MangoMan wrote:
Gumby wrote:
There's no real monetary incentive to figure out what's causing the disease. So, the solution to fixing the symptom tends to be pharmaceuticals that only target symptoms. The names of the various diseases reflect this symptomatic-treatment approach. If you have "Heartburn," the fix is to use a drug to stop the burning sensation and the drug tends to cost a lot because it's patented to just do a better job at treating the symptom than the previous drug that was used. Fixing the cause of the disease would end that cycle of lucrative pharmaceutical symptom-treating, but drug companies have little incentive to solve what's causing a disease. (There are practitioners who attempt to fix the cause of things like heartburn, and the treatments tend to be very inexpensive.)
Could you perhaps supply some specific info on that, or direct me where to find it? I have suffered from from brutal heartburn/reflux for years, and I am concerned about the effects of long term use of H2 blockers and proton-pump inhibitors.
You bet.. The solution tends to work with
most people in your situation.
I was listening to a Chris Kresser podcast about two weeks ago. He practices acupuncture and "
functional medicine" out in San Francisco. Functional medicine attempts to solve symptoms by addressing the underlying problem. I've never been to a functional medicine practitioner, but I've got to say that it is a very interesting approach to dealing with chronic health issues. I might try it as a second opinion if I ever need one. Anyway...
Most doctors will treat digestion issues by recommending you avoid certain foods (such as meat, acidic foods, or FODMAPs) and by prescribing medications to
lower the acid in your stomach to prevent indigestion symptoms. The problem with that approach is just treating a symptom — not the
cause of the problem.
It turns out that the most people (perhaps as much as 90%) who have GERD or heartburn actually
don't have enough acid — since stomach acid and pepsin is required to dissolve and break down meat. If you've ever watched an episode of a TV show or movie where the bad guys dissolve a dead body in acid, you'll know what I mean. Well, your stomach is the same way. If you have low stomach acid, your stomach doesn't break down the food properly and that's when bad things start to happen in your gut. The symptom, in some people, is often a burning sensation in your esophagus as undigested food is backed up in the stomach. So, it's easy to think this means you have too much acid in your stomach, but for most people that isn't the case.
In fact, humans produce
less stomach acid as they age. If too much stomach acid was always the cause of heartburn/GERD, there'd be a lot more children with heartburn/GERD. So, having
too little stomach acid is the real reason why people tend to get heartburn/GERD as they age.
Unfortunately, doctors will put heartburn/GERD patients on medications to
lower stomach acid — making the problem worse since food isn't digested properly on PPIs. Of course, this treatment does lessen the
symptoms of acid reflux, but it ends up being a problem because individuals with low stomach acid and poor digestion become Vitamin B12 deficient (and deficient in other nutrients) if they don't treat the cause of the problem (you need stomach acid to absorb B12, which is usually obtained from digesting meat).
Now, I think it's safe to say that not
all Heartburn/GERD cases are caused by low stomach acid. Some people do have too much stomach acid or entirely different digestive issues. So, it's important to realize that everyone is different and the following articles will set you in the right direction to discovering the underlying cause of your digestion problems. Keep in mind that this practitioner recommends ancestral diets (high fat, meats, low carbs, etc) so if you've been missing those foods, you may be able to enjoy them. Be sure to comb through the comments as Kresser provides answers to most questions there.
So, how do you attempt to cure Heartburn/GERD?
First, start by reading the series of articles listed here: Heartburn/GERD
The first article in the series on that page is especially interesting:
What Everyone Ought to Know About Heartburn and GERD
If it turns out you have low stomach acid (as most people with GERD/heartburn do), it's easily treatable with over-the-counter HCI/pepsin tablets — to generate stomach acid — and a few simple rules explained here…
See:
Get rid of heartburn and GERD forever in three simple step
If it's true that most heartburn/GERD sufferers just have low stomach acid, it really makes me wonder if most doctors just get
all their solutions directly from pharmaceutical companies who want us to buy drugs for the rest of our lives.
It is possible to transition from PPIs to over-the-counter acid pills over a short period of time, but the longer you've been on PPIs, the more likely you may need to be on acid pills indefinitely. But, for most people, the ability to eat high quality/pastured fatty foods is worth it.
Good luck!