Acid Reflux - Editor's Choice

I told her to eat about a tablespoon daily. Doing so is known to aid in digestion and prevent constipation. Sauerkraut is low in calories and high in fiber. Sauerkraut will improve her digestion within a few days.

She saw results using this treatment within 3 days and now her whole extended family are eating raw sauerkraut right from the jar.

Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4268643/

Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6306734/

Source: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780128023099000248

Source: https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/agricultural-and-biological-sciences/phytochemical

I haven't had indigestion or acid reflux since, And I don't drink so it's not some weird combination of that and water. I only mention the drinking because the guy was in his 80s and the only heavy drinker I ever met who wasn't averse to drinking plain water. He'd stroll into the tavern where I tended bar, shortly after dark, and drink until 11 o'clock - you could set your watch by him. But come 4:30 am, he'd be eating breakfast at the diner, happy as a clam with his bacon and eggs and a whole pitcher of water then back out in the fields by sunrise.

He was a character. He took in any stray that would happen to come around - always had at the least a half dozen dogs running around - and you always knew when one of the dogs was either new or sick because he'd cover them in clay. He'd loosen up some dirt and dump in the water and just pack the mud on them, no matter what, and they'd roll around in the mud and the other dogs would come and roll around with them until they were all running around muddy - it was awesome.

Now 6 months ago I started with ACV and results have been AMAZING, now at 1 time 2 tablespoons in the morning. I have not taken any medication ever since. Furthermore I had a check-up gastroscopy recently and it all looked perfect. I have attacks of stomach acid once per month after a very fatty meal, but that is absolutely normal. I am so happy with this solution.

Spread the word and make sure you understand the consequences of anti-acid meds!

I have had GERD since I was 16, now 24, I have used medication for the last 8 years. Wow, 8 years!

I started with Ranitadine, and "graduated" to Omeprazole a couple years ago when Ranitadine 150mg twice a day pretty much stopped working. I started on 20mg Omeprazole once a day and a few months ago was put on 40mg twice a day. Rediculous, it got so bad that even THAT wasn't completely stopping my symptoms, I felt like my stomach was retaliating as soon as it could create acid again. And on top of it, ever since I was diagnosed with GERD if I ate any "trigger" foods (Coffee, Tea, Chocolate, spicey, acidic), I would get such an immense pain in my chest like something was trying to claw it's way out of me. No doctor can figure that one out, I got an endoscopy all is fine, so I was told to just avoid those foods. Fine, I can do that, except that after I was taking my Omeprazole 40mg THAT was tiggering the pain! You can imagine the doctors where clueless to that as well.

Now I think I finally know why the medicine stopped working and even hurt me, the medication was just funking up my body. My stomach had no idea what to do, and was sensitive to EVERYTHING. I wanted off medication, but was scared to do so. I had tried about a year ago and had bad results. My GERD causes acid to go into my throat, usually while sleeping but sometimes during the day too. And when I tried a natural remedy before, yep, acid in the throat. Not a pleasent way to wake up I must say. But I felt, after finding this site and reading up elsewhere, that I was ready to try again. I have now been off of it for about 9 days, and am doing well.

I made a plan for myself, as I felt that simply taking ACV like a medication would actually work. It was part of the "Plan". My routine starts in the morning with a tablet of DGL Licorice, have it before anything else and wait a few minutes. The DGL (Hopefully) helps your stomach create more of the protective mucus lining that helps prevent and treat ulcers. Since I am drinking acid and know that with GERD I am at risk for Barret's esophagus I think this extra step of caution is a good one to take. Then I take around 2-3oz aloe vera gel (it's just a thickened juice, you can get regular juice I just think this feels better going down). I get this organic one in a glass jar at Whole Foods, primarily because they don't use Citric Acid, but instead lemon juice and it is in a glass jar- no BPA! :) I cannot remember the name, but I think it's the only organic one in a glass jar there. I had the Aloe Vera Juice from Trader Joes and it was like drinking pure acid, it hurt so much to drink and tasted horrible. Not worth saving like $10 a month just so you scorch your throat in my opinion. Okay, so after I take DGL and Aloe I have breakfast, small meals are very key to controlling GERD/Acid Reflux in my experience. Do NOT drink water with your meal, you should chew, chew, chew to let your saliva moisten the food, this way the enzymes that naturally neutralize stomach acid help you in your quest to be drug free! Then drink, drink, drink! You need a ton of water to help your stomach digest, and to dilute acid the rest of the day. If I am doing good, I will pee about every 60 minutes, maybe sooner. Lol. But it is worth it. I Don't seem to wake up at night though, so that's good. In the afternoon, if I can, I juice, vegetables really help neutralize stomach acid and are healthy for you anyways! Though I don't think you have to do this, I have had much success with out a lot of juicing. I try to make my lunch the largest meal of the day, that way I can work hard and digest for a long time afterwords. Then comes possibly the most important part for me personally, the night routine. I have dinner NO LESS than 3 hours before laying down, I SIT UP or STAND for the whole three hours before bed. This way gravity is on your side while digesting your relatively small dinner. After I eat I will wait about 20 minutes typically then I drink only like 1 teaspoon ACV (Organic, unfiltered) in a couple oz of water, then I chase it down with just water to try to get the ACV off of the throat. (Sometimes after lunch I will do a ACV and Baking soda mix, you can probably do this for dinner as well if you like. Sounds counter intuative, but your body actually neutralizes the ACV anyways, but it still stays acidic enough to help aid your stomach with digestion. When you mix these two it takes the burn away when you drink it, find the Ted's recipe, he explains it more. ) Then right before bed I will drink about 4 oz water with a slightly heaping teaspoon of baking soda to neutralize whatever's left in my stomach and I am ready to sleep on my slanted bed. Slanting your bed is SO important, again gravity is on your side by keeing acid away from your throat.

So my lifestyle and diet changes summarized:

-Avoid foods that can cause issues (Esp. Chocolate and Coffee! These contain methylxanthine witch relaxes the LES allowing food and acid into the throat. Eat Carob as a chocolate substitute. :)

• -Take DGL and Aloe in the morning
• -If needed take ACV in afternoon
• -If time Juice vegetables in afternoon (especially cabbage! )
• -Take ACV mixture After Dinner
• -Wait 3 hours after last meal... NO Snacks! If you snack you have to wait another 3 hours before bed. This allows your stomach time to stop producing acid, the second a food hits it ir produces a lot of acid, so one cookie, even one bite of a cookie, will send it into overdrive!
• - Drink Baking Soda water mixture right before bed
• - Have a slanted bed, or a wedge (though I always slid off those things, that is why my bed is slanted)
• -Smaller meals, have like 4 a day instead of 3.
• -Lose weight if needed, I weigh like 112lb after losing 7lb, and still need to lose like 10lb, every pound you have just goes to pressing your stomach making it harder to keep food and acid in!
• -Drink WATER! Drink, drink, drink!!! Ideally almost the only thing you will drink is water. Sugars cause your stomach to create more acid. Milk is certainly no longer my friend, heartburn every time I drink it, at first it feels good, then heartburn like crazy around 30 minutes later.

Anyways, I really hope this helps people like I does me. I will say I am not 100% symptom free, I get heartburn, but not as bad as if I did nothing, and I have yet to get acid in my throat. I am happy with the results and feel everyday my stomach is getting back to the way it was before I wrecked it with caffeine, stress, and ibuprofen, naturally. :)

I started taking apple cider vinegar a tablespoon of it and it burned like crazy for a while as my esophagus healed. I have heard that hydrochloric acid pills work too but never tried them. Apple cider is supposed to have other curative effects so I stuck with that. The theory is that lack of acid causes a corrosive gas to burn the esophagus and damage the valve leading into the stomach. That seems to be the case but I can't prove it. Once my esophagus healed the acid reflux went away and I have not had any trouble for years, well until my doc had me take high doses of Metformin for diabetes and that caused constant indigestion.

When I quit taking it the indigestion goes away. The only other time I have trouble is if I eat a lot of meat and go to bed shortly afterward.