Acid Reflux - ?

[JOwens]

Just a quick question. I've been following a pretty strict diet - gluten-free, CF, Soy Free and (mostly) Carb Free (I have been experimenting with Quinoa recently) for a little over a month. On top of the gluten-free diet, I have been following the CF/Soy and Carb free diet to try to get some symptom relief.

In addition to bloating/gas and nausea, I have pretty bad Acid-Reflux type symtoms. Although I rarely get heartburn, my throat and specifically my neck are always killing me.

I'm taking Betaine HCL pills will every meal now at the advice of my naturopath (antacids don't do anything for me, as it seems the condition seems to be related to too little acid rather than too much), but I was wondering a few things:

1) Has anyone else with acid reflux gotten a sore neck as a symptom? It's the front of my neck specifically, around the height of and to the left/right of my adam's apple.

2) Do you have any suggestions for some relief? I've tried gargling with salt water to relieve the throat pain, which helps a bit (albeit briefly). Any good teas/concoctions that help relieve throat and neck pain?

Thanks!

JOwens

[Darn210]

Hello JOwens, it's me again . . . not like I'm stalking you or anything . . . . . . . . . I'm just attracted to any thread that has anything to do with acid reflux as that was my daughter's only symptom.

I went back and reread your other thread and I was thinking . . . were you ever checked for Eosinophilic Esophagitis? That is what the GI originally thought that my daughter had. He said that it will cause acid reflux that is not help (or completely helped) by medication. He also said it can be triggered by food or airborn allergens.

Sorry, I can't actually help with your questions about neck pain/relief. Hopefully, someone else will jump in with some recommendations.

[2ofus2kids2dogs]

Acid reflux was my worst gluten symptom. I had others, but the heartburn and reflux were the WORST!!! I tried all the medications, OTC ones and prescription ones. Nothing ever helped - until I went gluten free.

However, I still had intermittently problems. When I get cross contamination - I get the reflux/heartburn symptoms again. Once I stopped eating fast food = I've had very rare problems with it. When I was still eating fast food = I was very careful. Only ate things that were known to be gluten free. However, I still had problems. Since stopping fast food last summery (July), I have not had near the problems. (And when I say no fast food - I mean nothing!).

I'm just wondering if it could be a cross contamination issue for you, too. Sorry you're still having problems!

Melissa

[JOwens]

Hello JOwens, it's me again . . . not like I'm stalking you or anything . . . . . . . . . I'm just attracted to any thread that has anything to do with acid reflux as that was my daughter's only symptom.

I went back and reread your other thread and I was thinking . . . were you ever checked for Eosinophilic Esophagitis? That is what the GI originally thought that my daughter had. He said that it will cause acid reflux that is not help (or completely helped) by medication. He also said it can be triggered by food or airborn allergens.

Sorry, I can't actually help with your questions about neck pain/relief. Hopefully, someone else will jump in with some recommendations.

Nice to see you again. I've been avoiding posting for a while now just because I wanted to see if the symptoms changed after a few more weeks on the gluten-free....not as much luck in that department as I would have liked, however.

As far as I know they saw nothing unusual in my esophagus during the endoscopy - however, I doubt they did a biopsy at that level so it is possible something like that could have been missed. Unfortunately, the doctor who performed the procedure works for the hospital, so the earliest I was able to see him for a follow up is actually tomorrow. I'll make sure to bring this up. On the flip side, fortunately, I am still scheduled for a follow up endoscopy on the 23rd of April, so worst case scenario I can ensure that the second test is much more thorough for this kind of thing!

My diet right now consists of lean meat, veggies, eggs (although I'm cutting back - too much cholesterol), quinoa and fruit. Nothing processed, not even any dressings (gluten-free or otherwise). Brand new kitchen utensils, cutting board - even the cat is gluten-free right now. I'm *pretty* sure that this isn't a cross-contamination issue, but I'll definitely keep that in the back of my mind and go through the list again to see if I missed anything.

Thanks for the info.

[moldlady]

My experience has been acid reflux is linked to fungus/candida in the stomach. As sugary food ferments via the fungus it produces its own acid in addition to your own stomach acid. To cure this one must take anti fungals to kill it off, supplement with probiotics to replace, and abstain from sugary foods that would be fermented by fungus in the stomach.

Having a gluten problem weakens the linings and makes one more susceptible to the fungus taking hold.

ML

[JOwens]

My experience has been acid reflux is linked to fungus/candida in the stomach. As sugary food ferments via the fungus it produces its own acid in addition to your own stomach acid. To cure this one must take anti fungals to kill it off, supplement with probiotics to replace, and abstain from sugary foods that would be fermented by fungus in the stomach.

Having a gluten problem weakens the linings and makes one more susceptible to the fungus taking hold.

ML

Interesting. I'm assuming there's a test they can do to confirm? (ie: you would need a prescription for the anti fungal?). I'm doing well with abstaining from sugars, and I am taking a probiotic...

[AliB]

Just wondering why you are going for lean meat? You have to have fats in the diet. Contrary to popular opinion it is not fats (or eggs) that raise the cholesterol, but carbohydrates.

You are doing the right thing by limiting your diet to basic foods, but there is obviously something in there that is still triggering the reflux.

When my digestion collapsed I dropped not only gluten, but dairy and most carbs and sugars. I suspected that a big part of my problem was bacterial overgrowth and probably Leaky Gut syndrome and the only way to control that is to starve the bacteria by not eating what encourages their growth - carbs and sugar.

Like you I have limited my diet to plain, unprocessed meat, fish and poultry, fresh fruits and veggies and a little honey and nuts. All the carbs in these are mono-saccharides (single sugar molecules) which can cross straight into the bloodstream and be utilised by the body.

The other carbs are di-saccharides - double sugars (sugar and lactose - dairy), and poly-saccharides - multiple sugars (grains and starches), both of which have to have certain enzymes to break them down into mono-saccharides. As those enzymes are often, due to the gut damage, lacking or even absent, the complex sugars cannot be utilised by the body and serve as food for the bacteria instead which causes fermentation resulting in gas, bloating and reflux. If the overgrowth is bad the bacteria can even migrate to the stomach and esophagus. Have you ever had Thrush in your mouth? That can be an indicator of systemic 'Candida'.

A systemic anti-fungal like Nystatin may be a help but the bacteria can become resistant to it. By far the best way is to starve it out by restricting its food source. Have a good look at your diet to see if there is anything in there that could be supporting the bacteria. Even the quinoa might be suspect. Once it is under control you may be able to re-introduce some of the restricted foods as an occasional consumption.

[JOwens]

I'm not going for lean meat specifically, just that this happens to be what I eat most of the time. I do eat pork occasionally (once a week or so), and chicken thighs (although skinless, they still have some good fat content).

The Quinoa was only added in the last few days at the suggestion of my Naturopath to try to get some additional calories in my diet. Prior to that, I had eaten pretty much 0 carbs (minus those in fruit, like apples) for nearly 2 weeks and it didn't make much difference - I had started the Specific Carbohydrate Diet with the idea that eating food that was much simpler to digest would help with my symptoms.

No thrush or any other real tell-tale symptoms. Basically just the reflux (I kind of hate calling it that, because people automatically assume too much acid/heartburn and that's not the case with me ) as well as a pretty consistent dull pain/ache in the middle of my abdomen (between my sternum and belly button).

I know there are some breath tests etc that can test for bacterial overgrowths. Maybe I should be investigating that...

[moldlady]

Reflux is usually fungal/candida but sometimes opportunistic bad bacteria can get in there too and form biofilms. You can use nystatin (does not get into bloodstream and is very safe), and restrict sugars and simple carbs to kill it off. Then re introduce good bacteria to take up the room and colonize.

If this is your only problem then it should take care of things in a short time. If you cannot get a doc to prescribe the nystatin, oregano oil is strong enough to kill of both fungus and bad bacteria. I prefer the p-73 ....

ML

[AliB]

My stomach got bad over 6 months or so and although I wasn't getting reflux I did have the awful pain behind the sternum. I have had reflux before, some years ago but that eventually went away, maybe when I went low-carb, I can't remember. But I know it wasn't pleasant and I used to get pain right up into my throat with it.

This time I am pretty confident that it was a hernia. I would often find it very difficult to release trapped gas and it would often suddenly come out in a huge belch! It felt like it was getting trapped around the diaphragm and a hernia would have explained that. I didn't get to the point of investigation for that as stopping the gluten and then going SCD has settled it all down.

Whilst the terrible pain went away within hours, the discomfort has taken longer to go and it is only now after 2 months that the back pain has started to subside.

It is still early days, but what I did find is that over the first few weeks different deficiencies started to show up - I was getting things like numb fingers and prickling feet. I got my doc to test for B12 as that can be a symptom but that was ok. It was also a symptom of hypothyroidism so I mentioned that to the doc and she did say that it is possible to have a sub-clinical deficiency so I got some kelp tablets and took them for a week or two. Within a couple of days it was a lot better.

Another thing that can cause a sore throat apparently is low vitamin C levels. I found that I did need extra Vit C at that time. Whereas in the past I would normally get by on a maintenance dose of half a gram (500mg), I was actually taking 3 grams and still not experiencing diarrhea so I knew I still hadn't reached saturation level (once you get to a level of more than the body needs you will experience diarrhea - just cut back until that stops then you are at the right point).

If you are not taking any extra supplements it might be an idea to do so, just to give your body a bit of extra help whilst it is trying to sort itself out and get rid of the garbage. That process is taking a lot of effort and energy so it will need all the help it can get.

After the 2 months I now just take 2 multivit/mineral capsules a day plus a milk thistle cap to help support my liver (Milk Thistle is a very good liver cleanser and support). Your liver is going through a great upheaval as it now has the chance to get rid of a lot of crud and toxins out of the body.

What foods are you actually eating?

[JOwens]

What foods are you actually eating?

Right now, I am also utilizing some of the techniques/concepts of food combining (chinese) to see how it helps the digestive process. A typical day would look something like this:

Breakfast: 1-2 cups cooked quinoa, 1 boiled carrot, 1 misc other veggie (mushroom, green bean, etc)

Morning Snack: Apple Cider / Grape Juice. Sometimes a banana or apple.

Lunch: Leftover meat from the night before, or tuna/salmon. Misc veggies / spinnach. Sometimes hardboiled egg.

Afternoon Snack: Similar to morning.

Dinner: Pork (Chop), Chicken Breast/Thigh, Steak, sliced and boiled. Misc veggies.

Dessert: Fruit Smoothy - chopped apple, 1/2 banana, strawberries, apple cider/grape juice blended in a blender.

Each meal/snack is spaced a few hours apart. Dessert is finished between 8-8:30, giving me several hours before bedtime.

I go in for a weekly Myer's Cocktail injection (vitamins, including various B complexes) as well as a muscular B12 injection. If my absorbtion is still poor, I suppose I *could* have an issue with vitamin C, but I think the chances of this are fairly low.

One thing I haven't done is request a full blood workup showing vitamin/mineral levels (I've had several done, but none of them were comprehensive). This might help to show if there's anything I still could be focusing on...

[VvFallenAngelvV]

Just a quick question. I've been following a pretty strict diet - gluten-free, CF, Soy Free and (mostly) Carb Free (I have been experimenting with Quinoa recently) for a little over a month. On top of the gluten-free diet, I have been following the CF/Soy and Carb free diet to try to get some symptom relief.

In addition to bloating/gas and nausea, I have pretty bad Acid-Reflux type symtoms. Although I rarely get heartburn, my throat and specifically my neck are always killing me.

I'm taking Betaine HCL pills will every meal now at the advice of my naturopath (antacids don't do anything for me, as it seems the condition seems to be related to too little acid rather than too much), but I was wondering a few things:

1) Has anyone else with acid reflux gotten a sore neck as a symptom? It's the front of my neck specifically, around the height of and to the left/right of my adam's apple.

2) Do you have any suggestions for some relief? I've tried gargling with salt water to relieve the throat pain, which helps a bit (albeit briefly). Any good teas/concoctions that help relieve throat and neck pain?

Thanks!

JOwens

hello, i am new to these forums and if i screw up dont yell at me. Im currently 18 but i had severe acid reflux about a year or 2 ago and i took many different kinds of medicines. The medicines would help but wouldn't cure the problem. When it was at the worst point i tilted my bed up just a little bit, about 7 or 8 inches. Noticable and yes, at first it bothered me a lot. This helped the constant burning when i woke up. Now that my acid reflux is gone i still have my bed tilted up even though i dont need it, its wierd but its a habit. lol anyway. Now its wierd and your probably not going to believe me if i told you but, my mom bought this book and its auther is KEVIN Tradou "its something like What they dont want you to know about. sorry i can't remember and my punctuation is very bad. you should be able to find it if u just type in KEVIN TRADOU. anyway this said that if u have acid reflux its because your stomach doesn't have enough acid in your stomach. so at first im like, that doesnt make any since but i thought why not, cause you know its worth a shot. Well i took a spoonfull of this apple vinigar stuff and it nasty, and anyway about a week later i didn't need to take anymore pills, it jump started my system. i wouldn't take anymore than a spoonful of it cause it hurts going down and its not very good. alright hope this helps anyone

[moldlady]

This is true. ACV has a strong acid in it (acetic acid) from the fermentation that actually kills fungus/candida overgrowth in the stomach. While I don't agree with everything that Kevin says and does, I do agree with this help for acid reflux.

Thanks for sharing this very cheap and effective relief for acid reflux.

ML

[AliB]

Breakfast: 1-2 cups cooked quinoa, 1 boiled carrot, 1 misc other veggie (mushroom, green bean, etc)

Morning Snack: Apple Cider / Grape Juice. Sometimes a banana or apple.

Lunch: Leftover meat from the night before, or tuna/salmon. Misc veggies / spinnach. Sometimes hardboiled egg.

Afternoon Snack: Similar to morning.

Dinner: Pork (Chop), Chicken Breast/Thigh, Steak, sliced and boiled. Misc veggies.

Dessert: Fruit Smoothy - chopped apple, 1/2 banana, strawberries, apple cider/grape juice blended in a blender.

Your menu looks pretty good, the only things i would question is the ACV and grape juice drink. When my stomach was bad I tried ACV but it actually made it worse - in fact I actually ended up having an allergic reaction after some one day and it affected my throat. I think that if you don't have a problem with Candida you might get away with it but if you do it could actually exacerbate it. Anything fermented is best avoided in that situation and that includes ACV.

Grape juice can also be a possible suspect. I have always had a problem with wine, tea and coffee and didn't click till recently that the link is tannin. Red grapes also contain tannin and I think white ones a bit, too. I have also had a problem occasionally with apples - I suspect it may be to do more with chemical contamination as I can eat some ok then will have one and get an allergic reaction, which is weird.

I wonder whether you might be better just sticking to good spring water for a while to see if it makes any difference. You may be ok with herb teas.

Not sure about the quinoa. It is a grain which is a complex carb - it might be a problem, but I would think the ACV/grape juice is a more likely candidate. I would check that you are not getting sugar in there somewhere too as that can exacerbate reflux.

[megsylvan2]

Just a quick question. I've been following a pretty strict diet - gluten-free, CF, Soy Free and (mostly) Carb Free (I have been experimenting with Quinoa recently) for a little over a month. On top of the gluten-free diet, I have been following the CF/Soy and Carb free diet to try to get some symptom relief.

In addition to bloating/gas and nausea, I have pretty bad Acid-Reflux type symtoms. Although I rarely get heartburn, my throat and specifically my neck are always killing me.

I'm taking Betaine HCL pills will every meal now at the advice of my naturopath (antacids don't do anything for me, as it seems the condition seems to be related to too little acid rather than too much), but I was wondering a few things:

1) Has anyone else with acid reflux gotten a sore neck as a symptom? It's the front of my neck specifically, around the height of and to the left/right of my adam's apple.

2) Do you have any suggestions for some relief? I've tried gargling with salt water to relieve the throat pain, which helps a bit (albeit briefly). Any good teas/concoctions that help relieve throat and neck pain?

Thanks!

JOwens

Couple of things...

Are you sure the eggs aren't bothering you? For me it was not only gluten intolerance, but also egg and honey. I've been gluten-free for 2 years now and still can't eat eggs.

Also watch for the obvious offenders like chocolate, caffeine, mint, and make sure you don't eat or drink for several hours prior to going to bed.

The area of pain that you describe sounds like thyroid, so please have that checked out. That is right where your describe - in the vicinity of your adam's apple. To check it, your doctor will put his/her fingers there while you swallow a drink of water. It would definitely be prudent to have this checked.

Good luck.

Meg

[JOwens]

Hi everyone - thanks for your replies.

A few things:

- I have tried apple cider vinnegar in the past, didn't help that much. The Betaine HCL capsules I am taking now simulate the effects of ACV but are a little easier on the system and don't aggrevate the esophagus.

- When I refer to "Apple Cider" in my diet outline, it's actually Apple Cider - dark brown, unsweetened cider in a glass jug. I drink this as it's one of the "safe" juice type drinks on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet.

- The grape juice is Welch's 100% grape - also one fo the "safe" SCD juice drinks.

- I've had my thyroid checked and tested. At the very beginning of this process, it took over a month for the doctors to even determine the problem was stomach related - they did thyroid checks, blood work, checked for mono/strep, etc.

I've cut eggs out of my diet for the past few days (~4), and nothing has changed yet.

Spoke to my GI doc yesterday, he has fast tracked me for a colonoscopy to take a look at any possible inflammation and rule out a few other things that could be adding to my symptoms. I'm fortunate that there was an open space (cancellation?) for next thursday, the 10th, so I will have more info at that point.

[moldlady]

Jowens,

Thank you for giving some more information on the subject. The apple cider and grape juice will feed the fungus/candida in the stomach and eventually ferment and grow to make the problem worse. The apple cider vinegar has the acid in it that will kill the fungus/candida because of its strength. The apple cider alone does not have the acid strength to kill the fungus/candida. Instead, it will encourage growth and your problems will continue.

Just wanting to help you get better.... please try killing off the fungus/candida with ACV or oregano oil p-73 and then do not feed it with sugar, fast carbs, and sugar drinks.

ML

[JOwens]

Thanks for the info. I'll see about doing as you suggest over the next little while.

How long would the ACV take to start showing some improvement in killing any overgrowth in the stomach do you think?

[moldlady]

I'd say to give it a week and see. You may get results sooner. Then, pump the stomach with good probiotics afterward. This should really help.

It can come back if you have systemic yeast/fungus and then just repeat the procedure.

ML