My Acid Reflux / Heartburn / GERD Problem - What to do?

[Winston]

Hi all,
I have a problem with acid reflux in my chest. Often I feel a surge of acid coming up in my chest and throat. Sometimes, in the morning when I take the first few bites of breakfast or lunch, I feel this intense pain like I'm choking in my chest. It's horrible. It feels like I'm going to die when that happens. I though it was because my chest was "choking" on the food and wouldn't allow it to pass through for some reason, but after looking it up online, I found out that it's called "GERD", which is an acid reflux disease or disorder.

When this happens, I can often relieve the chest pain by drinking something, which has worked in the past, making me think that the food was simply clogged in my chest. But now, it happens more frequently and the water doesn't always relieve the chest pain right away (as it did in the past when this happened less frequently).

What should I do about this? Is taking TUM's enough? (Btw, I can't find my pack of TUM's from Costco. After Dianne's family stayed in my apartment while I was gone, a number of things disappeared, including my TUM's, I don't know why, and they only sell it per tablet here in the Philippines, not in a pack). If I went to a doctor, what would he do? Give me Zantac or Nexium?

I still have loads of Zantac and Nexium tablets from long ago when doctors prescribed them to me. But I stopped taking them after a while when I no longer had acid reflux problems. Now they've started again though. Does Zantac or Nexium cure this acid reflux problem, or do you have to take it forever to control the symptoms? I'm taking enough pills and vitamins daily as it is and don't want to add any more.

Anyone experience this too? If so, what do you suggest?

Are there any "natural" remedies that the pharmaceutical companies are suppressing?

Thanks,
Winston

[Mr S]

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/artic ... -Much.aspx

News Flash: Acid Reflux Caused by Too Little Acid, Not Too Much...

Acid reflux is an extremely common health problem. So common in fact, it affects one out of two of you watching this video. Other terms used for this condition are gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), or peptic ulcer disease. Typically, acid reflux is thought to be caused by having too much acid in your stomach.

This is a serious medical mistake that affects hundreds of millions of people.

What’s the REAL Cause of Acid Reflux?

It’s important to understand that acid reflux is NOT a disease of too much acid being produced, but rather it’s a condition related more commonly to hiatal hernia – a condition in which the acid is coming out of your stomach, where it’s supposed to remain.

After food passes through your esophagus into your stomach, a muscular valve called the lower esophageal sphincter (LES) closes, preventing food or acid to move back up. Gastroesophageal reflux occurs when the LES relaxes inappropriately, allowing acid from your stomach to flow (reflux) backward into your esophagus.

Heartburn is the primary symptom of acid reflux; a burning sensation that radiates up from your stomach to your chest and throat. It’s typically most bothersome at night, and tends to occur in connection with certain activities, such as:

After eating a heavy meal
Bending over
Lifting
Lying down, especially when laying on your back
Other symptoms include:

Hoarseness
A feeling that food is stuck in your throat
Tightness in your throat
Wheezing
Asthma
Dental problems
Bad breath
While I was in residency training in medical school in the early 80s, an Australian physician named Dr. Barry Marshall did some pioneering work on acid reflux. He discovered that an organism called helicobacter pylori (initially called campylobacter) causes a chronic low-level inflammation of your stomach lining, and is responsible, or at least a major factor, for producing many of the symptoms of acid reflux.

There are over 16,000 articles supporting the fact that suppressing stomach acid does not treat the problem. It only treats the symptoms. And one of the explanations for this is that when you suppress the amount of acid in your stomach, you decrease your body’s ability to kill the helicobacter bacteria. So it actually makes your condition worse and perpetuates the problem.

Of course now we have treatments such as antibiotics that are designed to eradicate that organism. However, I’ve found that it’s virtually never necessary to use antibiotics, and I’ll share several simple, effective strategies to eliminate the helicobacter without the use of drugs.

How to Wean Yourself Off Dangerous Acid Reflux Drugs

If you suffer with this condition, and made the unwise choice of seeing a conventional physician for it, you’ve likely been put on a proton pump inhibitor like Prilosec or Prevacid.

Please understand that these are very dangerous drugs. It’s the last thing you’ll want to take for this condition.

Unfortunately, proton pump inhibitors are very popular because they work quite well. However, you’ll develop both tolerance and dependence on them, so you can’t stop taking them without suffering serious repercussions.

You should NEVER stop taking proton pump inhibitors cold turkey. You have to wean yourself off them gradually or else you’ll experience a severe rebound of your symptoms, and the problem may end up being worse than before you started taking the medication.

Ideally, you’ll want to get a lower dose than you’re on now, and then gradually decrease your dose. Once you get down to the lowest dose of the proton pump inhibitor, you can start substituting with an over-the-counter H2 blocker like Tagamet, Cimetidine, Zantac, or Raniditine. Then gradually wean off the H2 blocker over the next several weeks.

Safe and Effective Strategies That Can Eliminate Acid Reflux

While you wean yourself off these drugs (if you’re already on one), you’ll want to start implementing a lifestyle modification program that can eliminate this condition once and for all.

These strategies include:

Eliminating food triggers -- Food allergies can be a problem, so you’ll want to completely eliminate items such as caffeine, alcohol, and all nicotine products.

Increasing your body’s natural production of stomach acid -- Like I said earlier, acid reflux is not caused by too much acid in your stomach -- it’s usually a problem with too little acid. One of the simplest strategies to encourage your body to make sufficient amounts of hydrochloric acid (stomach acid) is to consume enough of the raw material.

One of the simplest, most basic food items that many people neglect is a high quality sea salt (unprocessed salt).

I recommend eliminating processed, regular table salt for a lot of different reasons, all of which I’ve reviewed before. But an unprocessed salt like Himalayan salt -- one of the best salts on the planet – will not only provide you with the chloride your body needs to make hydrochloric acid, it also contains over 80 trace minerals your body needs to perform optimally, biochemically.

Taking a hydrochloric acid supplement – Another option is to take a betaine hydrochloric supplement, which is available in health food stores without prescription. You’ll want to take as many as you need to get the slightest burning sensation and then decrease by one capsule. This will help your body to better digest your food, and will also help kill the helicobacter and normalize your symptoms.

Modifying your diet – Eating large amounts of processed foods and sugars is a surefire way to exacerbate acid reflux as it will upset the bacterial balance in your stomach and intestine.

Instead, you’ll want to eat a lot of vegetables, and high quality, organic, biodynamic, and locally grown foods. You can also supplement with a high quality probiotic or make sure you include fermented foods in your diet. This will help balance your bowel flora, which can help eliminate helicobacter naturally.

Optimizing your vitamin D levels -- As I’ve mentioned many times in the past, vitamin D is essential, and it’s essential for this condition as well because there’s likely an infectious component causing the problem. Once your vitamin D levels are optimized, you’re also going to optimize your production of 200 antimicrobial peptides that will help your body eradicate any infections that shouldn’t be there.

You’ll want to make sure your vitamin D level is about 60 ng/ml, and I strongly recommend you use LabCorp, which is a high quality testing facility.

As I’ve discussed in many previous articles, you can increase your vitamin D levels through appropriate amounts of sun exposure, or through the use of a safe tanning bed.

If neither of those are available, you can take an oral vitamin D3 supplement. However, whenever you use oral vitamin D, it’s imperative you get tested regularly to make sure you’re not reaching toxic levels.

Implementing an exercise routine – Exercise is yet another way to improve your body’s immune system, which is imperative to fight off all kinds of infections.

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/artic ... eflux.aspx

Herbal Therapy Works On Acid Reflux

Treating or preventing reflux esophagitis may be as simple as supplementing traditional acid suppression treatment with an antioxidant extract of the wormwood herb Artemisia asiatica.

Reflux esophagitis is an inflammation of the esophagus caused by regurgitation of the stomach contents, or acid reflux. The condition is more commonly recognized by its symptom of heartburn which reportedly affects 10% of American adults every day.

Currently the treatment of reflux esophagitis is mostly based on the suppression of acid. Therapy with readily available antioxidants such as vegetables and fruits may help prevent and treat the condition, researchers noted.

Investigators surgically induced reflux esophagitis in 60 rats and divided them into four different groups: one that received no treatment; two that were pretreated with 30 milligrams (mg) and 100 mg, respectively, of the oral antioxidant; and one that received the traditional Zantac treatment. A fifth group that was not subjected to reflux disease was used for comparison.

The antioxidant treatment, as opposed to the traditional drug therapy, decreased the severity of reflux disease and was more protective against ulceration and inflammation of the esophagus. The best results were seen in rats that received 100 mg of the antioxidant.

For example, 80% of the rats that received no treatment developed large ulcers in the lower and middle parts of the esophagus, compared with 27% of the rats that received 30 mg of antioxidant treatment and 20% of the rats that received 100 mg of the antioxidant, the report indicates. In contrast, nearly two thirds of the rats that received the acid suppressant developed ulcers.

Rats treated with the antioxidant also exhibited greater evidence of healing in the affected areas of the esophagus and less cell damage than did the rats treated with ranitidine.

The rat model is unlike human reflux disease, particularly because "humans do extremely well on acid suppression," one of the authors noted

Gut September 2001;49:364-371



Dr. Mercola's Comments:




It is important to recognize that drugs are not the answer here. Many may not remember that Propulsid was frequently used for this condition and pulled from the market last year after causing many deaths.

It is interesting to note that the anti-parasite herb, artemesia, seems to be useful for this condition. However, although it is safer, it is also still a bandaid. As I state below, garlic is a far less expensive, and considerably more effective option.

From my April 2001 Comment:

The January 8, 2001 issue of Business Week mentions that Priolsec is the top selling prescription drug in the world. It earns Astra Zeneca (the drug's maker) 6 billion dollars per year.

The drug, and others like it, clearly are effective at what they do or there is no way in the world these companies could convince people to buy them. BUT they do NOT solve the problem. In fact, they actually worsen it.

Then, when you are using the wrong solution for the problem, you are bound to have problems. Drugs are rarely, if ever, indictated for the common ulcer and associated stomach problems. The proton pump inhibitors like Prevacid and Prilosec and the H2 blocker agents like Tagament, Pepcid, and Zantac are some of the worst drugs that you could possible take.

Why?

They significantly reduce the amount of acid you have and with that your ability to properly digest food. Reduction of acid in the stomach also diminishes your primary defense mechanism for food borne infections and will increase your risk of food poisoning.

What are the options? Normally following the food choice program and drinking about one gallon of pure water per day along with high doses of a good quality probiotic (benefical bacteria) is enough to restore normal stomach function in the vast majority of patients.

Occasionally, those with a hiatal hernia will require additional structural adjustments and the one I currently find that works the best is NST.
Garlic is one food that you should be eating every day. Dr. Klinghardt and I are very impressed with its ability to optimize bowel flora and kill pathogenic organisms such as H. pylori.

It is important to note that the garlic MUST be fresh. The active ingredient is destroyed within several hours of smashing the garlic.

Garlic pills are virtually worthless and should not be used. When you use the garlic it will be important to compress the garlic with a spoon prior to swallowing it if you are not going to juice it. If you swallow the clove intact you will not convert the allicin to its active ingredient.

One problem, of course, is the smell, but generally a few cloves a day are tolerated by most people. If one develops a "socially offensive" odor then all you do is slightly decrease the volume of garlic until there is no odor present.

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/artic ... tburn.aspx

How to Recognize and Treat Upset Stomach and Heartburn

By Dr. Joseph Mercola with Rachael Droege

Millions of people suffer from Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD), which is sometimes referred to as reflux or reflux esophagitis. Although almost everyone experiences reflux at some time--it occurs when acid from the stomach backs up into the esophagus--some people experience it frequently and severely.

About 40 million Americans suffer from frequent heartburn, the most common symptom of GERD, which usually occurs after a meal. Regurgitation of gastric acid or sour contents into the mouth, difficult or painful swallowing and chest pain can also occur. Acid may also be regurgitated into the lungs, which can result in asthma, coughing, wheezing and hoarseness, and if acid reaches the mouth it can dissolve teeth enamel.
Fortunately, the treatment of GERD is one of the easiest issues I resolve in my clinical practice. Routinely maintaining the healthy eating program in my book, The No-Grain Diet, and drinking up to one gallon of pure water per day combined with high doses of a good quality probiotic (beneficial bacteria), is enough to restore normal stomach function in the vast majority of patients. Normally you will want to drink enough water to keep your urine a light yellow color. However, when you have acid reflux or ulcer disease, larger amounts of water may be necessary to dilute the acid and normalize the pH in your stomach.

Elimination of sugar is also a major effective strategy that aids healing. If you are overweight the elimination of most grains will also be helpful by lowering insulin levels.

People with GERD are often warned against eating fatty foods, but studies have shown that it is actually too many calories--not too much fat--that results in stomach upset, so I don’t typically recommend that patients with GERD follow a strictly low-fat diet. Part of the reason why a low-fat diet is destined to be a disaster is that it tends to be high in grains. High-grain diets will cause your insulin levels to elevate, which in turn will cause a whole domino series of biochemical interactions that will push a person away from health.

High insulin levels are associated with a wide variety of health problems such as:

obesity
high blood pressure
high cholesterol
diabetes
Even if these conditions are not expressed clinically they may have sub-threshold effects, which worsen the GERD and ulcer conditions. It is also believed that an infection called H. pylori may cause ulcers. High insulin levels will cause disruption of the immune system and decrease your ability to fight this infection.

Adequate vitamin D intake is also an important variable for stomach health. Normally, sunshine is the ideal source for vitamin D, but over half the United States does not have adequate sources of sunshine for a large percentage of the year, so you may need to supplement your diet. Vitamin D3 (not vitamin D2, which is synthetic) is the preferred form.

An excellent source of vitamin D is cod liver oil, which will also provide you with beneficial omega-3s. I recommend krill oil.

Garlic is also important for stomach health, and you should be eating it every day. It is important to note that the garlic MUST be fresh. The active ingredient is destroyed within several hours of smashing the garlic. Garlic pills are virtually worthless and should not be used. When you use the garlic, it is important to compress the garlic with a spoon prior to swallowing it if you are not going to juice it. If you swallow the clove intact you will not convert the allicin to its active ingredient. One problem, of course, is the smell, but most people can tolerate a few cloves a day. If you develop a "socially offensive" odor, then decrease the volume of garlic slightly until there is no odor present.

With these inexpensive, safe and extremely effective natural solutions out there, it’s unfortunate that so many people are being prescribed drugs for heartburn. Drugs for stomach and upper digestive system problems are among the largest selling medicines in the country, and sales amount to billions of dollars per year. Although the drugs--proton pump inhibitors like Prevacid, Prilosec and Nexium and the H2 blocker agents like Tagament, Pepcid and Zantac--do provide relief for this problem, they are true prescriptions for disaster, and they seriously impair your digestion.

One of the problems with these drugs is that they significantly reduce the amount of acid in your stomach, thus affecting your ability to properly digest food. Reduction of acid in the stomach also diminishes your primary defense mechanism for food-borne infections, thereby increasing your risk of food poisoning.

Additionally, if you don't digest and absorb your food properly you will not only increase your risk of stomach atrophy but also nearly every other chronic degenerative disease.

These drugs are touted as a miracle cure for heartburn for millions of people and are major moneymakers for the drug companies. Consider the mass marketing tactics of Prilosec, the original "Purple Pill" for heartburn that became the world’s best-selling prescription drug, the number one medication prescribed for seniors, and made profits of $6 billion a year.

When the patent on Prilosec expired, the drug’s manufacturer, AstraZeneca, started a half-a-billion-dollar marketing campaign to move consumers onto their next costly "Purple Pill," Nexium. They even hired 1,300 sales reps just to promote the new drug.

Although studies showed, and many experts agreed, that Nexium was hardly more effective than the original pill, AstraZeneca was able to successfully transfer 42 percent of patients on Prilosec to Nexium. As a consumer it’s important that you are aware of when a drug is truly a necessity, and when it is simply a tool to increase drug companies’ profits.

Most people ignore that heartburn is an important clue from their body that something is off kilter and rely on these drugs to suppress the symptoms. But covering up the symptoms will not solve the underlying problem, and if you don’t address the cause you will likely end up with more serious problems down the road.

[momopi]

Hi all,
I have a problem with acid reflux in my chest. Often I feel a surge of acid coming up in my chest and throat. Sometimes, in the morning when I take the first few bites of breakfast or lunch, I feel this intense pain like I'm choking in my chest. It's horrible. It feels like I'm going to die when that happens. I though it was because my chest was "choking" on the food and wouldn't allow it to pass through for some reason, but after looking it up online, I found out that it's called "GERD", which is an acid reflux disease or disorder.

Go see a doctor.

Are there any "natural" remedies that the pharmaceutical companies are suppressing?

The PC term for alt.remedy today is Complimentary & Alternative Medicine (CAM). You can read an expanded description from the US Congress mandated National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) -- your tax dollars paid for this:
http://nccam.nih.gov/health/whatiscam/
http://ods.od.nih.gov/


Mother's market is also a good resource:
http://www.mothersmarket.com/mothers-un ... nt-options
http://www.mothersmarketonline.com/comm ... 4W74AAFP7A


There are also several Herb magazines that deal with medicinal use:
http://www.herbquarterly.com/



There are strict laws governing the advertisement and labeling of medicines and cures. Unless if your product has gone through the FDA approval process, you cannot advertise your product as a cure for medical condition. Obviously the small herbal remedy company cannot afford that, so the products are sold as botanical dietary supplements. I have one client that makes algae supplements, I think they're a bit odd but hey, there's a lot of potential in in turning that stuff into fuel.

[globetrotter]

1) Stop eating what you are eating
2) Buy a bottle of white vinegar and swallow a tablespoon when this happens

[i_want_a_hot_white_chick]

What should I do about this? Is taking TUM's enough? (Btw, I can't find my pack of TUM's from Costco. After Dianne's family stayed in my apartment while I was gone, a number of things disappeared, including my TUM's, I don't know why, and they only sell it per tablet here in the Philippines, not in a pack). If I went to a doctor, what would he do? Give me Zantac or Nexium?

There are a few things that you can do that should reduce your symptoms without having to take medicine.

1. Raise the head of your bed 6 to 8 inches (like put a few thick hardcover books under the two feet at the end of the bed that your head is. That way, the acid will be less likely to flow into your throat.

2. Sleep on your left side. For some reason this is supposed to help.

3. Don't eat at least 3 hours before you go to sleep.

4. Avoid certain foods known to increase reflux such as hard candy, mints, and coffee.

I wouldn't recommend you eat too many Tums. You might end up eating too much calcium and get a kidney stone. Also, as mentioned before in Mr. S's post the prescription medicines have certain risks associated with them. The four steps above should probably solve your problem. If those 4 steps don't solve your problem then you might have Helicobacter Pylori, a bacterial infection of the stomach that increases acid production. To get rid of this, you will need to see your doctor and have him put you on medicine to get rid of the Helicobacter.

I would recommend that you see your doctor anyway though, since it is possible that the acid reflux is a sign of some other underlying condition such as stomach cancer or barrett's esophagus. Just have the doctor rule out other more serious conditions.

[Winston]

Hi all,
I'm not sure what to do now. A few months ago, looking for instant relief from my heartburn symptoms, which were getting worse, I went to the doctor and was given Nexium to take. It worked immediately.

But the thing is, it is very expensive here at 110p per tablet. I was fortunate to be given a 50 percent off discount card.

Now the thing is, the Nexium website says you are supposed to only take it for 6 to 8 weeks. I told my doctor this, but she insists that I keep taking it indefinitely and that it was fine to do so.

Should I listen to her?

The problem is, once I stop taking it for two days, my nasty heartburn symptoms come right back, making me very uncomfortable. But if I continue taking it indefinitely, I risk violating the Nexium website's recommendation about taking it for only 6 to 8 weeks.

What should I do? It looks like my body is hooked on it.

The doctor said that usually symptoms get better after a few months of taking it and then stopping it. But she said that I'd have to be taking it everyday and I do not always remember to take it everyday. So what if I made sure to take it everyday? Would my acid reflux be a lot better so that I could stop taking this medication?

Or should I switch to another proton pump inhibitor? The alternative remedies are probably spotty and inconsistent may not work at all. But Nexium works really fast and is more reliable and certain.

Any suggestions?

Should I print out the Mercola article above and show it to my doctor and ask her to prescribe antibiotics for that bacteria that the article says causes acid reflux?

I've already reduced my Nexium dose from 40mg to 20mg, to try to gradually wean off it.

[Winston]

Hi all,
Today I went to the doctor and showed her a printout of that Dr. Mercola article above posted by Mr S. She didn't like what it had to say, but said she'd take a look at it.

I asked her about the heliobacter pylori bacteria that is said to cause ulcers and acid reflux. She said she would refer me to a gastrointestinalologist to have me tested for it.

In regards to my constant fevers, headache, semi-diarrhea and coughing over the past two weeks, she said that it could not be from a normal flu and scheduled me for a blood test, urine test, stool test, and other tests.

In the meantime, I've followed the advice of the Mercola article above by getting probiotic supplements and garlic cloves to crush. We'll see if that helps take care of whatever infection I have.

[pete98146]

Winston....

Have you tried treating it with ginger? http://www.livestrong.com/article/6542- ... id-reflux/

[Winston]

Winston....

Have you tried treating it with ginger? http://www.livestrong.com/article/6542- ... id-reflux/

No but I will try that when I get off my proton inhibitors.

How much ginger and what kind should you take?

I am also taking crushed garlic cloves and probiotics too. Hopefully that will help?

[Winston]

Hi all,
When I met up with fschmidt, I talked to him about my acid reflux problem, and how it won't go away because after I stop taking Zantac or one of the proton pump inhibitors, it comes right back again, but with a vengeance.

He told me that he had the same problem with acid reflux before, and that taking medicines that suppress stomach acid is not good for you because you are messing with your stomach's natural system.

He solved the problem by taking some hydrochloric acid, to compensate for the lack of acid that your stomach perceives. The principle is the same as Renata's chemistry law of like cancels out like, when she suggested that putting olive oil on your face would solve the oily skin problem. Likewise, taking acid to make up for the body's perceived lack of acid helps stop the stomach from overproducing acid.

What do you think? Does that make sense? I'm not sure where you can get hydrochloric acid though.

Fschmidt, did doing that make your acid reflux and heartburn go away for good? Or does it still come back occasionally to where you have to take it again once in a while?

I did some Google research into this, and found that drinking Apple Cider Vinegar mixed with water helps too, probably for the same reason since it's an acidic substance. Take a look.

http://www.refluxmd.com/learn/resources ... cid-reflux

There are other natural remedies too, such as baking soda, chewing gum, ginger, and probiotic supplements. See here:

http://www.refluxmd.com/learn/resources ... tment-gerd

http://www.wikihow.com/Treat-Acid-Reflux

Here is a female Asian doctor talking about natural remedies for acid reflux.

[fschmidt]

My acid reflux was really bad, and I mostly fixed it with hydrochloric acid. Basically I took hydrochloric acid with meals and avoided problematic foods until my esophagus healed. Now I still have occasional problems when I eat bad food. I am a chocolate addict and chocolate is the worst, so eating too much chocolate gives me acid. Also eating sweets before sleeping gives me acid. But this is minor and fixed with Tums. When I don't eat these foods, I don't have problems.

My main source of info was the book Why Stomach Acid Is Good for You. And I took Betaine Hydrochloride. I suggest you read the book before doing anything.

[MrPeabody]

It's pretty simple. People are eating like pigs which affects their digestion. When I overate I had similar problems and would even wake up in the middle of the night with hiccups. Since then I lost 60 pounds on a diet, eat healthy foods, and I am careful not to each too much. I have never had any problems since.

[TopSpruce]

Hi all,
I have a problem with acid reflux in my chest. Often I feel a surge of acid coming up in my chest and throat. Sometimes, in the morning when I take the first few bites of breakfast or lunch, I feel this intense pain like I'm choking in my chest. It's horrible. It feels like I'm going to die when that happens. I though it was because my chest was "choking" on the food and wouldn't allow it to pass through for some reason, but after looking it up online, I found out that it's called "GERD", which is an acid reflux disease or disorder.

When this happens, I can often relieve the chest pain by drinking something, which has worked in the past, making me think that the food was simply clogged in my chest. But now, it happens more frequently and the water doesn't always relieve the chest pain right away (as it did in the past when this happened less frequently).

What should I do about this? Is taking TUM's enough? (Btw, I can't find my pack of TUM's from Costco. After Dianne's family stayed in my apartment while I was gone, a number of things disappeared, including my TUM's, I don't know why, and they only sell it per tablet here in the Philippines, not in a pack). If I went to a doctor, what would he do? Give me Zantac or Nexium?

I still have loads of Zantac and Nexium tablets from long ago when doctors prescribed them to me. But I stopped taking them after a while when I no longer had acid reflux problems. Now they've started again though. Does Zantac or Nexium cure this acid reflux problem, or do you have to take it forever to control the symptoms? I'm taking enough pills and vitamins daily as it is and don't want to add any more.

Anyone experience this too? If so, what do you suggest?

Are there any "natural" remedies that the pharmaceutical companies are suppressing?

Thanks,
Winston

I had the same condition but I cured it.
2 things:

1. Eat smaller meals and lower the amount of fat and moderate amouts of protein.
2. Licorice root. Available in chinese groceries. Proven to be one of the best remedies for stomach problems...just don't over do it. Don't use it for more than a week at a time and don't take too much licorice. Works magic on actually healing the stomach and esophagus.

Ginger also works well to sooth the stomach. It helped me too.

Good luck.

[Jonny Law]

LISTEN TO ME WINSTON GOD DAMB IT!!! DRINK BAKING SODA!!!!!!!! DO IT! IT IS CHEAP AND EVERYONE YOU COMPLICATED ADIVCE LIKE THE VIDEO OF THE ASIAN BITCH, SHE IS JUST A BITCH THAT IS ALL SHE IS!!! FILL A GLASS WITH WATER OR WHATEVER ADD A SCOOP OF BAKING SODA !!! CURES FUC*ING CANCER ALSO!!! DRINK IT!

[Jonny Law]

OK DON'T BELIEVE ME YOU JER* THEN LISTEN TO THIS IDIOT
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgBql4N9xGs