Paradoxically, I cured my reflux with betaine HCL (with pepsin) and digestive enzymes.
I found that when I eat meat and/or when I’m stressed, my body doesn’t naturally produce enough “good” acid. This leads to a build up of reflux because the meat is essentially rotting in my stomach, which creates awful “bad acid” reflux.
Instead of the drug(s), with every meal, I recommend taking one capsule of betaine HCL (with pepsin) and one digestive enzyme capsule.
I would recommend talking to your doctor before accepting medical advice on the internet. Please do not accept medical recommendations from strangers who are not licensed to offer medical advice.
Also, if you continue to have to treat symptoms on a regular basis you did not "cure" anything, cure implies that you are free from managing your symptoms. Rather you are managing symptoms and doing nothing about the cause.
Ulcers are one of the possible results of acid reflux, that's a symptom too but also a risk factor. You won't be able to heal ulcers if you don't get the acid reflux under control somehow first.
I'm on Pantoprazole for over a year now and saw my doctor a few weeks ago; I asked about long term risks, and she mentioned stomach cancer, but framed the dangers a bit differently than what I've read in the article from this study.
Basically the established risk is that these PPI drugs work so well that if you were to develop stomach cancer while taking it, the likelihood is strong that the drug would mask the symptoms of the cancer until it was already too late to treat it effectively.
Long story short, I am not (this kind of) scientist, I know it's not a miracle drug but I can testify with anecdata that it certainly does a great job of controlling reflux.
(What my doctor did recommend was of course better diet and exercise habits, not eating so late in the day, and not drinking alcohol right before bed, so I can eventually stop taking it without those symptoms coming back.)
It's quite worrisome for me reading this article now!
>my body doesn’t naturally produce enough “good” acid.
Most acid reflux is due to mechanical action of a sphincter not working correctly. This, if correct, is an edge case.
This is most likely an evolutionary flaw that can't be fixed short of genetic engineering. I also have this my experience is your opposite. Carbs cause excess acid for me and that means my leakage rate is higher. Eating more meats and veg helps a lot. As others have stated, the traditional human diet is relatively low carb, so our modern diets are things our bodies are fairly unequiped to handle (carb crashing, obesity, celiac, etc).
I'm glad you found something that works for you, but most reflux sufferers don't have a "good" vs "bad" acid problem, they have a sphincter problem.
Yeah I assume my sphincter problem is genetic since several family members have it too.
I use a simple mechanical solution - go to sleep on a wedge pillow. Works way better for me than H2 blockers (which would last for 6 hours of sleep, then I'd wake up with horrible reflux because they'd worn off and thanks to the rebound effect, my body was making even more acid to compensate).
By comparison, now if I wake up later in the night now I can usually remove the wedge pillow and go back to sleep with no problem.
> my body doesn’t naturally produce enough “good” acid
Exactly. The amount of people completely, and utterly, misinformed about acid reflux is astounding. You don't have too much acid, you don't have enough!
Ditching the dairy and drastically cutting back on animal flesh will cure most heartburn/acid reflux.
For me it was increasing meat and fat and cutting carbs. Doing that has all but eliminated my reflux until I change my diet for a moderate amount of time.
I had a similar experience. Full keto diet and it's gone completely (it used to be a huge problem). I'm not saying that carbs were the sole cause. I think it was a combination of the carbs and fat and just being overweight in general. Losing weight and sticking to a relatively healthy diet can work wonders for your body.
I found that when I eat meat and/or when I’m stressed, my body doesn’t naturally produce enough “good” acid. This leads to a build up of reflux because the meat is essentially rotting in my stomach, which creates awful “bad acid” reflux.
Instead of the drug(s), with every meal, I recommend taking one capsule of betaine HCL (with pepsin) and one digestive enzyme capsule.