Celiac disease and the malnutrition and other autoimmune diseases that follow.
Stomach acid to essential for health. You need enough of hydrochloric (HCI) acid digest essential nutrient, and kill off bacteria, fungi and parasites. If you are taking acid blockers, which i assume you would be for GERD, the black box warning for proton pump inhibitors (eg: nexium, prilosec) is magnesium deficiency. That is one of the many nutrient deficiency states that will occur with low stomach acid.
Magnesium is the most important co factor for vitamin D. In a study of 150 patients referred to a clinic in Minnesota for the evaluation of persistent muscle and bone pain, 93% had vitamin D deficiency.
My mother is free of severe GERD, severe LPR (suffered both for 5 years) and 95% improved with gastritis (25 years / 5 years severe pain). She increased her stomach acid (yes increased! since acid lowers with age and many other medical conditions eg: hypothyroidism) with betaine HCI with pepsin suppplements and takes digestive enyzmes which are great to help prevent acid reflux. The proteases (enzymes that digest protein) heal gastritis. GERD and LPR were gone within weeks and gastritis improved over a year. She also has a hiatus hernia but these supplements still do the trick. :)
Excerpts from Easy immune Health - Signs of magnesium deficiency..
"Signs of Magnesium Deficiency
Painful conditions can be due to magnesium deficiency. Especially conditions that are due to tenseness and tightness- even if you don't know that you are tense or tight, if you have these pain conditions, it's likely that you are.
Conditions like:
Muscle Cramps
Chronic Back Pain
Migraines
Muscular Pain
Tendonitis
Similarly, patients with diagnoses of depression, epilepsy, diabetes mellitus, tremor, Parkinsonism, arrhythmias, circulatory disturbances (stroke, cardiac infarction, arteriosclerosis), hypertension, migraine, cluster headache, cramps, neuro-vegetative disorders, abdominal pain, osteoporosis, asthma, stress dependent disorders, tinnitus, ataxia, confusion, preeclampsia, weakness, might also be consequences of the magnesium deficiency syndrome.
Full blown health problems, and not just minor problems, can ALSO be magnesium deficiency symptoms and most people with health problems benefit greatly from a high Magnesium Dosage therapy.
Diseases such as:
Heart Disease
Atrial Fibrillation
Hypertension or high blood pressure
Heart Palpitations
Osteoporosis (yes, osteoporosis! See the page on Calcium With Magnesium to see why magnesium is MORE important than calcium for bone health.)
Diabetes
Sudden Death in patients with Congestive Heart Failure
Fibromyalgia and Magnesium
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Kidney Stones
In almost all of these disorders, signs of magnesium deficiency were apparent long before the disease struck but with few medical professionals knowledgeable about the magnesium deficiency symptoms, no one is there to catch these diseases before they happen."