Alternatives to PPI's

hey Javery,

So yesterday i took only ACV and i felt a pretty big improvement, felt a lot normal, still had some symptoms, but felt very good. I used the Whitehouse brand vinegar and put one table spoon in Natures Made Organic Apple Juice, i drank it straight in like 3 big gulps. I didn't take any other supplements/drugs yesterday, only one teaspoon of ACV before lunch and one before dinner. I didn't feel any heartburn it seems, only felt some symptoms later in the evening.

Today at work before lunch i bought the Heinz Unfiltered Raw ACV at Walmart, took one teaspoon with water, felt alright, a bit more symptoms than yesterday, when i get home i'll try the whitehouse one again or maybe give the Heinz bottle another try. I am not sure if drinking with the straw had any impact, or if i changed the brand made the difference, or whether it was apple juice vs. water.

The ACV seems to help me, which makes me think i should transition to the Betaine tablets. I still am concerned trying the tablet

My only concern with the ACV vinegar is potential damage to teeth, i did dilute it with the apple juice yesterday all day and today with water, then rinse my mouth with water. I did try the straw today, i prefer gulping it down, even though both methods is fast, just trying to figure out best way to drink it without impacting the teeth.

Post Edited (joogle) : 4/22/2014 11:15:55 AM (GMT-6)

I like to share that while I have been going through all this GERD stuff I also had been waiting for biopsy results on my left breast. Well I got the news today that I have a Complex Selerosing Lesion (benign) but have to have surgery to have it removed and tested further to make sure there is no malignant tissue that the biopsy could have missed. Going through this made it real hard to keep my anxiety in check so my GERD would not get uncontrollable. But I can now breath a little easier and I'm believing after the surgery I will have a benign result on the total ordeal. Thanks for letting me share on this thread. :)

I didn't even know ACV tablets existed. That would have been nice to know. Anyways, if you try 1 tablet and feel a burning sensation, then I would say it is too acidic for your needs. If you don't feel a burning sensation, then increase by 1 tablet at the next meal. I would keep doing this until you feel a burning sensation and then back down by 1 and stay there. I've read that by doing this you'll eventually feel a burning sensation eventually at each dosage at which point to keep stepping down by 1 until you no longer are on them. When you can't take 1 without feeling a burning sensation, that tells you that your body is producing the correct amount of acid on it's own. Not sure on how it will actually work as this is all based on multiple sources I've read but it sounds logical to me.

yeah there are apple cider vinegar capsules on Amazon, the Nature brand is most popular from what it seems, i will stick with the apple cider vinegar liquid for another day as it has helped, i dont feel the heartburn after taking it and eating.

i may then just order the ACV tablets and try them as well.

hey javery - so i took the same organic ACV yesterday night before dinner, had a small meal, but was belching a lot, plus had pain in my abdomen. Either this brand did not suit me or it made my stomach too acidic. I may go to the other regular house brand of ACV and just take it once today to test at lunch. I did have night time reflux which i generally have never had, i felt heartburn in the middle of the night, took some gaviscon. I am thinking the second dose of ACV at dinner time just made the stomach too acidic at this point.

The ACV tablets arrive tomorrow, so I will test those out that time. I may just try tums when i get this heartburn. by the way i got those alkazone drops, i have yet to find the ph strips in the store, but how many drops should i place in a bottled water like Nestle? Thanks

Hello everyone, I envy how you all are managing and feeling so much better in a short time. I am still struggling with the switch from 40mgs to 20mgs. I am now going into my 6th week and although I must say I have had a couple of decent or at least more decent days than I had in the beginning I still don't feel as well as I should. I think I had a bit of a set back when I bought some 'intestinew' It was said to help heal the whole digestive tract. I had terrible pain in my lower intestines which really hurt after taking it for 2 days or at least I think that is what did it. I have left off everything and will now gradually start to add back a few things. Today is nausea and sweating and off balance feeling again. I was so hoping to start to reduce my PPI again but until I feel somewhat stable I jut can't do it. A question I have and someone might be able to answer it. I have always since being on a PPI watched my intake of dairy thinking I was lactose intolerant so how could eating yogurt help. I see that people do eat yogurt as a probiotic but I have never been able to eat it.
Mouche I think you have done so well in reducing your PPI and feeling well so quickly.
Joogle you are very brave looking to take another test. I just wilt at the thought of seeing a doctor for anything although I know I should go back to the gastro doctor. I think this PPI is not helping with anxiety either. getting very depressed as I really haven't felt well since February. Sorry to be such a downer but sometimes it is so good to talk to people that understand.

I am not taking anything at the moment only trying to eat healthy. I ordered the alkazone drops and will use those when they get here. I didn't continue with the vinegar for the time being. I think that might work better when I start to lower my dosage of the ppi. Some days I don't feel too bad pain wise but the nausea drives me crazy. But then again over the years I have always had nausea on and off with these PPI's and even the GI doctor I saw years ago said 'unexplained nausea'. I am disappointed I don't feel a whole lot better after 6 weeks but maybe dropping the dosage from 40 to 20mgs might have been a bit drastic for my system.

Good morning everyone, @Lily I'm so sorry you are not feeling better, you would think after this long things would level out some. I'm wondering if it's because you not only cut the dosage in half along with changing the brand. I know when I tried to go from 40mg of Nexium to 20mg of a different brand I was so sick and there was no way I could function.

I know for me the way I'm doing it now has been great, only a sore throat, mild headache some days, yesterday was really great as I felt like my old self before all of this started. I also believe that my weight loss and my eating habits have been so helpful, I pray that my next step down will go as well as this one. I also wonder if because I don't have a haital hernia , ulcers, strictures, etc etc but only GERD that this is making it better for me. I don't know, just having that thought.

Lily something has to give soon, just hang in there. (Hugs)

Javery, I am sorry you didn't feel so well but hope this next step you are doing will help you. I want to ask you if you ever had dry mouth on your journey. I have had it since last night and wonder what is causing it. maybe the Prilosec?

Mouche I am so happy for you that things are going well. I hope it continues and you can complete your journey a lot faster than I can. I am obsessed with this problem and can't think of anything else.

Does anyone know if a little feta cheese can be eaten in a salad or is it too acidic. I can't find out anywhere if it is.
Thanks to all - keep on posting I need your positive outlooks.

@javery, I just received my ALKAZONE, I will let you know how it goes for me. I should have been clearer on my last post the woo hoo was for you being off meds soon

Post Edited (Mouche) : 4/24/2014 11:56:11 AM (GMT-6)

Lily, can your doc prescribe you 20 mg? oh that's right you said you has a lot of Nexium left over. I don't know if you have done this or not but if you go online to Nexium, they offer a coupon that you can use for a year. My co pay with insurance is $50 but with this coupon I have only paid $18 for it. That way you wouldn't have to guess at the dosage, just a thought. :) I bet once you go back to using half the dosage of Nexium you just may feel better until you can reduce again.

I would say go with whatever is working the best with the least amount of side effects or side effects that don't bother you as much. I didn't have most of the symptoms that people have talked about due to any of the medications aside from stomach cramps lately from the pepcid. If the nexium doesn't give you any problems that you can't deal with, I'd go with what you are doing as I've heard of others doing that as well. I know how it can be with medical costs and stuff and trying to spend the least amount of money on all of it as you need to have money for other things as well. I don't like the way health care is moving and blame it mostly on how we eat which creates all of these chronic problems we have. But that's a whole other issue. The only thing we can do is be smart consumers and eat healthier so we don't have to deal with all that mess. That's the direction I've been going towards and trying to teach my kids the same but they are only 1 and 4 years old so they don't understand much at all, especially the 1 year old.

I'm also thinking that the GI doctor doesn't think anything of the dry mouth as it is possibly a minor side effect to him. Of course I wonder how these doctors would like it if they had to deal with the side effects. It's easy to push something off if you don't know what it's like.

Yes the pill is still purple but the size of the pill is smaller.