GERD

[Gaby]

He did say he was willing to do it without sedation so maybe I should take that route. I've done harder things to be sure....and then again I am making such rapid improvement maybe I should just skip it altogether....and then again there might be some critical piece of information I need to protect my health in the future I will learn from the test. I dunno... UGH.

I would really appreciate Psyche's opinion as to the value of the test.

The only value that I see is what you already mentioned, it might give you some information which you can then work with. Although the test has its own limitations, it will not tell anything about how you digest food, or the function of your digestion as a whole.

Eliminating inflammatory and troublesome foods is crucial and the protocols that you are doing now seem to be working very well. Perhaps the gastroenterologist will be more helpful explaining why he wants to do the test considering the fact you're feeling so much better.

FWIW, Sherry Rogers' No More Heartburn has also useful guidelines for chronic gastrointestinal disorders.

Keep us updated, you are in our thoughts.

 

[Hildegarda]

I will say I am just really nervous about the sedation, even though it is conscious sedation. Maybe I am just being paranoid. But it just seems like to me that that would be a prime opportunity for attack. [..]He did say he was willing to do it without sedation so maybe I should take that route.

Kila, hopefully Psyche's comments on the value of the endoscopy are helpful for you. I just want to maybe relieve your fears of sedation a little bit. I had a minor surgical procedure last week that required it, and was also extremely uneasy about it, both for the reasons of possible reaction (that was my first time) and the attack reasons. But it was all right. I was conscious and felt minor pain for a better half of the procedure, which I don't think I was supposed to on both counts, but I did and I was pleasantly surprised that I felt calm, grounded and aware of where I am, what's happening, and my integrity as "me", if that makes any sense.

Even if you have high pain tolerance, one extra thing sedation does is that it helps your body physically relax and let the physician to the job. That was the surgeon's rationale to refuse my requests for local anesthesia only, and I was in the end happy with that. In your case, doing endoscopy without sedation is possible, but if you can't relax well enough for it, you may end up more bruised and physically traumatized than otherwise, and I don't know whether it's worth it considering the already existing stomach issue.

good luck with whatever you decide,

 

[Aoide]

I went to the gastroscopy last week due to my stomach problems, indigestion, and reflux into stomach and esophagus. After the exam the doctor told me that he is very surprised, that I have much bile in my stomach, that he didn’t seen that much in anyone else before. By his words, my stomach lining and duodenum are ok but almost whole esophagus is slightly inflamed, but with no other changes, and both of my stomach sphincters are not closing good. His diagnosis is Reflux Esophagitis (biliary). Yesterday I’ve received the results of biopsy taken from my stomach lining (for HP virus), but it came negative. It says - chronic HP negative gastritis without granulocytes, but on some biopsy specimens taken there is intestinal metaplasia of the stomach (without dysplasia). I had been prescribed an Emanera PPI, which I’m not sure I should take at all since there is so much negative reactions from it or any such inhibitors for other people who took it.

I’ve been dealing with these issues for more than 4 months. I’ve tried with changing my diet from full keto, then just meat with very little fat, to meat and some veggies. When I eat more fat I get diarrhea and undigested parts of meal in stool. Now I eat cooked and fried meat, little fat (mostly fried bacon in the morning) and some veggies - green salad with apple cider vinegar, cooked carrot in beef soup and some mashed potatoes with meat in the afternoon, and a banana or an apple in the evening.

I’ve been taking Ox bile and Pancreatin (Amylase/Protease/Lipase enzymes) for a couple of months, and Bromelain 500mgx2, and it helped somewhat but diarrhea came again to trouble me last weeks, so I stopped taking all of it for a while and my stool is more solid now. I also take Iodine/Potassium Iodide 28mg per day (before that 56mg for a month) with cofactors. Celtic Sea Salt and Sodium Bicarbonate first thing in the morning. When my bile rises, other symptoms I have are rising blood pressure, faster heartbeats and “clogged” ears or ringing with vertigo often (this sometimes calms down as soon as I eat some food). I would like to know if doing EE in sitting position instead of lying down, strengthening my diaphragm and sphincters, is what I should strive for with this bile reflux problem or is there something more I could do regarding diet.

I am trying to calm myself psychologically and emotionally for some time with reading recommended Romance novels, and I like it very much, it’s helpful. When it comes to physical exercise, it just drains me of that little energy I have daily. It’s just that it seems like these problems are going to keep torturing me every day despite everything I do, sometimes less sometimes more. I understand that there is no quick fix for it, and everywhere I read about Bile Reflux it is said that basically there’s no real solution, so I really hope that there is in the long run.

 

[Yas]

Hello Aoide, I'm sorry to hear that your going through this.

It seems that you've been trying a few things already, and I just wanted to say that yes, sometimes the protocols require a little time before you start healing. Yet, there are a few other things you can try to improve more quickly.

I made a quick search and found a comprehensive article on the subject by Cris Kresser which includes some suggestions (some of which you may have tried already):

How to Cure GERD without Medication | Chris Kresser

While the symptoms of GERD are disruptive, the risks of the drugs used to treat it can be more distressing. Find out how to cure GERD without medication.

chriskresser.com

From what I can see, the treatment is similar to the treatment you would use for other gastric issues, so... I'd like to add another suggestion that has always been helpful for me when I have gastric issues: eat chicken/meat soups and bone broth.

When I had very bad gut issues, I tried lots of things, and although they all helped to certain extent, a functional doctor once told me to eat chicken soup everyday, so I did it and that was the moment when things finally seemed really start healing for me. I took it very seriously and ate only soup for a couple of moths, chicken soup mostly, but sometimes I added meat to it as well.

There is a protocol called GAPS diet which recommends this approach with very good results and the reasoning behind it seems to be that soups provide easily absorbed nutrients that help heal the lining of the digestive system while giving it some rest because they are very easy to digest, so you kind of give your digestive system some time to heal while feeding your body with lots of nutrients.

According to the GAPS website, "Meat and fish stocks provide building blocks for the rapidly growing cells of the gut lining and they have a soothing effect on any areas of inflammation in the gut."

According to the Weston A. Price website, "Stock contains minerals in a form the body can absorb easily—not just calcium but also magnesium, phosphorus, silicon, sulfur, and trace minerals. It contains the broken down material from cartilage and tendons—stuff like chondroitin sulfates and glucosamine, now sold as expensive supplements for arthritis and joint pain."

It may sound like a difficult protocol to follow because you'd have to cook soup everyday, but, if you have a big enough pot you can make a lot of soup once or twice a week, freeze it in portions and eat it throughout the week without having to cook it everyday. Also, if you don't tolerate high fat at the moment, you can make your soups without too much of it at the beginning. If this works for you, you'll be able to tolerate more fat after some time.

Finally, just a small observation. Regular chicken can be full of toxic antibiotics and hormones depending on where you live, so if you can get it from a good organic source, it will definitely be better.

I hope you can get better soon!

 

[Aoide]

When I had very bad gut issues, I tried lots of things, and although they all helped to certain extent, a functional doctor once told me to eat chicken soup everyday, so I did it and that was the moment when things finally seemed really start healing for me. I took it very seriously and ate only soup for a couple of moths, chicken soup mostly, but sometimes I added meat to it as well.

There is a protocol called GAPS diet which recommends this approach with very good results and the reasoning behind it seems to be that soups provide easily absorbed nutrients that help heal the lining of the digestive system while giving it some rest because they are very easy to digest, so you kind of give your digestive system some time to heal while feeding your body with lots of nutrients.

Recently I started having beef soup once a day, but I will change it to chicken soup, having it throughout the day as you say, and will stop eating fried pork which, it seems, doesn't help and probably only keeps irritating the digestive tract. I don't have much else to try so I will stick with this. My digestive system badly needs healing, I was abusing it for too long.

Thank you Yas, hopefully it will get better soon.

 

[Gaby]

I had been prescribed an Emanera PPI, which I’m not sure I should take at all since there is so much negative reactions from it or any such inhibitors for other people who took it.

I think that lifestyle changes should still be the main approach, from what has been suggested to breathing exercises and even balancing your emotional center with the books suggested in the Romance thread, but I would keep an open mind about the PPI medications. It's clear that these are drugs with evil side effects but sometimes it's the one thing that can break the vicious cycle so that other complementary measures can take hold. If it's only for a few weeks, it's not the most evil of drugs out there and can actually bring you a significant relief. Then other lifestyle changes might have a better effect. If it is a course of years, these drugs will surely ruin your health. If it's weeks, it might actually be the one thing that could help other things along.

Hope you get better!

 

[Aoide]

I think that lifestyle changes should still be the main approach, from what has been suggested to breathing exercises and even balancing your emotional center with the books suggested in the Romance thread, but I would keep an open mind about the PPI medications. It's clear that these are drugs with evil side effects but sometimes it's the one thing that can break the vicious cycle so that other complementary measures can take hold. If it's only for a few weeks, it's not the most evil of drugs out there and can actually bring you a significant relief. Then other lifestyle changes might have a better effect. If it is a course of years, these drugs will surely ruin your health. If it's weeks, it might actually be the one thing that could help other things along.

Hope you get better!

Thank you Gaby, I will try it starting tommorow. The doctor told me to take PPI medication this way: 2x40mg for 2 months, then 2x20mg for one month, then 1x20mg for 14 days, and 1x20mg every other day for 14 days (all that gradual decrease to evade rebound phenomen, he says). It's about 4 months in total, although with gradual decrease, so I hope it's not too much.

 

[Gaby]

Thank you Gaby, I will try it starting tommorow. The doctor told me to take PPI medication this way: 2x40mg for 2 months, then 2x20mg for one month, then 1x20mg for 14 days, and 1x20mg every other day for 14 days (all that gradual decrease to evade rebound phenomen, he says). It's about 4 months in total, although with gradual decrease, so I hope it's not too much.

Well, see how you respond. Depending on the relief of symptoms, you can reduce the prescribed medication by half in both ways: potency and duration.

On our side of the world, the protocol for documented inflammation in the esophagus is just a pill once per day for 6 weeks. Some gastroenterologists prescribe it for longer durations, but overall they're not used to people doing complementary measures to help with their inflammation.

 

[monotonic]

It seems like you are already having good results, but I want to add that if you are having symptoms of low stomach acid, try looking at the Thiamine thread by Keyhole. When I first started taking it I would belch the thiamine smell but eventually that went away and my stomach started emptying consistently. And all sorts of other symptoms caused by bad digestion got better. The most recent posts there about a possible anxiety reaction should be heeded.