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Abdominal Pains, GERD, The Cure, part 2!!
It all started going wrong with the first wrong diagnosis" Heartburn and abdominal pain", i was given acid blockers without even testing my stomach acid levels, my acid levels were too low, not too high, this causes "delayed gastric emptying" and this condition allows food to back flow up into the esophagus, after years of suffering from this condition, damage is done to the esophageal sphincter and it weakens and the condition gets noticeably worse, the doctors prescribe acid blockers purely to stop the stomach acids damaging and burning the esophagus, but what actually is happening is the condition is getting worse, "gastric emptying" is getting worse allowing more back flow,but we feel a bit better because it is not hurting as much when it does back flow into the esophagus, so we feel that we need them from then on and so your ready for bringing on the next stage of the illness.
What we need to realise is our Ph in the stomach ideally should be Ph2, very acidic, this is a perfect Ph level for breaking down the food, the Ph in your esophagus ideally should be 7 neutral, so just because you get acid burning your esophagus does not mean you should neutralize the acid, it only means you need to sort out the back flow issue. Imagine your acid level in your stomach was Ph4, this would still be acidic enough to damage the esophagus, but yet it is too alkaline to digest food properly, poor digestion causes "delayed gastric emptying" which as we know causes reflux, so with most people the problem is not too much acid but not enough, so if you increased your acid levels, the food would get digested properly and the reflux would not occur. Most of the other stomach ache symptoms most people describe is coming from not digesting food properly and "delayed gastric emptying". Acid blockers make this problem worse over time and so reflux becomes more frequent although not as painful, this causes the valves between the stomach and small intestines to get even more lax due to high pressure destruction and dilation, so here you are well on your way to fundoplication surgery.
Please do not think this covers all cases, a lot of people have severe "lower esophageal impedence" and do require this surgery, but i just want to point out that a lot of cases may be cured without surgery.
So i am now in a place where i am not digesting food properly, causing bloating, and nutrient deficiencies, and stomach gurgling scenes like something out of the film "Alien". Stomach acid is crucial for good health and should not be getting blocked or neutralized.
So the next step was "domperidone" an antagonist, to speed up gastric emptying, causing strong contractions throughout the esophagus, stomach and intestines, these really do work, but as with all western medicines, it has side effects, the powerful contractions can cause pains long term, in the esophagus and intestines, as my symptoms described above, the food is getting pushed through the system faster before acid has had a chance to break it down properly, the malnutrition problem gets worse when linked to acid blockers you end up with no energy and feeling unwell in general, you then start getting stressed about feeling so unwell all the time, and your health continues to spiral down.
So next the doctors try me on a muscle relaxant"antispasmodic" to reverse the side effects of the "domperidone", this causes the valves between the esophaugus, stomach and small intestines top relax also, which allows more reflux and backflow of stomach contents, now the stomach is not emptying properly again and backflow becomes worse, because the sphincter is now hardly working at all, even off the shelf drugs like "Buscopan" are well known to cause lax function of the stomach valves, so now we get "bile" also joining the party back flowing into the stomach, "delayed gastric emptying" mixed with "bile" causes a gaseous build up, the stomach wall is aggrevated and reflux becomes worse than ever, but now you have "bile" attacking you esophagus and the pain really starts, think about it, if acid blockers only give partial relief, then the pain can not be caused by acid, the acid has been neutralized, so what is aggrevating the esophagus? "BILE", a big first give away that your pain is "bile " related is exactly that" Acid blockers will only provide partial relief" other symptoms are as follows " pale stools", "high white blood cell count", "severe esophageal pains without heartburn", "burning sensation in the upper abdomen with muscle weakness and inflammation", "attacks mainly at night", "attacks brought on by fatty foods", "pain upper abdomen spreading to shoulders" but remember that esophageal spasms/pains brought on by reflux even when acid is neutralized, must eliminate acid as the cause!
So armed with all my research i demanded a PH test, and guess what, I did not have high acid levels in my esophagus but high alkaline levels, so they put doctors admitted it looks like "bile reflux" not "acid reflux", that's nice isn't it after 5 years of being on the wrong medication, 5 years of medication actually making the problem worse, i had research this myself and fought all the way otherwise i could still be getting batted back and forth with wrong medications.
Now remember back to when i spent 3 days in hospital with no medication and no food, and i felt great after, i was not eating, the bile was not being produced, the stomach was back to normal function after 3 days off the medication, funny that the cure was staring at me all along, stop all medication to get gastric emptying and acid levels back to normal and do not eat foods which promote the production of stomach bile and "fundoplication was not required", i now have the option of "bile diversion surgery" where the bile gets dumped further down the small intestines, to stop it entering the stomach, if you do not fight to find the underlying cause only "YOU" will suffer long term, "Esophageal cancer" "Stomach Cancer" is where it is ultimately heading with not much quality of life leading up.
I just hope that upon reading this, it may help some long term sufferers like myself and you can get diagnosed properly before its too late.
I have opted to not take the route of surgery for now, i am controlling my stomach bile by healthy eating, i am controlling reflux by eating small amounts regular and sleeping elevated, I am not taking any medication and gastric emptying has improved ten fold, my stomach valves are getting stronger and i am going to build on that, think about it, Q:How can bile get into your esophagus if your stomach is emptying properly? A: it can't!!
Remember where it all starts, maybe you used to over eat, maybe you just need to stop smoking, it can be a little problem that starts this whole thing, don't jump on the medication band wagon, i went to the doctors with a stomach discomfort and heartburn and ended up with a serious illness and in hospital several times, i was terrified at the thought of coming off acid blockers, i thought i would be in agony after 12 hours, the 1st day was very uncomfortable, but i did not get the "upper abdominal pain" i just ate dry toast every two hours and took sips of water in between, i could literally feel my stomach starting to digest food properly again, so there was no reflux, after sleeping elevated the next day, my stomach and body felt on the road to recovery this is just 24 hours and my body had almost returned to normal like somebody had turned the clock back 5 years.
Why are these cases increasing in number every year, 126million cases of GERD.
Acid blockers and indigestion remedies are the best selling drugs in the world, you really need to start reading about how the stomach acid works and what causes GERD before reaching for Acid blockers or Acid neutralizers ever again and doctors need to stop "putting a lid" on conditions with these medications. Good luck!
What we need to realise is our Ph in the stomach ideally should be Ph2, very acidic, this is a perfect Ph level for breaking down the food, the Ph in your esophagus ideally should be 7 neutral, so just because you get acid burning your esophagus does not mean you should neutralize the acid, it only means you need to sort out the back flow issue. Imagine your acid level in your stomach was Ph4, this would still be acidic enough to damage the esophagus, but yet it is too alkaline to digest food properly, poor digestion causes "delayed gastric emptying" which as we know causes reflux, so with most people the problem is not too much acid but not enough, so if you increased your acid levels, the food would get digested properly and the reflux would not occur. Most of the other stomach ache symptoms most people describe is coming from not digesting food properly and "delayed gastric emptying". Acid blockers make this problem worse over time and so reflux becomes more frequent although not as painful, this causes the valves between the stomach and small intestines to get even more lax due to high pressure destruction and dilation, so here you are well on your way to fundoplication surgery.
Please do not think this covers all cases, a lot of people have severe "lower esophageal impedence" and do require this surgery, but i just want to point out that a lot of cases may be cured without surgery.
So i am now in a place where i am not digesting food properly, causing bloating, and nutrient deficiencies, and stomach gurgling scenes like something out of the film "Alien". Stomach acid is crucial for good health and should not be getting blocked or neutralized.
So the next step was "domperidone" an antagonist, to speed up gastric emptying, causing strong contractions throughout the esophagus, stomach and intestines, these really do work, but as with all western medicines, it has side effects, the powerful contractions can cause pains long term, in the esophagus and intestines, as my symptoms described above, the food is getting pushed through the system faster before acid has had a chance to break it down properly, the malnutrition problem gets worse when linked to acid blockers you end up with no energy and feeling unwell in general, you then start getting stressed about feeling so unwell all the time, and your health continues to spiral down.
So next the doctors try me on a muscle relaxant"antispasmodic" to reverse the side effects of the "domperidone", this causes the valves between the esophaugus, stomach and small intestines top relax also, which allows more reflux and backflow of stomach contents, now the stomach is not emptying properly again and backflow becomes worse, because the sphincter is now hardly working at all, even off the shelf drugs like "Buscopan" are well known to cause lax function of the stomach valves, so now we get "bile" also joining the party back flowing into the stomach, "delayed gastric emptying" mixed with "bile" causes a gaseous build up, the stomach wall is aggrevated and reflux becomes worse than ever, but now you have "bile" attacking you esophagus and the pain really starts, think about it, if acid blockers only give partial relief, then the pain can not be caused by acid, the acid has been neutralized, so what is aggrevating the esophagus? "BILE", a big first give away that your pain is "bile " related is exactly that" Acid blockers will only provide partial relief" other symptoms are as follows " pale stools", "high white blood cell count", "severe esophageal pains without heartburn", "burning sensation in the upper abdomen with muscle weakness and inflammation", "attacks mainly at night", "attacks brought on by fatty foods", "pain upper abdomen spreading to shoulders" but remember that esophageal spasms/pains brought on by reflux even when acid is neutralized, must eliminate acid as the cause!
So armed with all my research i demanded a PH test, and guess what, I did not have high acid levels in my esophagus but high alkaline levels, so they put doctors admitted it looks like "bile reflux" not "acid reflux", that's nice isn't it after 5 years of being on the wrong medication, 5 years of medication actually making the problem worse, i had research this myself and fought all the way otherwise i could still be getting batted back and forth with wrong medications.
Now remember back to when i spent 3 days in hospital with no medication and no food, and i felt great after, i was not eating, the bile was not being produced, the stomach was back to normal function after 3 days off the medication, funny that the cure was staring at me all along, stop all medication to get gastric emptying and acid levels back to normal and do not eat foods which promote the production of stomach bile and "fundoplication was not required", i now have the option of "bile diversion surgery" where the bile gets dumped further down the small intestines, to stop it entering the stomach, if you do not fight to find the underlying cause only "YOU" will suffer long term, "Esophageal cancer" "Stomach Cancer" is where it is ultimately heading with not much quality of life leading up.
I just hope that upon reading this, it may help some long term sufferers like myself and you can get diagnosed properly before its too late.
I have opted to not take the route of surgery for now, i am controlling my stomach bile by healthy eating, i am controlling reflux by eating small amounts regular and sleeping elevated, I am not taking any medication and gastric emptying has improved ten fold, my stomach valves are getting stronger and i am going to build on that, think about it, Q:How can bile get into your esophagus if your stomach is emptying properly? A: it can't!!
Remember where it all starts, maybe you used to over eat, maybe you just need to stop smoking, it can be a little problem that starts this whole thing, don't jump on the medication band wagon, i went to the doctors with a stomach discomfort and heartburn and ended up with a serious illness and in hospital several times, i was terrified at the thought of coming off acid blockers, i thought i would be in agony after 12 hours, the 1st day was very uncomfortable, but i did not get the "upper abdominal pain" i just ate dry toast every two hours and took sips of water in between, i could literally feel my stomach starting to digest food properly again, so there was no reflux, after sleeping elevated the next day, my stomach and body felt on the road to recovery this is just 24 hours and my body had almost returned to normal like somebody had turned the clock back 5 years.
Why are these cases increasing in number every year, 126million cases of GERD.
Acid blockers and indigestion remedies are the best selling drugs in the world, you really need to start reading about how the stomach acid works and what causes GERD before reaching for Acid blockers or Acid neutralizers ever again and doctors need to stop "putting a lid" on conditions with these medications. Good luck!
I,m getting better with CHLOROPHYLL-CHLORELLA ...(liquid) i had o very bad situation... votiming black ,not digesting almost anything very weak because of malabsorbution and many other things that make my life misable.... but after these supplement , my life changes im very energeric, feeling well and and having digestive systems better and better daily.... try this out its amzing that all i can say. ..let me know or questions.
You are not being a pathetic wimp by any means, having raw nerve endings being aggrevated by stomach acid is by no means a nice feeling.
You know something is wrong and most feelings of dread originate from the stomach, doctors think that tests showing up negative is reassurance, what they need to do is start realizing that anxiety is not the problem, Gastritis is the problem that causes the anxiety, the night time jolting happened to me a lot, sometimes would feel like i would stop breathing due to the jolt that would wake me in the middle of the night.
I will say again"you are not being a wimp" combatting the anxiety is a very difficult thing to do.
Just one other thing, when you say all tests came back ok, i assumed the doctor tested you for Thyroid disorder? . Please get checked if not already done, you may have a double fault going on.
You know something is wrong and most feelings of dread originate from the stomach, doctors think that tests showing up negative is reassurance, what they need to do is start realizing that anxiety is not the problem, Gastritis is the problem that causes the anxiety, the night time jolting happened to me a lot, sometimes would feel like i would stop breathing due to the jolt that would wake me in the middle of the night.
I will say again"you are not being a wimp" combatting the anxiety is a very difficult thing to do.
Just one other thing, when you say all tests came back ok, i assumed the doctor tested you for Thyroid disorder? . Please get checked if not already done, you may have a double fault going on.
Hi,
I read your post and the symptoms perfectly fit "delayed gastric Emptying", the reason you are not having worse symptoms in because of your healthy lifestyle. My friend told me along time ago to drink some water and squeeze lemon juice into it every time i eat, i thought he was crazy, now i realize he was right, i don't do that but i do find drinking a glass of white wine with food actually helps my digestion.
It is very difficult to convince people who have been told for years by medical professionals that acid is the problem, that is completely the opposite.
I am glad you have found your route problem at an relatively early stage and can now rectify, it is really nice when i get people like you who are intelligent and insightful enough to trust my advice over a medical professional.
Some people can not be helped, my mother in law has many stomach complaints and has been on "omperazole" for 6 years, it is like talking to a brick wall, no matter how many times i have tried to help her and she can physically see i am cured my complaint, she will only listen top the doctors, some people can not be helped and i am sure you can imagine my frustration when i see her suffering and now how to cure her, and in 6 years the doctors have not been able to help her, she is now going for her 4th upper Gi endoscopy, no problem has ever been found.
She is an old lady, it is a medical fact that old people suffer from low stomach acid levels and all she is doing is lowering it even more with PPI drugs, needless to say i have stopped trying to help her but i still have to listen to her complaining about her stomach problems every day. :) what can you do?
I read your post and the symptoms perfectly fit "delayed gastric Emptying", the reason you are not having worse symptoms in because of your healthy lifestyle. My friend told me along time ago to drink some water and squeeze lemon juice into it every time i eat, i thought he was crazy, now i realize he was right, i don't do that but i do find drinking a glass of white wine with food actually helps my digestion.
It is very difficult to convince people who have been told for years by medical professionals that acid is the problem, that is completely the opposite.
I am glad you have found your route problem at an relatively early stage and can now rectify, it is really nice when i get people like you who are intelligent and insightful enough to trust my advice over a medical professional.
Some people can not be helped, my mother in law has many stomach complaints and has been on "omperazole" for 6 years, it is like talking to a brick wall, no matter how many times i have tried to help her and she can physically see i am cured my complaint, she will only listen top the doctors, some people can not be helped and i am sure you can imagine my frustration when i see her suffering and now how to cure her, and in 6 years the doctors have not been able to help her, she is now going for her 4th upper Gi endoscopy, no problem has ever been found.
She is an old lady, it is a medical fact that old people suffer from low stomach acid levels and all she is doing is lowering it even more with PPI drugs, needless to say i have stopped trying to help her but i still have to listen to her complaining about her stomach problems every day. :) what can you do?
Very interesting comments. I should have read yours before I posted mine. I never had any stomach issues until about a year ago when my physician told me that anyone who is on aspirin (even low dose like me) should be on a PPI...so off to omeprazole for me. Now I'm a mess...see my post. Many similar symptoms as yours. BMI 23, never smoked, exercise, not stressed except for the darn medical "professionals". So now I need to get off the PPI and see if my stomach can get back to normal. Slow emptying really seems to "fit the ticket" but doesnt seem as bad as when I read about gastroparesis. Personally, I cannot take Reglan and would advise against it. I also recently tried apple cider vinegar (2-3 tsp in 8 oz water) and it actually seemed to help which makes it that more apt to be low pH instead of too high a pH. Certainly didnt cause any "burning" which even now I dont have...just that feeling of not emptying for a long time.Well guess we'll see where it goes from here. Thanks.
What you must have been through! I appreciate your reassureance and for explaining all the stomach and muscle issues. I will stop being a pathetic wimp and get this anxiety in hand. I have kept refusing the PPI's but everyone I know just thinks that I am being stubborn. Gonna stay strong on that one two! Positive, Positive, Positive. Massage and probiotics to start.
Thanks so much
Thanks so much
I heard about probiotics and took some in the form of those drinks that you can buy in the
supermarket and yes, you are right they did make me feel worse. I will now either try them again and just sip it, or get some in tablet form and stick with them longer. Thank you :-)
supermarket and yes, you are right they did make me feel worse. I will now either try them again and just sip it, or get some in tablet form and stick with them longer. Thank you :-)
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