Skip to main content

The Dirty Little Secret of Acid Blockers

Who wouldn't want want relief from a stomach and throat that are on fire? This is what acid blockers offer. What nobody mentions, though, are the side effects.

Acid blockers seemed like a godsend to me at one time. It was three years ago, when I couldn't eat tomatoes or oranges, my throat felt hot at night, food got stuck in my throat, there was a sour taste in my mouth, and finally, I got diarrhea that lasted a month and a half. A blood test showed two antibodies for Helicobacter pylori, the bacteria that causes most stomach ulcers. I wasn't making the third antibody, instead I was going downhill. An endoscopy showed an ulcer in my throat. A high dose of antibiotics and a prescription for an acid blocker stopped the pain and healed the ulcer.

All was well until I tried to go off the acid blocker. I think I have a pretty high threshold of pain, but last year, I lasted a day without it before stomach pain compelled me to start taking it again. Sometime later, I ran out and had to wait a few days for more to arrive. My stomach burned on the over-the-counter remedy. I thought of my grandfather, who used to take baking soda, an alkaline heartburn remedy, by the spoonful. Was it genetic? Would I have to take these pills the rest of my life?

I tried apple cider vinegar, but it made my stomach sour. Then I remembered how good my stomach felt when I ate some uncooked oat bran. Could that help?

I tried again today to go off the acid blocker, and I'm happy to report that I feel fine, and the oat bran did help. What else is different from last year? I've stopped eating wheat and have cut way down on the sugars in all forms. Could that be the difference? Dr. William Davis, a cardiologist who encourages all his patients to stop eating wheat, reports that some of his patients experience "reduction or elimination of gastroesophageal reflux."

But why not eat whatever you want and take the little pills? Those little pills interfere with vitamin and mineral absorption (which can lead to osteoporosis and iron deficiency anemia, the latter of which I happen to have), and they can lead to intestinal infection and indigestion, according to an article, which cites medical literature, called "Heartburn, GE Reflux (GERD) and Acid Blocker Drugs" by Jeffrey Dach, M.D. A double-blind study published in Gastroenterology: The Official Journal of the AGA Institute in July 2009 shows that withdrawal from acid blockers can lead to "acid rebound": healthy participants who took acid blockers for a few weeks developed acid-related symptoms when they stopped. They call it acid rebound, I call it hell in your stomach.

The article by Dr. Dach includes a video (scroll down) by Mark Hyman, M.D. on avoiding acid reflux--and some eye-opening statements about drug companies originally stating that the drugs shouldn't be used longer than six weeks. (Transcript here.) Among many other things, he recommends eliminating gluten and dairy for a few weeks. As good as this advice is, based on my own case, I'd say gluten isn't the problem, since I don't have celiac: it's probably just wheat. (After all, the oat bran seems to help.)


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Dana Carpender's Podcast; Dr. Davis on YouTube; Labor Day Sales

Dana Carpender, who's written several recipe books and other works on low-carb, has a podcast and is still writing articles at carbsmart.com. She's a terrific writer and amateur researcher (otherwise known as reading , as Jimmy Dore jokes ). I use her book 500 Low-Carb Recipes all the time and I'm looking forward to hearing more from her. I've embedded her podcast on my blog (click on the three lines at the top right if you don't see it, or go to Spotify or other podcast source if you're getting this by email). Carbsmart.com doesn't seem to have a blog feed, so if you want to see the latest posts there, you can sign up for notifications at their site. Dr. Davis has been putting a lot more videos on YouTube, so I've added his channel to the lineup. Click on the three lines on my blog if you don't see it, or go to his channel here .  * * * * * Primal Kitchen is having a Labor Day sale-- 20% off everything. They sell high quality collagen powder, con...
1 comment
Read more

Fermented bread and butter pickle recipe ft. L. Plantarum

After Dr. Davis said the other night that  L. plantarum  may reduce some of the effects of the herbicide glyphosate (which is everywhere), I'm re-running my recipe for fermented bread and butter pickles. Pickling cucumbers naturally have  L. plantarum  bacteria on them, and fermenting them with some brown sugar multiplies these bacteria. (Just don't use chlorinated water to wash them.) And if you're growing your own cucumbers, avoid spraying the fruits with  Bacillus thuringiensis , or Bt (leaves and vines are OK). It's unclear what effect a big dose of Bt would have on humans. Another benefit of DIY pickles: no emulsifiers like polysorbate 80, which is a common ingredient in pickles. If you have GI problems, it could be from emulsifiers. These sweet-and-sour pickles are the tastiest I've ever made. There's just a little added sugar (some of which the bacteria will consume) and turmeric that gives the pickles their bright color.  Special equipment Quar...
Post a Comment
Read more

Blog Lineup Change

Bye-bye, Fathead. I've enjoyed the blog, but can't endorse the high-fat, high-carb Perfect Health Diet that somehow makes so much sense to some otherwise bright people. An astrophysicist makes some rookie mistakes on a LC diet, misdiagnoses them, makes up "glucose deficiency," and creates a diet that's been shown in intervention studies to increase small LDL, which can lead to heart disease. A computer programmer believes in the diet and doesn't seem eager to refute it because, perhaps, scientists are freakin' liars and while he's good at spotting logical inconsistencies, lacks some intermediate knowledge of human biology. To Tom's credit, he says it's not the right diet for everyone, but given the truckload of food that has to be prepared and eaten, impracticality of following it while traveling (or even not traveling), and unsuitability for FODMAPs sufferers, diabetics and anyone prone to heart disease (i.e., much of the population), I'm...
24 comments
Read more