Astroman

You've tried antihistamines? Pepcid perhaps?

For me DL was the most helpful for my nightime gerd. I literally tried everything, which all helped but minimally. DL was obviously more effective. Some others here in the past liked it to.

So DL worked even years before I began eating a blood tested diet for the rest of my body. Im GF, corn free with minimal dairy. I make simple home made meals. Only boxed stuff is AMY's GF once in a while.

DL heals the acid burnt valve (LES) allowing it to shut again. You can google that. Its all about the LES working correctly (or not) after an acute phase of stomach upset. If that acute gerd goes long term, then its chronic.

To the opposite of conventional medicine, I actually take HCL with meat meals, no gerd from this either.

If I ever feel it coming back from a spicy meal, I take one DL and thats usually all I need. Tomato based chip / picante sauce, can trigger it. This happened the other night after dinner, and I suspected it would, but had no issues at night or yesterday because I took one DL. I normally dont go chip dip crazy for that reason.

I no longer drink coffee as it turns into a habit I dont want. Coffee shop coffee is just all around bad and fattening. That said there is a low acid instant coffee called Kava coffee. If I need caffeine I just drink tea now.

I do sleep with minimal 4" incline on my bed frame, (wood blocked under head end legs), I like this this way. It was 8" in my bad gerd days.

The GERD forum mod here hates me and thinks supplements are snake oil. Good thing shes not over here. The only option left that conventional gastro Drs had for me was the Nissan rubber band LES helper operation. So far Ive avoided the need for that going on eight years or so.

Low thyroid FT3 can also low stomach acid resulting in slow dogestion and then create gerd.

Christianwithlyme: I tried Pepcid, made my swallowing worse, don't know why. Didn't really help. Haven't tried antihistamines though. Will look into that thanks.

Saraeli: Haven't heard about vagus nerve toning! That's new to me. Will look into it. Thank you for the other suggestions.

Astroman: Unfortunately I cannot swallow pills otherwise I would've taken them I'll see if i can find it in liquid form. I don't have an issue with trigger foods though. No burning, bloating etc. Like I said, only difficulty swallowing, pghlem buildup in throat and occasional sour taste in mouth. Not common symptoms. Currently on a liquid diet as the swallowing has worsened a great deal. Had so many tests done, endoscopies, other GI tests, all normal. Just can't figure out how to fix this

Well since it’s a gel tabs, maybe cut one open with a razor blade, Dump contents in a spoon and down it goes.

Lots of liquid versions on the Internet but those are not for human use a little bit different and are industrial solvent/natural cleaner.

If there is one In liquid form,for people I’ve never seen it

Post Edited (astroman) : 1/3/2021 11:08:30 AM (GMT-7)

Not to throw you off here, but I thought I would share my experience in case the d-limonene doesn’t work for you.

I apparently had “silent reflux” in 2015. The pulmonologist PA suspected it after my pulmo workup revealed nothing. She referred me to a gastroenterologist. It took a month or longer to get the gastro appointment.

While desperate for relief (I was drowning in mucus and waking up not breathing), I googled and learned that ENT’s were familiar with silent reflux. I went straight to the ENT and explained my troubles. He Rx Nexium and Zantac.

The Nexium and Zantac worked. They also stopped the redness, burning, heat, and inflammation I had in my face since Lyme symptom onset in 2009. (I never solved the mystery of why that happened.)

I took the Nexium and Zantac for about 6 months. By that time, the gastro was done with me. Abdominal xray and CT scan, endoscopy where a camera was inserted for 48 hour pH monitoring, a Hida scan, and a colonoscopy and all he could find was constipation and said, “I think you have IBS.” I had then gone to a functional medicine chiropractor. She encouraged me to get off the drugs. I weaned off and switched to apple cider vinegar for a couple of weeks until the backlash passed. I was started on betaine hydrochloride, digestive enzymes, and betafood supplements.

The reflux stuff didn’t return except briefly during random times. This was all prior to knowing I had Lyme.

I did try d-limonene after hearing Astroman talk about it. I wasn’t having reflux at the time. Was wanting to take it as a liver aid. It gave me reflux, so I stopped. Fast forward a couple years, and I found TUDCA to be a great liver supplement for me, as it greatly helped my toxic symptoms.

Saraeli: I wonder if it's neurological too. After having done virtually every GI test and everything coming back normal, plus being on prevacid which is a ppi, for almost a year with no change, it makes me suspect it may be due to lyme. We all know lyme attacks every part of the body right?

Walkingbyfaith: I have had several ENT's check me out, they put the camera down my throat and said everything is fine. The last ENT I saw about a year ago checked my throat and said there were secretions there and couldn't figure out why I was having difficulty swallowing. Someone recommended apple cider vinegar but I can't take it because I am very sensitive to strong flavours, I won't be able to take the burning. I did try aloe vera juice for a bit, no change

Astroman: Thank you for doing that experiment! Now I know I can consume the contents of the gel cap! I'm at my wits end and willing to try anything. Desperately want this to be resolved. Strangely when I took pantoprazole, it improved my symptoms a little bit on the first day, then after that, back to square one so I'm really puzzled by it.

All the above comments are very interesting. There are so many views and different thoughts on reflux, or what feels like reflux. It is an area that really throws me as I have had what feels like reflux for months and months and stomach issues for years.

Went to gastro, who did an endoscopy. He knew my goal was to see if I have low or high stomach acid, or either. A doctor's first thought it high acid when you have reflux symptoms, so they try to knock down the reflux with medicines like WBF mentioned. When a gastro first tried to put me on acid lowering meds, I asked how he knew whether it was low or high stomach acid. He looked at me like I was an idiot, and that led to the endoscopy (with a different gastro). When I came to after the endoscopy, I asked if I had low or high acid. He never really answered my question, kind of mumbled through it then said they may have me take a pill of some time with a camera on it to see.

The only reason I did the endoscopy was because was told it would help determine acid content. I'm waiting on a report they will mail to me (which I found odd they would mail results two weeks later) to tell me more about endoscopy.

I'd try D limonene but can't because of kidney issues. Can an endoscopy even tell if your stomach acid is high. I think he mentioned gastritis, which seems to be a god to answer after endoscopies. Anyone have similar experiences?

Our story, astroman, must be a standard for gastros when he or she doesn't know really what is going on, like in the case of Lyme. I had forgotten the gastro told me I must have too much stomach acid as he could see it impacting my upper diaphragm. Couldn't too little stomach acid do the same?

As far as those with Lyme goes, I have read a number of times most of the problems with refulx come from low stomach acid with Lyme. And so many with it are dealing with low T3 and many don't even know it.

Before I knew that all these symptoms were from lyme - I went to an ENT specialist due to a sensation of a lump in my throat.
I had already done the barium swallow X-ray - and nothing was found.
The ENT specialist put a scope (With a camera) through my nose to the back of my throat - I had to eat a cracker while he was watching if my swallowing was normal.
He also found nothing.

Eventually the symptoms went away.

But now what I’m experiencing is different. It’s reflux - I’m fine until I lay down at night.
I asked my husband to raise the head of our bed a few inches and see if that helps.

I have used d-Limonene before for reflux and it does help.

Their primary concern is liability so I think "no" is often going to be a default answer.

I'm not a doctor but since you already bought the product, maybe you could try mixing a little bit of the liquid with some water and see how it goes down? I understand the hesitancy.. just my opinion (not trying to push you)