It Started Early

In middle school I began to feel unwell. It was a general malaise and I had a hard time describing it. I was not in tune with my feelings and did not have the vocabulary to do so. My head would hurt and my stomach felt yucky. Fast forward to many doctor appointments where I still wasn’t good at expressing my symptoms and I was prescribed Prilosec aka Omeprazole. At one point I was prescribed Nexium. In retrospect, I don’t think I was having heartburn… The doctor just needed to throw medicine at the problem and hope for the best. I took this medication without considering potential side effects of antacids.

Popping Tums

Somewhere along the way I began popping Tums as if they were candy. For years I ate so many of them that I began to feel disgusted at the thought so I never ate any Tums or antacids similar to Tums for 2 decades. Fast forward again to this year, 2024, I decided to try a minty antacid, Rolaids. They didn’t disgust me like the tums so I was able to stomach them. This was great because I usually take Famotidine when I feel heartburn arising and it always took an hour or two to start working. I would suffer greatly for those one or two hours. After months of taking these chalky Rolaids, I realized my acid reflux was getting A LOT WORSE. Horrendously bad. I wouldn’t be able to work. Anything that required me to bend or tilt in 1 degree beyond being perfectly vertical was at times excruciating. The Famotidine stopped working and the antacids stopped working. Many nights I couldn’t sleep because I couldn’t bare being not 100% vertical.

Aspiration

Pulmonary aspiration is; “the inhalation of acidic substances into the lungs. This can cause serious lung tissue damage and respiratory issues”. This happened to me a handful of times this year, it was so intense that I can’t even describe the pain, and boy was it scary.

Coffee

Anyone who knows me knows that I am a coffee FIEND. Coffee and I, are one. From the moment I wake up until 4 pm I was guzzling coffee. Everywhere I went I’d have my coffee mug. After this horrible pain I’d experienced for years and then this year it getting legit scary… I knew something had to give. My beloved love of my life that was always there for me. My biggest, strongest addiction for 23 years. Coffee. Slowly and painfully is the way I prefer to quit things 😅. Some people are cold-turkey quitters but I enjoy small gradual steps. This is what I did and I went from 10 strong cups per day to 0 over the course of a couple months. I will drink a little decaf here and there.

Do You Have Enough Stomach Acid?

Here’s what I’ve learned from the internet… so take it with a grain of salt, I am not a doctor! A lot and possibly the majority of people with acid reflux do not produce ENOUGH stomach acid. Everyone has a sphincter that separates the esophagus from the stomach. The sphincter opens and closes to allow food in and to prevent stomach acid from entering the esophagus. Guess what causes this sphincter to stay open! Not enough stomach acid. When this sphincter is open, the stomach contents can easily enter the esophagus. And this my friends, is Acid Reflux aka heartburn. Not only is this extremely painful but after years and years of this acid entering the esophagus, you get erosion. If this happens for long enough it turns to esophageal cancer. I had an upper endoscopy 8 or 9 years ago and I had a lot of stuff wrong. My doctor told me that I had pre-pre-cancerous erosion in my esophagus. That caused me to take antacids again in the form of famotidine. At that time I had been treating my reflux with ginger root and dietary changes but the thought of possibly getting esophageal cancer was scary enough to get me to take the pills again.

Negative Repercussions Of Not Enough Stomach Acid For Long Periods Of Time

A condition where the stomach doesn’t produce enough hydrochloric acid is called hypochlorhydria, This can lead to a number of issues, including:

Digestive problems: Low stomach acid can make it difficult to digest food and absorb nutrients. This can cause bloating, indigestion, nausea, heartburn, and diarrhea.

Malnutrition: Low stomach acid can lead to a protein deficiency, which can cause hair loss, brittle nails, and fatigue. It can also disrupt the absorption of vitamins and minerals like B6, B12, C, calcium, iron, folic acid, and magnesium.

Infections: Low stomach acid can increase the risk of intestinal infections like food poisoning and small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO).

If left untreated, hypochlorhydria can damage the gastrointestinal (GI) system and lead to other chronic health issues.

Some risk factors for hypochlorhydria include: Being 65 or older, taking medications that reduce stomach acid production, having high levels of stress, having an H. pylori infection, and having undergone stomach surgery. Chewing food thoroughly can help improve stomach acid levels and digestion. A doctor may also suggest treating hypochlorhydria with a hydrochloric acid supplement or a supplement to increase vitamin or mineral levels.

Further to Go

I feel I’ve only scratched the surface in learning about what is really going on with my debilitating acid reflux. Recently I took a gastric emptying test and found out I have gastritis. I took a Bravo test and have yet to receive the results. In a few weeks I am having another and much overdue upper endoscopy. They told me about a year ago that I needed this done but I’m just getting to it now… I know I know I’ve been neglecting my health. It would have been interesting to see the results when I was at the height of my coffee addiction just 2 or 3 months ago but even without coffee I am still not doing well. I am getting better in many ways but have so much further to go.

Click here to check out my previous post for more basic information about antacids and GERD.

https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/23392-hypochlorhydria

https://www.webmd.com/digestive-disorders/what-is-hypochlorhydria

https://thefunctionalgutclinic.com/blog/news/low-stomach-acid-everything-you-need-to-know/