GERD, Acid Rebound, and Quitting PPI's
Hi Ted, I found your email from earthclinic.com and thought I might get a better result from emailing you directly.
I have GERD (plus a hiatal hernia) and had been taking various PPI's for a year—I just quit them a month ago after finding out how bad they are for you and that they don't solve the actual GERD problem.
I've been dealing with acid rebound ever since, which I understand is very common with people quitting PPI's cold turkey and can last 4-8 weeks. I've been on a no carb/sugar/gluten/etc + HCL, DGL and probiotics diet for 3 weeks in hopes of curing this once and for all.
A couple days ago I burped up a bunch of acid, which never happens, and my throat has been burning ever since. I'm wondering if I'm actually producing too much acid now considering I'm in the middle of acid rebound plus I'm taking 1200mg of HCL with each meal.
Have you encountered this yet? I'm really surprised that I can't find anyone else who has—considering there's so many people coming off PPI's and switching over to this type of diet. I'm wondering if I should just quit taking HCL for a while, even though they are supposed to be an essential part of healing.
I'd love to hear your thoughts. Thank you!
One of the remedies that prevents acid reflux is to take HCl, true, but that is only a temporary solution. A common deficiency for those with GERD is B6, which helps the stomach produce sufficient stomach acid; and so this must be taken before every meals, at between 50 mg to 200 mg. Usually I have used 50 mg to 100 mg taken before meals. But still that is only part of the problem.
The harmful fermenting bacteria that is causing the acid reflux as well as hiatal hernia has not been killed. True getting sufficient hydrochloric acid will lower these risks, but it is still there due to the fact that healing of the stomach lining has not been complete, or bacteria is residing in the pylorus, or upper intestinal tract where hydrochloric acid can't reach. To heal you also need vitamin C with every meal and at least lysine 1000 mg three times a day. And I also see some with fermenting bacteria and h. pylori all the way in the small intestinal tract, where hydrochloric acid cannot reach. Therefore, humic acid, baking soda, and digestive enzymes do reach these area. Lysine, vitamin C and aloe vera oil is needed for healing. The pH in the intestines is more alkaline, so basically baking soda is more suitable here but may lead to large burping sounds, for an average of 8 days, once baking soda neutralizes them that way. I used 1/2 teaspoon after meals. How much baking soda is needed to neutralize depends on whether the burping has stop with addition of baking soda. The body requires acidity, especially in the morning and lunch, the HCl, require alkalinity only after meals one or two hours. Once these pH levels are fixed does the body normalizes itself.
The digestive enzymes are needed to break down the proteins, or the bad bacteria will do it for you, as the food is not digested. Most people with acid reflux have a lack of stomach acid mostly as a result of B6 deficiency, whereby the liver can't do much as it has B6. Now the whole acid reflux thing was largely unknown in the 1950s and before that since we didn't use vegetable oils. Most vegetable oils are trans fat, and this is mostly foreign to the body leading to a slow development of fatty liver conditions, along with high fructose diet from fruits and honey, but from the newer high fructose corn syrup which converts to fatty liver we call steatohepatitis, In other words a 5% fructose in beer and a 10% sugar in coke ultimately leads to equivalent fatty liver from the fructose alone. So you need to resolve the fatty liver also by reducing the fructose.
In other words, HCl is not enough. You have barely scratched the surface.
Ted
