The Heartburn & Acid Reflux Blog

Acid Reflux/Heartburn Drugs: A $7 Billion Industry

Now that I'm doing more reading about healing heartburn/acid reflux (naturally), I'm finding more and more doctors writing about how h2 inhibitors and drugs that neutralize acid in your stomach are... well, basically a bad idea.  We blame acid in our stomach for our heartburn symptoms, when "chances are very high--over 90 percent--that the real culprit is likely underproduction of stomach acid.  Heartburn means that some of that small amount of acid is turning up in the wrong place, causing the burning feeling."  That's from Why Stomach Acid is Good for You, a book written by an M.D. and a Ph.D.  It goes on to list natural ways to cure heartburn/acid reflux/GERD (whatever the label of the week is). 

What's surprising (shocking/distressing) to me is how few doctors seem to steer you toward natural treatments, instead pushing drugs.  (My own doctor said, oh just take Prilosec every day... that'll make things better.).  The thing is "the market for antacids and acid-blocking drugs amounts to more than $7 billion per year.  The actual facts about digestive failure are literarily drowned in the sea of advertising and patent medicine (pharmaceutical) industry-sponsored research designed to sustain the profits made from this superficial and profoundly misguided 'treatment' of indigestion, heartburn, and accompanying symptoms."

Scary, hunh?

Source: Why Stomach Acid is Good for You

Candidiasis (Candida) Test

I'm reading all about Candida right now.  If I'm getting this right, it's a yeast that resides in your GI system, and it can inflame the gut walls to provoke gas, bloating, indigestion, or alternating constipation and diarrhea.  Or it can also inflame the lower esophagus/stomach to cause burning or heartburn.  Apparently, it grows rampant especially if you've taken antibiotics that killed off the bacteria in your body (good as well as bad).  It can also come from diets high in sugar, medications like prednisone, birth control pills, and synthetic estrogens.  It sounds like it can be responsible for all sorts of problems.  I found a test (questionnaire) online that you can take to see if you're a likely candidate for Candida problems:

Candidiasis Self-Assessment Testing

Tums, Not a Good Source of Calcium After All

I'm working my way through a book called No More Heartburn: Stop the Pain in 30 Days--Naturally.  One of the things the author (Sherry A. Rogers, M.D.) brings up is how antacids like Tums aren't a good solution for heartburn.  "...for years medical studies have shown that when you use milk or antacids to sop up acid, the stomach 'rebounds' or compensates by sending out extra acid next time."  So basically Tums just makes things worse. 

I've been as guilty of using them as the next person.  I'm not sure they ever helped my heartburn that much, but I figured, hey, at least they have calcium in them, so they ought to be good for you, right?  Apparently not: "Tums is calcium carbonate, or chalk.  It works to quell an inflamed stomach by sopping up acid.  Nonetheless, the body needs acid to help it absorb calcium.  So how much calcium can be absorbed?  Not much at all..."  Tums may be a source of calcium, but the way it's delivered means the body can't use it.  Bummer, hunh?

Source: No More Heartburn: Stop the Pain in 30 Days--Naturally

Weight Loss, Grrr.

One of the first recommendations doctors make when you tell them you have trouble with heartburn or acid reflux is to lose weight.  Okay, so I did this.  Over the course of a year or so, I went from 30% body fat to about 21% body fat (I'm female, so that's pretty darned healthy), losing roughly 35 pounds.  I am maintaining it, but this lose hasn't resulted in an improvement of my acid reflux symptoms.  I'm sure my diet could still be better (I've ordered a couple books on eating to get rid of heartburn and other digestive troubles), but it's rather depressing that this hasn't been enough to make a difference.  (Of course, it is nice to fit into smaller clothes and feel better about my body, but considering the trouble with acid reflux was the whole reason I started this... it's a bummer.)  Anybody else have similar results?  Or did losing weight help with your symptoms?

Almonds?

Let's face it: when you get heartburn symptoms (especially if it interferes with your sleep), you start hunting all over the web for possible remedies.  (Out of desperation, I've tried some wacky ones.)  I came across several recommendations for almonds (yes, the nuts) from people who had had success dealing with heartburn flare ups by eating a handful of almonds.  I tried it without much success, but hey, it might work for you.  Here are a couple links to sites where people swore by them:

http://parents.berkeley.edu/advice/health/reflux.html

http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art37879.asp

Drugs, Why Are Doctors Always So Quick to Prescribe Them?

I have a lot of respect for doctors (though I've decided to seek out a new general practitioner because mine tends to answer all questions with drugs and "here, I have some samples" (of something new that's barely been clinically tested)), but when I repeatedly bring up my problems with heartburn, all my doctor has suggested is using Prilosec on a daily basis (instead of the for-two-weeks-every-four-months that's recommended on the back of the box).  I've avoided this advice because I have a hard time believing taking a drug every day is the answer, and I'm terrified that it'll do more harm in the long run.  That's why I've decided to go quits on the Prilosec altogether (it never helped me that much anyway) as well as Tums and other over-the-counter stuff. 

I've ordered a couple books on natural remedies, because I have a feeling this is going to be about making a lifestyle change in the end.  I'm one of those driven Type A personality types who can't stop thinking about work and plans and whatnot at the end of the day.  I have a feeling stress and the inability to relax my body is a big part of the problem.  I'm sure there are diet changes that could help to (I'll talk more about this later).

The other suggestion my doctor made was to make an appointment with a specialist and have a scope stuck down my esophagus, so some experts can check it out.  It sounds rather unpleasant, and I'm going to avoid this unless it's the last possible resort.  I want to try everything in these books first.  I'm willing to make a lifestyle change if that's the problem (I would be surprised if it wasn't; this is such a modern disease... I mean heartburn has been around forever, but chronic problems seem to be a more modern problem in our fast-paced stress-dripping lives). 

I'm looking forward to getting the books I ordered on heart burn, and I'll post here what I learn from them.

Heartburn Linked to Esophageal Cancer

This is always comforting to read when you are a heartburn sufferer: "Heartburn, that almost quintessential American medical malady, appears to be driving the nation's fastest-increasing type of cancer... The cancer, a type of esophageal disease called adenocarcinoma, is relatively rare. However, incidence has jumped sixfold in the past 30 years."

That's the big fear, isn't it?  I mean, sure, heartburn/acid reflux is inconvenient, but in my case my life is still pretty normal.  It doesn't bother me in the day (though it can really torment me at night and affect my sleep), and I can almost forget about it a lot of the time.  But this fear is always in the back of my mind, that hey, this could lead to cancer if you don't do something about it...  It's bad enough I lived in an apartment under power lines for a year.  How often can your body be expected to beat the odds?  This is why I've started this blog and really want to do something about it.

Full article: Heartburn suspected in rise in cancer rate

First Post

I'm 28, female, and have had issues with heartburn (AKA GERD, acid reflux disease) for a few years already.  It's frustrating, if only because you expect these problems to start when you get older.  After yet another night where I have trouble sleeping (I get pain/pressure in my chest, that makes it hard to relax and fall asleep), I've decided to start a blog about this and take it more seriously.  If I had trouble every single night, I probably would have made that decision a while ago, but it comes and goes, troubling me for a week or two, then being less of an issue for a while.  I've spent lots of time on the Internet surfing for natural remedies (I've been to the doctor but I'll discuss how rather unhelpful that was in another post) and haven't really found anything that worked.  I finally broke down and ordered a handful of books with good reviews from Amazon that are supposed to have advice on how to fight heartburn and other digestion ailments naturally.  (I've tried Prilosec but it hasn't been stellar, and I'm very concerned about the long term effects of using drugs like this.)

So, basically this blog is going to explain the steps I take in trying to fight acid reflux, including what works for me and what doesn't.  I'll also be posting snippets of news articles and information from the books I read.  My hope is that when other people who have this problem are out surfing the web in the middle of the night, they'll at least find a useful source to read and maybe be comforted by finding someone else with common problems.