruit smoothies
5) Eat smaller meals throughout the day rather than 3 huge meals
6) Avoid laying down after eating
OTHER WAYS TO AID GERD
1) Take one 650 MG capsule of HCL w/ Pepsin with at least a 4 oz of protein (like chicken, eggs, beans etc.) before or during a meal (not after). Up the dose to 2 capsules for next protein meal if you don’t feel any slight burning in the stomach. If you don’t ever feel any burning keep upping the dose of 1 (do not take over 5-7 caps recommended). If you do ever feel a slight burning, cut back to the previous number of pills and keep taking that. Slowly wean off the HCL until you don’t need them anymore or you’re getting a slight burn with only 1 capsule. Do not drink too much liquid when you take the capsules.
2) Take vegetarian based enzyme capsules. You may not need these if you’re already on a high enzyme diet like vegetarian. Some people don’t notice a difference but you can try them out.
3) Take vegetarian based multivitamins. This is useful for long time GERD sufferers that taken PPI’s or if you find yourself eating nutrient deficient meals.
4) Reduce stress in your life. Physical and mental stress like lack of sleep, not exercising, not eating healthy foods, not having a positive mindset, depression, and anxiety. All these biologically change your body and wellbeing. It also stresses your nervous system which is linked to your digestive system. You cannot digest food when you are constantly in “fight or flight” mode. Studies show if you believe you won’t get better, it’s highly likely you never will.

Do you stop the meds when using hcl I am omeprozole

@pedrom

im not a doctor but DONT just stop the meds cold turkey, You got to taper off it. Ask your doctor if you can taper off the meds.
I remember having a bad withdrawal from trying to stop cold turkey so I ended up tapering. I also find many others story of having horrible experiences stopping cold turkey so its not uncommon imo.
I also dont advise taking hcl with the meds. As I wouldn't and never done that myself.

@Archeons

I used to burp so much before when my gerd was at its worse. I learned that it's most likely caused by food not digesting and/or not enough acid so the food just sits and ferments in your stomach (releasing gas). In my experience, I started to supplement hcl, chew more, and not drink water (few sips) which slowly led to no more or very minimal burps.

Overall though, in my experience, meds made me feel worse over time. I was never educated about gerd thats why it took me years to gather up current research about it. Thats why I'm here to share and also learn or test a few things that people suggest.

My gerd at its worse was when I had anxiety everyday, I was very dizzy, I couldnt stand more than 5 minutes, drinking water gave me gerd, visited the ER couple of times, lump in throat that lasted 2 hours, shortness of breath, I couldnt even speak I was stuttering because I was in daily stress, I was basically bed ridden for months.

@Archeons

I think your doing the tapering generally right. How I tapered off, however, was doing it very slowly. For example; I would do a full week then a second week I would skip a dose if I can tolerate it. Then another week I would miss a dose every other day. There will be days that you really want to not take the dose but you feel so uncomfortable so you take it again. Just realize you gotta go through it and not be stuck in your comfort zone. That is why I find a lot of gerd sufferers getting "stuck" taking meds for years because its temp relief.

Studies show that PPI's like famatodine or omeprazole actually increases the risk of cancer. Data shows since the day those drugs were introduced until now, very little who took them was ever cured of gerd. It's also known to cause brittle bones on long term use.

Now, you said that the meds do help. The sad thing its only temporary. The meds shut off the production of acid in the stomach so it won't burn your esophagus. But how are you going to digest your food when you need acid? The answer is that you can't. Food will ferment in your stomach as a result. Later, when your food gets into your intestine, undigested carbs will be eaten by bacteria and cause bloating/gas. Undigested carbs are also seen as a foreign invader in your body, and that is a door to leaky gut or SIBO.
Burping is one of the signs your not digesting properly. It makes sense you felt better after 2 hours after eating because that is the time most meals are out of the stomach (specially with smaller meals). You mentioned that banana gave you gerd. Makes sense because banana has natural anti acid properties because of its potassium. I used to get bad gerd eating a banana, but not or rarely get them now. The reason your getting gerd from banana is because you probably already have little acid in the first place. So, eating a banana, a natural anti acid food, will cause gerd. in short, your stomach needs about a high ph of 1-3 acidity. This ph will tell the nerves in your esophagus sphincter to close shut preventing acid going up. If your stomach is NOT ph 1-3 it will not close properly. Hence, why bananas used to give me gerd but not anymore because my acid production went back.

Im not 100% cured per se BUT I am way better than I was before. I'm more like 80-85% cured only because I forget to follow my regimen sometimes. I would say at my worse I felt 15-25% of me so thats a huge leap compared to 80% where I can function.

Watch Dr. Bergman on gerd at youtube. The only reason I tell people to watch him is because he keeps it simple. There are other doctors I've watch on gerd research but the lectures are 2 hours minimal but has so much data but no one has time for that lol.

@Felix

Hope you'll feel better before your endoscopy.

No offense, but I have a feeling they won't find anything serious in you (which is good news). However, I think you will be disappointed when they basically tell you to "just live with it" or just continue with your meds. I find this story very common. The doctors these days are not educated in current gerd research and just prescribe PPI's and let you go if they don't find much after the endoscopy. This is a common road that leads to the individual to stay on meds for many years. If they find a hitial hernia, then maybe they would offer surgery. I'm saying this so you won't be too discouraged because many has experience this and I don't want you to be stuck like many have because they are not too educated on why they have gerd in the first place.

Anyways, I do hope you get better instead though.