Pregnancy and Heartburn

Hello Ted, I recently came across the Earth Clinic website while desperately searching the internet for something that might help my current health problems. I am fifteen weeks pregnant. I have unfortunately been taking PPI's for six years. I have had it in my mind for a long while now that I wanted to get off of these drugs, but I was afraid that I would not be able to get by without them. By the time that I realized that they were not the answer, I had been on them for years. Well anyway, I put off figuring out something else to do for my acid reflux problem for a while because I was always distracted by this or that, and felt I didn't have the time or strength to devote myself to figuring that problem out right at the moment, or the next moment, or the next.... So I became pregnant, which was happy news, but I did not realize that my body was already going to be a little handicapped to what the body must go through during pregnancy. I did not know that heartburn was such a huge issue for pregnant women, even women who had never experienced heartburn before in their lives. So just a few weeks into my pregnancy, the problems began. No matter what I did, the heartburn began to spiral out of control. My doctor had advised me to continue with my Prevacid regimen, so I did so. But this was not helping. For weeks at a time, I was dragging myself through daily living, struggling, uncomfortable, fearful. My appetite suffered. I became overwhelmed with worry. I believe the Prevacid was causing me more constipation, leading to greater heartburn. I tried to supplement with tums and/or maalox as my doctor instructed. Nothing worked. I would come home from work, exhausted, frustrated, feeling helpless and desperate for the answer to my problem. For days on end I searched the web for something that might help me, since any advice that I received from doctors did me no good whatsoever. I even contacted a gastroenterologist who said there was nothing she could do to help me during my pregancy and it would have to wait until afterwards. I felt so lost. Finally one day I found the Earth Clinic site. I read about the ACV/Baking soda remedy. I read all the feedback from those who had found success with this. I figured I had mine as well give it a try. After one dose, I felt better than I had felt in weeks and weeks. I was able to eat that night. I thanked heaven for finally answering my prays! Carefree feelings and joy filled my heart! I took ACV/baking soda for five days, and then took the two days off. I did not have any problems during those two days off. I felt fantastic. Then the next day I started the remedy up again. I felt pretty good that first day. But then the next day I began to feel sick again. It has now been four days and I have not been feeling so well any of these days. I am still able to eat pretty well, and I do not feel too backed up, but my chest is filled with heavy, hot acid feelings. I feel tired and sluggish. I do not want to stop with the remedy right now, because I still feel that it is helping me more than other things that I have tried, and it is surely the safest for my baby out of what I have tried so far, but I just wish that things could be better than this. I feel it is such a shame because my pregnancy has been so good for me otherwise. I have had minimum nausea (except for that which is associated with my acid reflux issues) and I have not thrown up once. If I could only get this acid problem under control. I just do not understand why I felt so great the first week, and now I feel like this. Should I change up the amount of ACV/baking soda that I am taking? Should I take it more or less often? Is there something else I should be taking? What more can I do? I sleep propped up. I drink water all the time, and not much else. I eat very healthy. I eat minimal amounts of heavy acid producing foods. This problem is affecting my quality of life greatly. I am tired and easily irritable. I feel heavy, worried, and scared. I am worried that this is hurting my baby. I have not gained much weight. It is still early for me in my pregnancy, but I want to make sure that I can get a better hold on this problem as early on as possible to ensure that my baby is safe and healthy. I need some help. I desperately do. Doctors seem to have nothing to offer me. I do not know where else to turn. Thank you very much for your time. I sincerely appreciate any help that you might have to offer me. Have a wonderful day.