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High stomach acidity.
Hotlead Junkie
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I've had a fairly acidic stomach for quite some time now, but ran out of proton pump inhibitor capsules as prescribed by my doctor. These did a great job of neutralising my excess stomach acid, but i'm looking for other ways to deal with my stomach cramps/aches. Any certian foods or drinks I should try? I hear milk is good to settle one's stomach (quite alkaline in nature) but I'm lactose intoerant. Any hot or cold drinks I can try? Also, I'm not sure if having an empty stomach or full one makes the cramps worse or not but I'm sure that could be a factor in making me feel better.
Has anyone else had to deal with this and what did you try? Gaviscon tablets seem to work well but I'd like an idea of what foods and drinks I can try instead of relying on medication.
Has anyone else had to deal with this and what did you try? Gaviscon tablets seem to work well but I'd like an idea of what foods and drinks I can try instead of relying on medication.
Hotlead Junkie on
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First what's your diet like? What do you drink?
Milk is generally a poor idea for settling a stomach, it tends to curdle and expand and become gaseous furthering problems with it. Your body often interprets milk's expansion as more food in the stomach and dumps more acid on it.
Caffeine makes acid stomach problems much worse, stress as well, if you have anxiety or stress related issues fixing them can help a lot.
Overly tight clothing (a lot of women do this to try and hide their weight issues) can cause your stomach and abdomen to be restricted.
Another thing to look into is why you have acid stomach problems most ulcers are caused by bacteria that live in the stomach. What are your symptoms? As a child I had problems with acid reflux but it's more or less gone away after I was dosed by a healthy helping of strong antibiotics for a different issue.
Basically give us more information if you want good help.
For the most part bland starchy foods should help. An empty stomach shouldn't be producing acid but sometimes it does.
Things that should help: Apples generally help, apple cider vinegar can work wonders, cold water, ginger.
Try keeping a food diary and rating your acid reflux, you might find out there are patterns (you might have a common food alergy) keep an eye on how stressed you feel and write it down when you're particularly stressed this may end up making the solution fairly obvious. Also keep in mind most anti heartburn/stomach acid medicines aren't meant for long term use and can have a lot of problems that often make stomach issues worse.
I have heard of lactase but feel I can live without dairy products/am quite happy to avoid them, but, I may consider picking some up and taking it just to see if my stomach settles. If it does settle, I maybe unwittingly eating something dariy that's not agreeing with me. I usually have the cramps in the morning so I doubt it is that though.
90% of the time I drink water with cordial/concentrate and maybe once a day, a glass of pepsi or a cup of tea. Speaking of caffienne irritating the stomach, I hadn't toched it in days and my stomach was still pretty bad. I am cutting down on caffiene but now and again, maybe once every day/every other day have a cup of tea to clear my head.
I eat plenty of meat, potatoes, noodles, cereal (crunchy nut cornflakes if I have to be specific) and a bit of chocolate/cake on most days. I should probably cut down on the spicier stuff like southern fried chicken steaks and barbeque sauce though.
I saw my doctor and all the symptoms I decribed, eg, stomach cramps, acid reflux, excessive gas and other symptoms in that latter area all pointed towards high somach acidity. Like I said, I took some protom pump inhibitor capsules for a month and thye worked great, but now I'm back to stomach cramps, excessive burping/hiccuping, acid refluxes, etc.
Meh, your loss. Calcium in milk causes fat to foam inhibiting your intestines from absorbing it, high calcium diets lead to nearly 100% more fat than usual not being absorbed (around 50% of the total fat).
I was pretty much refering to coffee unless it's black tea (about half the caffiene as coffee) not much comes close to the caffiene in coffee.
Chocolate can cause the symptoms you're describing. Spicy foods are a paradox, in some people they eliminate acid stomach others they cause it. Play with them/without them and see if it affects it.
O_o that doesn't really sound like acid stomach to me. Though I agree proton pump inhibitors will fix the symptom it's likely the problem hasn't been diagnosed.
I haven't no, but I will be sure to ask about this at my next doctor's appointment
Plus having this ground up liquefied bismuth in you makes you feel special.
I just had some oven fries and doused them in vinegar after a few people suggested vinegar. My sotmach does feel kind of better.
It would go well with his purse.
Things I've used to help:
- Hot Tea (especially Chamomile, decaf)
- Chewing gum, particularly cinnamon (Chewing generates saliva which helps to neutralize the acid)
- Apple Cider Vinegar diluted with water (I can't stand the taste though)
- Baking Soda dissolved into water
- Exercise. Getting in shape helps, if you're not in shape.
- Apples
- Eating healthy, your veggies, fruits, whole grains, white meat, etc.
Things to avoid:
- Caffeine
- Grease, Fat, loads of sugar, etc
- Eating late at night before bed
I'll take a tums occasionally, which I consider to be the better of two evils between it and a PPI. Generally I'll use Baking Soda though, that seems to solve it, particularly at night when I have the most problems.
And it's also like $30 for a month's worth, assuming you only need one a day. It will take like two weeks to kick in as well. After my prescription ran out for my gastritis meds I started getting those instead, worked fine.
This stuff is a fucking godsend. I've had horrible, reoccurring heart burn since I was 17 (29 now). For years, I lived on a diet of Tums and Rolaids. Never even occurred to me that there was better medication out there.
Eh, it varies from person to person. When I got on Prilosec, it kicked in immediately, and a single pill lasts me anywhere from two days to a week, depending on how bad my flare up is at that point in time. A single 14-day pack can last me up to two months sometimes.
They both have a problem with making acid reflux/acid stomach etc worse without them.
Tums and rolaids are far less toxic but not a good alternative.
Baking soda can help but remember part of the way it neutralizes the acid is by bubbling.
They make a 75mg version that's OTC as well. The generic version is called ranitidine I believe, but I'm not sure of it's long-term effects.
Thanks for that list of tips. Sorry to hear about your problems too. I think I'll cut down on the sugary snacks and keep chewing sugarfree gum, trying that baking soda thing if it flares up. I'm also quitting caffeine so that's no problem.
What? Really?
There's nothing toxic about Prilosec, Nexium, or any other PPI. They can be taken for a lot longer than a month. I taken Prevacid, Nexium, Prilosec, and Protonix in the past (not at the same time, obviously) all for longer than a month, under a doctor's supervision. One of the reasons that a lot of medication's information makes these statements is because there's been no formal study performed on health risks with long-term use. So instead of doing the studies, they put a label stating it shouldn't be taken for long periods of time. There is a rebound when getting off of PPIs, but any PPI has this, and its intensity doesn't seem to matter how long you are on it.
The only problem I had with any of the medications I mentioned was that Nexium made me feel lightheaded.
What happens to me is some really strange stress reaction to citric acid. Normally I don't have any trouble with things like tomatoes and orange juice, but ever since I was little sometimes when I get too stressed out, if I have some random amount of that particular kind of acid I get terrible acid stomach and break out in these huge hives under my skin.
The pepsid helps with the acid, but if I want to avoid the hives I still need to lay off the juice and so forth till my body is finished throwing its hissy fit.
I suppose my point is that it may be worthwhile to keep an eye on what you eat (in the form of a log), as well as your daily activities and how bad your stomach feels at different parts of the day. There may not be a pattern at all, and if there is it could take a month to establish it, but if there is one and you can pinpoint it you might be able to make yourself more comfortable by adjusting your habits in the long term.
I disagree. I highly highly recommend not taking PPIs for more than a few months. After taking Nexium for 3-4 years, and coming off of it, it has made my acid reflux worse than when I first went on the medicine. And I've been off it for 6-7 months now, though it's slowly getting better. PPI's shut off acid pumps, so if you ever stop taking them your body is gonna be screwed when acid starts pumping again as it won't be used to it. I've seen it said, that it takes the amount of time that you're on the PPI, to fully recover from the PPI's effects. So if you take a PPI for 1 year then stop it, it could take 1 year to recover from the withdrawal/rebound. Of course everyone's body is different, so just my experiences
Everyone's body is different, I suppose. I was on Nexium for quite a while, but it only took a fraction of that time for the rebound effect to go away. I was implying that the length of time you take the PPI doesn't reflect the length or severity of the rebound effects, not that that it won't be a horrid experience coming off of it regardless. Which it is.
Chewing gum can trigger it too, when you put something in your mouth and don't swallow it your stomach prepares to digest food and doesn't. If you swallow it due to the nature of gum it's nearly impossible to break down, so it sits undesolved in the stomach, the stomach responds by thinking the acid has been neutralized and dumps more in. Though your stomach will eventually semi liquify the gum or simply pass it through the small intestine whole it's pretty bad for you to have something the stomach thinks is food in it for anywhere between 12-48 hours.
Yep. After I'd been on Prilosec for a couple months, I went and saw a doctor about it, and he said if it was working, to keep using it. Wasn't concerned in the slightest about prolonged use.
hmm. I've been chewing gum most of today and my stomach has felt a lot better than usual. I'll keep in mind the risks too though
I think the best advice is to find a doctor who will perform the tests needed to diagnose the issue.
There are lifestyle changes people can make to avoid flare-ups, but a doctor is necessary. There can be other factors involved that can be life threatening.
I had acid reflux issues that started around five years ago. Since my family had a history of GERD, I just assumed that I had the same problems. I followed the recommended GERD diet, but I still had problems.
Most of the doctors just threw pills at me without performing any tests and wrote off the unknown factors as IBS.
I eventually signed onto a doctor's six-month waiting list. Before all of these problems, I weighed 180 lbs. By the time I saw this doctor, I was 130 lbs for a 6’2 man. When I saw him, he laid out a plan of tests and found multiple problems.
It turned out that I had Chron's Disease, food allergies (soy and corn being the big ones), GERD, and Eosinophilic Esophagitis.
He still wrote off my inability to process fats as IBS, despite its consistent nature, but overall it's best to see a professional.
These days I feel good and I have worked back up to a healthy weight of 150 lbs. I may have to go to chemo and take many pills for the Chron’s Disease, but I no longer need any pills to deal with my acid reflux.
The tests can be horrible and expensive, but it’s worth it.
Good luck.
I have tried multiple medicines (over the counter, and prescribed) but at the end of the day, i didnt want to take ANY medical pills for something (call me a naturalist, but most of these pills cause more problems in the long run)
You should first would get tested for GERD. I have a neighbour who lived with acid reflux/heartburn for over 10+ years by taking Zantac and Tums... turns out the GERD gave him cancer in his esophagus and he had to get multiple portions of his stomach removed.
Get tested, make sure your healthy.
Figure out WHAT causes your acid reflux, then see if you can change your diet to fix it. If you cant change your diet, or nothing helps, then i would suggest something prescribed.
For me, these things bother my stomach:
Fatty foods - Cold cuts that 'sweat' oil when heated (salami), or burgers, fries, etc...
Acidic fruits/vegetables/liquids - Coffee, Vinegar, Tomatoes
Fatty Cheeses - Mozzarella (pizza), etc
Refined Sugars - Candies, cookies (especially the store bought ones with multiple chemicals/preservatives)
Carbonated Drinks - Really bad for your stomach... Think about all the gas that tries to escape in the glass, now picture that in your damaged stomach
Spicy foods - For some this causes more problems, for me im fine
Mint - Bad for me, good for others
Foods that i totally avoid:
Pizza (Fatty Cheese, Fatty Meat, Tomatoe Sauce) - This is like a mortal kombat fatality for my stomach
Fast Foods (Fatty Burgers, Fried Fries, Multiple crappy preservatives) - Another bad combo
Carbonated Drinks - Ever since i cut this out of my life i havent had many problems. Went from heartburn 3-5 days a week to 1-2. The gas and the refined sugars in this are a bad combo
My friend who had the stomach cancer was given a glass of blueberry juice everyday at the hospital.. apparently really good for stomach. So try drinking that
As a coffee lover i found it VERY hard to quit coffee, even though it would trigger immediate heartburn. Theres two problems with coffee; 1 - Caffeine and 2 - Acid. Both caffeine and Acid are not friendli to acid reflux suffers...
THANKFULLY i found a solution to my coffee problem. I bought a coffeemaker called the "Aeropress." Its a single cup coffee maker that only sits with the coffee beans for about 10-20 seconds. Because of the short brew session it makes coffee thats about 1/5th the amount of acid in the coffee... and it makes a DAMN smooth coffee (everyone in my office loves it). I strongly suggest this to anyone who wants to drink coffee that has acid reflux problems..
ONE MAJOR PROBLEM with over the counter pump inhibitor pills is this..... Most people continue to eat a horrible diet because they no longer feel pain.
As of right now, i get heartburn about once a week. I always know WHEN im going to have it because i end up eating something that i shouldnt. Sorry about the long post.. but i have 6 years experience...
You know, this isn't the first time that I've heard about blueberries or their juice being used to help cure cancer or some other similar horrific disease. I'm totally going to start drinking a glass of the stuff every day and see what happens. Hopefully nothing. Which is the point, I suppose. I'll report back in 50 years on my progress.
Lol, good plan.... Unfortunately its priced above most other juices
Probably cheaper than chemo (unless the government EDIT: taxpayers is/are going to pay for it that is - suckers!).
That doesn't mean "no milk," though -- it means paying attention to what foods contain lactose, and what doesn't. Ice cream and cow's milk are biggies, of course. Goat's milk is rather close to human milk and therefore contains less lactose (which is also why it's more sour). Similarly, milks that are higher in fat will naturally contain less lactose because lactose (as a sugar) is water soluble, so the less water %, the less lactose.
Finally, many cheeses and yogurts have the lactose consumed by bacteria. I'm lactose intolerant and I recently tried out yogurt, and was pleasantly surprised to find that it didn't cause any problems at all. I'm also fine with the majority of fine cheeses (greasy cheap cheeses tend to give me problems).
I have also found that sleeping on your left side is a well-known way to reduce nighttime heartburn.
However, your stomach is supposed to be acidic -- it sounds like your problem is in the reflux? Do you tend to overeat?
All berries are high in antioxidants that are spread all over your body in general. Most antioxidants are used only in specific places. Antioxidants neutralize free radicals which damage cells and DNA. Of course there's an upper limit to the amount of antioxidants your body will allow (after a certain point they interfere with bodily processes). The same effect can be caused with strawberries, raspberries, and black berries if you don't particularly enjoy the taste of blue berries. It's also imperative that the berry juice is 100% unsweetened and as fresh as possible (the antioxidants break down quickly in oxygen as soon as the cell walls are ruptured).
Why they gave your friend blueberry juice for stomach issues I'm not all that sure. I do know it's occasionally used as oral/intestinal contrast material.
Edit: Apparently it has something to do with proanthocyanidins inhibiting bacterias from being able to properly glue themselves to the walls of your mucous linings. Blueberries and Cranberries are the only two berries I know of with the very good A type proanthocyanidins (as opposed to the average but still good B type).
Granted many doctors fail to diagnose anything but typical hernias involving the genitalia but you had a doctor who lucked out and diagnosed you had a hernia.
The test your doctor will give you for it is NON-CONCLUSIVE. I used all caps there so you got that. A negative means nothing.
And yes, you may have celiacs. First lesson - MD's don't know shit about it. I'd strongly recommend going gluten free for a few months. But . . . the chances of you actually doing that approach zero.
No matter what you do though, I would strongly suggest starting to drink kefir milk daily. You make it with kefir grains, and milk, and you can acquire kefir grains from various people on the internet who will usually send it to you for the cost of shipping.
It can take months for the linings in a person with Celiac to repair if gluten is ingested, so it may not be apparent immediately if that is the cause, even cutting out gluten completely.
The other thing to consider is that the majority of people with Celiac have significant problems other than just intestinal ones if they ingest gluten. Weak nails, brittle hair, and other illnesses usually show up if a gluten-free diet isn't followed.