Natural Remedies for Acid Reflux Relief

Hi, I have reflux very bad had to stretch and still food seem like it is stuck but it is going down. Doctor don't know what that feeling coming from can anybody reach out to me and give me some pointer that I might want to look at. Thanks- have been to ear and throat doctor and they just say they see reflux. I am so sad I can't eat anything but soft food.

same here, I am going to gastro doc tomorrow for a consult. Regular doc thinks I might have narrowing of the espohgas which can be caused by reflux. I hope not because I have heard that if you have these sidtures then you will have to keep having your throat stretched to open it back up. It is bad when even water won't go down like it is supposed to.

I would love to get your advice on my issue. I have acid in my arms legs and back as well as my stomach. I'm very acidic and I've tried everything. Thank you!

Hi Mark from Lichfield..

I think your post was fantastic- it's what i suspected myself and i've been looking for some reassurance that my GERD will be cured when i've rid myself of candida.

I've been a victim of daily heartburn for over a year follwing a very long course of antibiotics, and i strongly agree with what you say- i;ve been trying to find this link between candida and GERD for such a long time to put my mind at rest!

I've been on theh candida diet for about two months, and have started to feel better, but not enough yet- i still get heartburn in the evening, and all the info i find tells me this is incurable and i need conventional medicine which i don't want! I'm only 20 years old, and i feel that PPIs could cause me some serious problems - I want to restore my body to the way it was without lifelong drug prescriptions or surgery!

So i'd just like to know, how long did it take you to get better? are you completely free of heartburn? was it a gradual process? can you get away with eating some carbs these days? Is it all back to normal??!!

I'd be most grateful if you could put my mind at rest and tell me this will eventually sort itself out if i maintain my willpower for long enough!

Thank you for your great post :)
Kate

read your comments re: hiatal hernia on another website . .. you were dead on regarding stressed diaphram & psoas & quadratus laborum being stressed . . found a chiro to massage these aeas & all acid indigestiong diappeared . . he was conviced all of this was primarily a back injury causing weakness in diaphram .. . he aleady knew all this but your website put me on the right track! you need a seasoned chiro: mine is 30 years of experience trained in applied kinesology so he found the site of weakness very quickly! thank you so much for this invaluable info.

The FDA and Food Industry have played a deceptive, sinister and cruel trick on acid reflux sufferers. They have disguised the cause of this "disease" in an unethical (albeit brilliant) web of lies and deception. They have capitalized upon one of those situations in life where the logical answer is wrong, and the answer that doesn't seem to make a lick of sense on the surface is right by advocating to the population that the logical answer is in fact, correct, and the solution is "X" when they know it is dead wrong but don't care, because it creates an entire industry, which yields profit.

We are led to believe that our Acid Reflux is the result of too much acid in the stomach that then "spills" into the esophagus, causing the burning sensation. However, the reality is just the opposite. There is no such thing as "Acid Reflux disease or GERD. " You experience the symptoms associated with acid reflux because your stomach is not producing enough acid and stomach gases force food and acid upwards into the esophagus. The technical diagnoses is "Hypochlorhydria, " which means "too little stomach acid" (Hydrochloric acid) and the FDA doesn't want you to figure that out, because the cure is not pharmaceutical drugs, which means you won't be giving them money to keep you on life-long chemicals that address symptoms rather than causes, until you develop side effects to medicine "X" and have to take medicine "Y" to suppress them, all resulting in more money in their pockets for essentially killing you over time.

The reason red wine helps your acid reflux is because red wine appears to help with digestion. Red wine helps with digestion because it has acidic value, just like Apple Cider. Put simply, you are adding acid to your stomach. This is why you feel more severe heartburn for the first 20 seconds when you take a sip as it travels down your throat to your stomach, followed by relief once it arrives and settles. You are effectively repopulating your stomach with the acidic value it needs to execute digestion, thus preventing gases from forcing anything into your esophagus. However, since you are led to believe your symptoms are due to too much acid in the stomach, the logical reaction is to classify red wine as a GERD/Reflux catalyst or agitator, which is why most "no-no foods lists" for Acid Reflux sufferers will include red wine.

Pharmaceutical medications essentially do the same thing, but they do it in an unhealthy, dangerous & expensive way. What they do is eliminate ALL acid in the body. When this happens, the body panics and works extremely hard to reproduce sufficient acid. Once this process completes, your symptoms go away, because your stomach now has an appropriate level of acid in it. The FDA, however, wants you to keep giving them more money, so they hope you continue to believe you have too much acid and you need these drugs to keep your acid levels under control.

Nothing seems to cure Hypochlorhydria except for lifestyle change and time. You must treat the source of the problem, which is faulty digestion. If you had proper digestion, your body wouldn't lack the acid levels required to digest nourishment in the stomach.

I personally have been on multiple prescription medications for chronic Acid Reflux before learning the truth for the past 8 years. The only medication that worked for me alleviated my symptoms momentarily at the expense of injecting 1,680 mg of sodium into my system everyday. Combine that with my daily salt intake and I'd be dead by 40, like our forefathers who used salt to preserve their foods. That being said, I have always been skeptical about holistic remedies, and given my general luck, most things don't end up working for me. That being said, I would like to share what has worked for me, so that in the event you are skeptical, have bad luck or nothing ever works for you, you can know that someone with the same problem found the following solutions:

I recommend a full spectrum digestive enzyme before or after every meal, as well as a probiotic from your local vitamin store. Certified Inner Fillet Aloe Vera Juice helps as well, but I wouldn't take it everyday because it has claims to be hard on the kidneys over a long period of time/usage. Absolutely positively stay away from anything spicy. Spicy food is the only thing that will render every trick in my bag useless and keep me up all night burning, regardless what time I ate it. There's also nothing on the planet I love more, but you have to do what you have to do. On that topic, never overeat, never eat past 7pm, and although it is very hard to follow (I am guilty of not following this often), try to limit your intake of liquid with your meals to 5-6 ounces preferably a good red wine or water. The reason for this is to not dilute your stomach acid to ensure it remains effective in digestion. Drink water at least 30 minutes after your meal. Lastly on the topic of digestion, and even harder to follow than limiting liquid intake is to not mix your food groups. The human digestive system is not well equipped to fully digest multiple food groups simultaneously. In other words, do not eat your roughage, meets & starches together. When one does this, the digestive system kicks into overdrive from being overwhelmed, and there is no way it is able to fully digest all food from all food groups when ingested simultaneously. The end result is poor digestion and putrefying food in the stomach, producing that "full for 12 hours" feeling, indigestion, heartburn, etc.

Following these guidelines will not alleviate your symptoms, however. These recommendations may heal and correct your body over time with consistent use, which is needed. While your body does this though, let's talk about the things that can manage the symptoms.

The absolute first thing you I recommend to do after reading this is buy a large bottle of Papaya Enzyme chewable tablets these guys are your best friends, and without them you are severely disadvantaged in managing your symptoms. They have a similar effect to over the counter antacid chewables, but they are enzymes, so rather than spin the acid depletion / replenish cycle, it aids your digestive system while controlling and preventing further symptoms. Most instructions say to take 3 with meals and two when needed. I often take ~25 a day.

Try to find a health foods store that carries Slippery Elm Powder. This is tree bark dust, and it coats & soothes your stomach. Mix 1-2 teaspoons into a mug of hot water & be prepared because it is ungodly nasty and the texture is like drinking mucus. That being said, provided it doesn't cause you to wake up congested and you aren't allergic to it, it is excellent in relieving symptoms.

Purchase organic roasted almonds and consume. For some reason, roasted almonds appear to alleviate symptoms. Almond milk is a good choice as well, but doesn't appear to work nearly as well as almonds in my experience.

Now the stomach needs to be trained to produce sufficient acid. This can be done by buying a bottle of raw Apple Cider Vinegar with the Mother and drinking 3 tablespoons in 8oz of water 3 times a day. Drinking ACV has other health benefits as well, but it can be rough on the stomach for some (myself included). Apple Cider Vinegar is also quite nasty, but it replenishes acid and alleviates symptoms. Avoid ACV capsules, as they do not appear to work. Proven Old Amish Formula "Stops Acid Reflux" formula produces a similar effect to ACV, can be taken straight, and is a bit more bearable. It also contains ginger and garlic juices. However, in my case of sensitive stomach, both cause me stomach discomfort (ACV stomachache, Amish Formula bloating) so I opt to not take them. In their absence, I have found that good red wine (preferably Cabernet Sauvignon) alleviates symptoms, and appears to replenish acid levels. Another method is to purchase Hydrochloric Acid in pill form (5-HCL) and take before and/or after meals to add acid to the stomach. This is the only approach I have no experience with as of yet.

I recommend purchasing a crushed ice maker and chewing crushed ice. The ice will soothe your throat and remove all symptoms while actively consuming, but symptoms will often re-emerge shortly after you have stopped eating ice. Drinking water helps momentarily. Chewing gum also seems to remove symptoms by increasing saliva production which improves digestion, and masks the feeling of heartburn with the flavor of the gum instead. Ensure your head and upper chest is elevated when you sleep to assist gravity in keeping the acid splash from the gases where it belongs. This can be accomplished with a wedge pillow or 6-8 inches of bricks under the bed.

As a last resort, keep a box of baking soda on hand; dissolve 1/4 tsp of baking soda in 4-5 ounces of water and drink. Most recommend 8 ounces. In my experience, less water works better. This will neutralize acid so that if gases are causing splashing on the esophagus, it will be neutral & (relatively) symptom free. I often need to consume 1/4 tsp baking soda to sleep comfortably. Just be aware that 1/4 tsp of baking soda is somewhere around 300mg of sodium. That being said, it is loads better than the 1, 680mg I was consuming every night.

This is every tool in my toolbox that has had any sort of positive effect on controlling and moving towards curing my Hypochlorhydria. I recommend equipping yourself with all of these tools, but if I could only choose three I'd take the Papaya Enzymes and an Acid Producer (Red Wine, ACV, etc.) daily, while keeping the baking soda on hand for emergencies. Remember, consuming spicy foods will render every single tool ineffective. However, following these guidelines has allowed me to manage this condition, but I can't guarantee the same for everyone.

Very helpful. I've been working on this two months, am much better, trying to fine tune the "in between meals" problems. Tried red wine this evening, and was so pleased I went to the net. Please look up and consider the 6 mg. Melatonin per night approach, which has nearly taken away my symptoms, and the low carbohydrate diet approach. Melatonin reasons are beyond me. For low carb, many people have an imbalance between fungus and good biotics, and need to rebalance. The fungal contingent is happy eating carbs/sugar/fast burn refined anything. If that is your problem, a proprietary product called Candex is the best I've found (although there are many other herbal approaches). It takes months, but you will automatically lose weight (be prepared if you are thin), and it will balance out. Good luck to all, and thanks for the confirmation on red wine.

Apple Cider Vinegar has been my acid reflux/GERD cure of choice recently as it has really seemed to help more than any medicine's I've tried. I ran out of Apple Cider Vinegar and searched to see if Red Wine Vinegar had the same sort of benefits. I saw a few people on here said it worked, so I figured I would give it a try. Sure enough, 2 teaspoons in about 2 cups of water did the trick like magic.

The scientific explanation:
The acid in the vinegar aides the digestive process. Stomachs can sometime produce too much acid. However, more likely someone's stomach with GERD or chronic acid reflux actually produces not enough acid or too much alkaline.

The acid from the vinegar helps digest and process the remnants of food that hasn't been able to be digested naturally.

I like to think of my stomach as a mini-science experiment. Taking extraordinary amounts of TUMS or acid reduction medicine to remedy the solution is usually short term. Although it's sometime painful, in the long run it's better to find something like vinegar or other natural remedy that isn't harmful to your body that you can take on a daily basis.

Ref: Posting of 05/19/2008: Gislain from Phoenix, AZ

You are absolutely correct. Stress can certainly cause acid reflux. Then the person is told to take PPI's or H2 Blockers. The next thing they know they're on med's for life. Avoid worry and stress. Don't get over weight (if you are lose weight), eat right (smaller portions and healthy). Avoid all medications that can cause reflux (and there is a lot of them out there, prescription and OTC). Lastly, practice relaxful breathing, close your eyes and envision a calm place.

What is the name of alkaline water machine that turns regular tap water into alkaline rich water and I can buy in India?

Yep I have tried salt and vinegar potato chips and they worked quite nicely

I followed the links you share and most conclude that"

"The relevance and potential of fermented foods and beverages, with contrasting and inconclusive results" or that Saukraut" or " Although sauerkraut has a variety of claimed beneficial health effects, they need to be interpreted with caution as it can also cause some unwanted or even allergic reactions, i"

I cannot read the last two.

Nonetheless, I have found this quote: "The studies found that sauerkraut induced inflammation locally, but repeated intake may result in diarrhea... unwanted effects such as intolerance reactions must be considered when dealing with sauerkraut as a functional food." from this article.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4268643/#:~:text=The studies found that sauerkraut, monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs).

So, I would proceed with caution as this remedy may cause adverse reaction for some...