The All-Natural Regimen That Has Helped My Reflux Problem

[Hazeleyes]

Hello NYer (and everyone)

Just thought I'd check in see how everyone is doing. I've read a few of the posts. NYer..your experience with the alkaline water seemed to haved sucked. Sorry. I've been doing ok. I've had my good days and bad days. Still waiting for that completely symptom free day. My only concern these days is getting enough nutrition. In trying to keep my GERD under control naturally I'm on a very basic diet. Can't really do any fruits (grapes killed me the other day) and only steamed or cooked veggies, but hopefully in time I'll be able to get back to my green smoothies.

Hope everyone is doing well.

Hazel

[NYer]

Hey Haze,
I had issues with grapes, too. But I think green grapes are less of an issue than red. I don't know why. I stayed away from both for a long time but I CAN eat them now, though. (I know this because I had some on Sunday with no problem.)
So long as you eat the full rainbow of veggies, you should be alright nutrition-wise. Squash and sweet potatoes are good on the orange/yellow side. Kale and dandelion are good dark-bitter greens. Also, shouldn't have any problems with berries - especially blueberries. Have you tried? And protein-wise, you can eat chicken and fish, if red meat is an issue. If eggs aren't a problem, you can hard boil and chop 'em up and mix them into anything. Lots of protein in the egg white. Tofu, too (not much flavor on it's own but you can mix it into stuff).
If you can't eat dairy, take a cal-mag supplement (which is good for GERD, anyway - I like the liquid that I mentioned a few posts back). Sesame seeds (whole or ground, but make sure they are ground with the shell) are high in calcium and fiber. Flax seeds (ground) are great for Omega-3 fatty acids. You may want to try "Nutritional Yeast" flakes. Very high in Vitamin B's. Tastes like cheese - you can sprinkle it on anything. I really like it a lot. You can find it on Amazon or Health Food stores/sites.
Hugs,
NYer

[NikkiB]

Hello Ladies,

Dame umma need to print of all these good information NYer just posted! As for me... I'm doing ok. Good days and bad like everyone else. Seem to be developing a sore throat. Doesn't feel like a virus, I'm thinking its from the reflux, so I've been eating yogurt and jamming Manuka honey in my mouth lol! Other than that I've pretty much plateau.

I find juicing red delicious apples, beets, carrots, kale and ginger seems to help my body feel a whole lot better. I don't do it everyday but at least a few times a week! Apples and cold ice water seems to help my reflux periods so I've been sticking to that as well!

Thanks Hazel for the checkup, I hope y'all have a wonderful evening!

[NYer]

Hey Ms. Nikki!
Nikki, you're just looking for an excuse to eat the Manuka Honey!
But, make sure you're sleeping with your wedge or with your bed elevated on top by at least 8 inches. Makes a big difference for the sore throat, phlegmy throat, laryngitis.

At one point when my GERD was bad, I tried a cup of ginger tea and I was very sorry that I did. It really triggered a bad day of heartburn for me. That said, these days, when I get sushi, I eat a lot of the pickled ginger and I'm fine with it. Anyway, once again, some things that help some people are triggers for others and ginger is one of those things.

And you mentioned apples. I found, early on, that I didn't do too well with apples. I think some of them are more acidic than others. I was only able to eat small pieces and not too much. Now it's not an issue.

Oh, and Nikki, I passed a store the other day that was advertising OX TAILS and I thought of you! LOL! (Note: You'd have to pay me a lot of money to eat anybody's tail .)

[NikkiB]

[email protected] NYer.... I absolutely love oxtail. I never ate it often because its very fatty but its so yummy! I'm from a Jamaican family so its always around as well as alcohol! The good thing is that I live alone so I cook my own food and take it easy on the seasonings and spices! Don't like hot food anyway!

Regarding the apples, I only eat one and that's the red delicious apples. The other ones don't settle too well. The funny thing is that I hardly get heartburn thank God! But I get a lot of reflux but never bring up! Plus the warm stomach feeling!

I LOVE MANUKA HONEY! I'm guilty!

[NYer]

Hahah!
Well, I had already figured out the Jamaican background because..well who else eats oxtail?
I ate goat stew in Jamaica and I liked it a lot. And beef patties and jerk chicken. That was back when I could eat things like that.
And I totally get the lust for Manuka honey. It's funny - I've never been much of a fan of regular honey. But the Manuka honey is awesome. It's an entirely different flavor and texture...delish!!

[NikkiB]

I'm going down in November and it looks like umma need to stack up on my natural stuff to bring with me! I'm thinking about all that already! including my Honey! Speaking of honey... umma have some now!

Im so grateful that I found this forum! And my new NY friend! I've told so much people about u like I know you lol and about how you've helped me!

[NYer]

((((((((hugs)))))))))

[Tropheus]

Progress update

Hi guys
Just thought I'd share my progress... Unfortunately, the past couple of weeks have not been great. Last night I managed to achieve a whole 30mins sleep all night! The burning in my chest just kept me awake...
Whilst there are some supplements that I can't get here, such as black raspberry powder, DGL licorice, and Manuka honey, I am on a very restricted diet and also take digestive enzymes in a tablet form with each meal, a liver cleansing supplement twice a day, a probiotic and some glutamine powder once a day, as well as a powdered formula that contains things such as digestive enzymes, glutamine, slippery elm, tumeric and a number of other things (yes, I know I'm kinda doubling up on the enzymes and glutamine...) I take this formula twice a day too. Oh, and I take magnesium, vitamin D (I've found out I'm low in this! I only take 1,000iu's per day because my pharmacist advised me to take this amount. He said that the reason he says this is because it is one of the few Vitamins that you can actually have too much of, and the side effects of too much are just as bad as too little...!).
In addition, I am still on Nexium and I take a motility drug called Tazac. I also take dual action Gaviscon (aluminium free) before bed each night, and as required during the day. Usually it's only once a day, but when symptoms are bad I have to take more...
I've been strictly taking all the above for the past 3-4 weeks but have been on everything except the glutamine and the powdered formula for around 6-7 weeks.
I've found that since adding the last two, that there has been a huge improvement in bloating, but the burning in my chest as well as chest/neck/shoulder/back pains have not improved anywhere near as much. I usually have varying symptoms most of the time. Occasionally, I will have somewhere between 1 - 4 hours symptom free, but that's about as good as it gets for me, and this is predominantly after having the Gaviscon.
I was hoping that my symptoms were going to improve enough for me to be able to ween myself off the Nexium and Tazac (but especially the Nexium!)
However, as I said earlier, the past couple of weeks have been very difficult. Last night and another night around a week ago, I have been in a bad way. When it gets like this there is absolutely nothing that I can do that will help for longer than an hour at most. Usually, when the Gaviscon is my go to when I have symptoms, but when it's bad the Gaviscon does very little, if anything at all to help. I find a hot shower is the only thing that gives me a reasonable amount of relief (I think its the heat that helps relax muscles... But I'm not actually sure what it does, it just helps me a lot!!!)
But, I can't stay in the shower all the time, and I can't sleep in there either (although I actually haven't tried this so I can't say for sure! lol)
Anyway, I'd dearly love to here from anyone that has any other ideas to try when symptoms become really bad and nothing is helping?
Oh, paracetamol helps a but for me too. I've asked my GP and GI specialists if there are any other drugs that can help, particularly with sleep as this is something I really struggle to get enough the past 18 months or so (when my GERD started getting very bad...). Anyway, I've been told Paracetamol is the only pain relief drug I should take because most other drugs will create more problems for my GERD. My GI specialist said there is one drug he can give to me, but he only wants to do it as a last resort. I can't remember what it's called, but he said it blocks pain, so I won't feel any symptoms. He says he has successfully used it on other people that cannot be treated in any other conventional way using either ppi's, H2 inhibitors or surgery. According to him, people that take this pain blocking medication usually come off the dug after 2-3 months and are much better. He said that by removing the pain for a period of time, that pain sensitivity reduces, and therefore it's generally successful.
Anyway, I have referral to one of the leading specialists in upper GI in a few weeks to get another opinion. Even if I wanted to, which I don't, surgery is not a viable option for me, because the manometry study I had done at the beginning of the year showed the my oesophagus has poor motility. So if I were to have the fundoplication procedure done, it would likely mean that food could get stuck in my oesophagus, and possibly lead to a sliding hernia (which I believe is also known as Barretts oesophagus, but I could be wrong!)... which is obviously not a desirable outcome!
Anyway, I hope what I've written isn't sleep deprived gibberish.. I've also written this on my iphone which doesn't help either...!
I will be persisting with my herbs etc as it definitely helps, but it doesn't seem to help me as much as I was hoping... Not yet anyway!
Does anyone find that their symptoms can get, or have gotten, so bad that they have involuntary muscle spasms/body shakes? This is what happens to me. It's like my body has gone into shock or something... In the past I have had panic attacks prior to being diagnosed with GERD/GORD and this the shakes/spasms can occur with panic attacks and it's caused by the release of adrenalin, but I seem to get this when my symptoms are very bad even though I don't actually panic as such... Anyway, I'm just interested to know if anybody else experiences this when their symptoms are bad...?
Yours tiredly 😴
Tropheus

[NYer]

Hi Tropheus,
Sorry to hear you're feeling so bad.

1. You're still on PPI's. They're probably causing a lot of your problems. I keep telling you that and you keep staying on them. You've been on the natural stuff for a while now, and you saw an improvement, but they only help the GERD...they can't undo what the PPI's do to you.

2. I'm not familiar with Tazac, but a lot of the motility drugs have a lot of bad side effects. that may also be the cause of your current problems.

3. Although your pharmacist is correct that you can get your Vitamin D level too high, he is WRONG about what he told you otherwise. You can't get from not having enough to having too much overnight (unless you take the whole bottle, and you're not a moron, so you're not going to do that). You need to take 4-6,000 I.U. of Vitamin D every day for three months, and get your blood levels tested again in three months. If your levels are sufficient at that time, change to 2,000 I.U. daily. If you get a lot of sunshine, once your levels are as high as they should be, you can drop to 1,000 I.U.
There is another thread on here specific to Vitamin D, which is very good. Here's the link:

http://forums.heartburn-help.com/showthread.php?8333-vitamin-D3-helping-my-LPR-symptoms/page10&highlight=vitamin+d

There is a lot of "liking to hear one's self talking - even though they are clueless" by some posters on that thread , but there is also a lot of really good information. (Needless to say, I posted a lot on that thread. )


4. Not all of the digestive enzyme brands work as well as each other. I've used one that didn't work for me at all. If you take Absorbaids, you can't overdose, so it's not an issue if you're "doubling up". If you take one that has pancreatin, and/or pepsin, and/or HCL in it, you CAN take too much. So check the ingredients and the directions on the bottle.

5. So far as I know, paracetamol is the same thing as Acetaminophen , which is known here (brand name) as Tylenol. It's an over the counter drug and it's safe to take with GERD (versus aspirin or NSAIDs [non-steroidal anti-inflammatories], like Celebrex, ibuprofen, naproxen, Toradol, Lodine, Indocin, and some others). Tylenol can, however, cause liver damage if taken in high quantities for any length of time. So if you find that it helps, that's great, but don't take it more than 500 mg. three times daily.

6. I can't comment on the pain killer that your doctor said he would give you as a last resort because you don't know what it's called and I've never heard of a doctor giving a pain killer to help with GERD.

7. Barrett's Esophagus and Hernias are two entirely different things. If you have GERD for a long time, in some people it can erode the lining of the esophagus. After it continues to be eroded and has acid splashing on it over and over, the cells of the esophagus change and actually become more similar in certain ways to the cells of the stomach lining. But they are not designed to do that and it's a bad thing. And this condition is called Barrett's Esophagus. And that is a pre-cursor to esophageal cancer. There are other threads on this site about Barrett's, which can be treated. But if you've had an endoscopy and you didn't have Barrett's, then don't worry for now - you don't have it.
A Hernia is a hernia. You can look it up. A sliding hernia moves around.

8.

I will be persisting with my herbs etc as it definitely helps, but it doesn't seem to help me as much as I was hoping

Again, you can't know that because you're still taking PPI's, which are obviously causing you side effects. Also, you mentioned that you're not taking DGL. I find it hard to believe that they don't have that in Australia. And you should be taking the L-Glutamine powder three times per day on an empty stomach 15 minutes or so before each meal (when you should also take the DGL).

9. The shakes may be panic attack related. They are also probably related to the lack of sleep.
You didn't mention anything about sleeping (trying to sleep) with your upper body elevated. If you can't do a wedge or raising the bed, try sleeping in a recliner chair - with the back of the chair at a 45° angle more or less.

Tropheus, if you keep taking drugs that cause side effects and deciding that those side effects are actually symptoms of GERD, then you're not going to get anywhere.

I hope you feel better.
NYer

[hayleyBW]

Hi everyone. I hope you are all doing well.

Hazel I am sorry for whatever you are dealing with right now. I have been going through a lot too lately. I came down with an upper respiratory infection last weekend (right at the beginning of my vacation so doubly sucks yanno) and lost my voice for 5 days as well as aches, sore throat and just feeling like crap. I went to urgent care yesterday (we're away so couldn't go to my primary care physician) because my coughing would not stop and I couldn't sleep for 2 nights. And I also noted a white coating on my tongue so worried about a fungal infection.

Urgent care doctor diagnosed me with thrush on my tongue and gave me a Nystatin rinse and swish to use in my mouth 4 times a day and then swallow and also put me on Z pac because she couldn't tell if I had a viral or bacterial upper respiratory infection so just to cover all bases. No bronchitis or pneumonia as she said my lungs sounded clear.

So I guess I wanted to know if anyone has any clue if any of the digestive enzymes/DGL/ etc I have been taking could have caused the thrush? I have been off PPI's and H2 blockers for around 6 weeks now otherwise I would have blamed those as the cause. Also my nails are breaking and looking fragile so I feel I am not absorbing nutrients and now with thrush I know my body's defense system is not working well. I also had a physical exam 2 weeks ago (when I was feeling fine) and it showed my WBC count to be low but my internist said I always have a low count and not to worry as it's not too low just right below the low normal range.

The kicker is that I have never taken probiotics before this year and now that I have been taking them a few months later I come down with a yeast infection on my tongue. It makes no sense and I just want to figure it out so I can take the necessary steps to become healthy.

I am worried that my body is breaking down and I was hoping someone might have an idea as to why and what I can do to stop it from deteriorating.

Thanks and Hazel I hope your health issues are resolved very soon.

[NYer]

I wanted to know if anyone has any clue if any of the digestive enzymes/DGL/ etc I have been taking could have caused the thrush?

Absolutely not. No chance. No way.

If you have taken any antibiotics, however, that would cause it. And it's ironic that your doctor put you on antibiotics at the same time you're treating thrush.

[NYer]

And...
Sorry to be so short with my response but I am away for the wknd and not really online. Feel better!!

[NYer]

Hazel,
Can't do what you requested currently. Sorry!
-NYer

[hayleyBW]

And...
Sorry to be so short with my response but I am away for the wknd and not really online. Feel better!!

Thanks so much NYer. I appreciate you taking the time to respond. Have a great weekend!

And yes, it's ironic but the doctor wanted to prevent me from getting a worse upper respiratory infection (it's lasted so long as it is) just in case. And it's also ironic because I haven't been on antibiotics for such a long time before this and yet I get thrush but when I had been on longterm antibiotics in the past I never had any type of yeast infection anywhere so weird all around. I so feel I am missing something that holds the answer to this huge mystery I have been dealing with this year.

Enjoy your weekend.