Heartburn, gnawing pain or other indigestion issues after you eat the meal does not mean you have Proton Pump Inhibitor Drug (Prilosec, Nexium, or Zantac, Tagamet or Tums) Deficiency!!! These drugs are made to decrease your stomach acid which needs to be in very acidic conditions like ph 1-2 level to chew up your food in the stomach so that when the well-chewed up mashed foods enter the small intestines, all of the nutrients are able to be well absorbed. Taking Proton Pump Inhibitors for the long term will not only decrease the section of stomach acid but cause a laundry list of many side effects includes vitamin C, Magnesium, Calcium, Zinc, and B12 deficiency, IBS, food sensitivities and allergies, the chances of getting contacted with C.Diff and pneumonia and surprisingly to find hip fractures!

If you are not aware of the recent Zantac Recall in 04/2020, please read this article – Drug Injury Watch – published in 05/2020. The recall was due to the unacceptable level of a cancer-causing compound, NitroSodiumEthylamine, in Zantac. Back in 1987, when I was in so much pain in the stomach, I took this medication at a high dose for 3 months to stop the bleeding peptic ulcer. 20 years later, I accidentally found it was from H.Pylori bacterial infection I wrote on My Story page. It seems Zantac stopped the stomach acid production level to a little to none. Think twice before you start taking the medications!

If you are having the above symptoms, then chances are you are suffering from stomach acid “deficiency”, not “excess”. “Heartburn isn’t caused by excess stomach acid – it is caused when food is too slowly digested and escapes back into the esophagus. Because it’s now mixed with acid, it burns uncomfortably. A meal very high in fat will slow digestion way down. That’s why fried foods cause heartburn.

In a large percentage of those who are popping Pepto-Bismol tablets and Zantac to relieve their symptoms, the problem is actually too little stomach acid. If the acid-secreting cells (parietal cells) in your stomach too long. The acidity of the mass of digested food in your stomach eventually gives the signal for it to pass into the small intestine. If there isn’t enough acid, it takes much longer to move food out of the stomach. – “good hormone balance begins in the digestive tract page 286-287 “What your doctor may not tell you about premenopause” – John Lee M.D.”

PPI drugs are the top 3 drugs sold in the U.S. for the last 3 years. Can you see how many people are taking these acid-reducing drugs every day but not knowing actually it is hurting your stomach to produce acid to chew the foods you have just ate? Your stomach needs very acidic conditions to able to kill all the unwanted pathogens like parasites, bacterias, fungus, yeast, and worms.

Here are articles you may read before you take another dose of acid-reducing medication!

 

 

 

Difficulty swallowing food, if you have this problem, it leads to a different category of diagnosis and treatment. This is one possibility called Eosinophilic Esophagitis explained by my mentor Alan Christianson ND from Hashimoto’s Institute. In Oriental Medicine, there is the diagnosis called “Plum-Pit-Qi” Syndrome which you feel the food does not go down but stuck in the throat like Plum Pit is stuck in the esophagus. For the best treatment is to use the herbal remedy called “Ban Xia Hou Po Tang” which you can buy online. I like Evergreen, KPC, Kan herbal company in the U.S.

If Gas and Bloating (distended stomach) are your top 2 complaints about the list, you may have SIBO (Small Intestine Bacterial Overgrowth). You feel so bloated like 6 months pregnant within 1-2 hours consuming even a small amount of food because the food “is supposed to be well digested in the small intestine” but is struggling to get well absorbed. Your small intestine is sending the SOS signal to you. There are at least four possible causes:

#1. Your stomach is too alkaline. Your stomach should be very very acidic (level PH 1-2) to be able to chew up the food you just ate. But if not able to do so, maybe due to the LOW HCL level in the stomach lining.

#2. Why is your stomach lining not producing the HCL? The lack of enzyme production from the pancreas to stimulate HCL in the stomach. If that’s the case the marker called “elastase-1” will be below 320. Another possibility is you might have H.Pylori bacterial infection going on in your stomach. H.Pylori is notoriously widespread. I highly recommend the most advanced testing called GI-MAP has the best H.Pylori sections available comes with the markers called 8 different kinds of Virulence Factor like babA, cagA, vacA, virB. Each virulence factor tells you the risk factor associated with H. Pylori infection.

#3. You have less or thickened bile secreted by the gallbladder. Think about bile like dishwasher detergent. You run the dishwasher with 1/6 amount of detergent because you are run out of the detergent. What do you think about the dishes? All cleaned and grease-free? Probably not. Bile Salt, Ox Salt and Beets (beets capsules, powders, tablets) help to loosen up the bile juice.

#4. The pancreas secretes the “Lipase” enzyme to chew up the “fat” content as well. This might be lacking in your digestive juice.

Natural Remedy:

#1. D-Limonene One capsule x 3 /day with a meal – This is the orange peel citrus oil that reduces gastric acid in the stomach. Jarrow makes D-Limonene capsules which I use in my clinic. I have great success using this supplement. It is worth trying and this supplement is under $10-. Very affordable.

#2. Siberian Pine Nuts Oil – 1 tbsp x 3 / day 30-60 min. before meals to calm indigestion, gastritis, gnawing stomach ulcer pain, irritable bowel. This oil is rich in trace minerals and good fat like vitamin D and Omega6. It soothes the inflamed gastric mucosal membrane tissues.

#3. Melatonin + L-Tryptophan + Homocysteine support vitamins combo ( B6, Folate, and B12). There is the study done in Brazil – PubMed article. (I use liquid melatonin or time release melatonin.)

#4. Eat Okra or take Okra Pepsin E3 for gastric ulcer – Okra is sticky and it sticks like glue to the inflamed gastric mucosal lining so that you do not feel the gnawing pain. Okra Pepsin E3 works within 10 minutes.

#5. Drink Slippery Elm + Chamomile + Marshmallow Root Tea. If you tend to get gastritis very often, you may order this tea in bulk from Mountainrosetea and make a tea out of it or you may just take capsule form. These three combinations of herbal tea help to soothe the lining of the upper GI. The taste is very mild and pleasant.

#6. Drink a whole bunch (not one stock) of celery juice as your breakfast for a week or two. This remedy is also good for SIBO and Epstein Bar Virus flair up.

#7. Become Gluten and Dairy Free

#8. Drink more water to get well hydrated all day long

#9. Take Ginger Capsule with each meal

#10. Get some acupuncture treatment for initial 1 month to get off from PPI. It does help.