24 hour ph study

My daughter is having a 24 hour pH study done and I was wanting to know what the high and low numbers are and also what they mean?

[selmaS]

Hi...I wish I knew..u may want to try to PM a member by the name of gnorb...he had it done and seemed to understand the numbers....or u may want to try to pull up an old thread on the topic for review.....use the search this community feature on the right of the screen,.

Good luck to ur DD

"selma"

[selmaS]

I found the thread by gnorb...here is what he found out:


The normal esophageal pH is between 7 and 4 (or 5, depending on who you ask). If the pH stays in one range for a long time (say between 4.5 and 6.1) then that seems to indicate normal esophageal function. If there's a sudden drop (from 7 to 5.3) that indicates possible reflux (might be acid, might be regurgitation).

Sometimes the pH will drop below 4. This is definitely acid reflux, though I don't know how much is considered "normal". I presume my dips into the 2.x and 1.x territory weren't. Sometimes the pH will go above 7 (mine went to 8.6 at one point, and spent more time than I'm comfortable with at 8.1), which isn't conclusive to anything, but might indicate the presence of bile reflux. There's no real way to tell with this kind of test, however, as the stomach seems to have some alkaline periods. It may also be an indication of regurgitating acidic foods. Again, I don't know how much is considered "normal".

(Come to think of it, I should have tested Apple Cider Vinegar to see if I spotted any sort of pattern with it, whether it really does turn alkaline once in the stomach or not.)

My pH (from the readings I saw) ranged from 1.9 to 8.6, with the vast majority of the time being between 4.2 and 7.5, depending on what I'd eaten or drank recently. Breads/cereals seemed to make me very acidy and most likely to reflux, usually an hour after ingestion. Juices tended to make things acidy almost immediately, first from drinking the juice (which apparently has a pH of about 5.2) then from digestion (which would drop the pH to just above 4). Salads seemed to make things very alkaline (the pH stayed between 6 and 8 after salads), and the Teeccinno coffee substitute I drink made things VERY alkaline (this + salad = pH > 8.0). The last two foods were by far the most comfortable.

Symptoms were not necessarily (although mostly) associated with lowered pH. I suppose this part, however, is very personal, and correlation doesn't necessarily indicate causation.

I'll be getting my results about a week after the return of the monitoring device, although I expect that I'll be getting my gallbladder removed before then. (Attacks are increasing in severity and becoming more and more common. I've held on to this thing as long as I could, but now even water's stating to give me issues. Sadly, a GB attack which lasted almost 10 hours ruined a whole day of the testing. Luckily it was a 48-hour test. As someone with GERD, I would find it extremely valuable to have a monitor like this available to me at all times.)

[harrald]

There is a chemical term you may not know of unless you  study chemistry.Liquid substances exhibit a rating system that is called pH. A solution may be acidic or alkaline depending on its pH. pH stands for the hydrogen-ion concentration with a scale of 1 to 14. Any substance that is acidic falls between 1 and 7, where 7 is neutral. Water we drink has a pH scale of 7; our stomach acid(concentrated hydrochloric acid)has a pH of about 3. Lemon juice and vineger have pH scales of 2-3. A substance called sodium hydroxide(NAOH)is very alkaline and its pH scale is beyond 7 and near to 14. For comparison only, the pH of a woman's vagina needs to be alkaline to prevent yeast infections. An old term in chemistry is referred to as being acid or basic(acidic or alkaline). Perhaps the 24-hour pH test your daughter is undergoing is to check the pH of her urine or some other bodily fluid.

Harrald