How I overcame reflux
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Beloved people,
Since I'm 18 y/o, I suffered diagnosed reflux (what a BS to diagnose, as you will see). The finding of the doctor was: Since my father was suffering from the same issues and was taking PPI (esomeprazol 40mg per day), the sentence was the same for me. A gastroscopy even confirmed the findings of the doc, and the decision was sealed:
Due to the fact that the esophagus at the lower part, at my stomach, was too loose, the acid from my stomach came up regularly, leading to heavy irritation of the esophagus and inflammation.I was sentenced to take pantoprazol first, since this wasn't of use, esomeprazol, 40mg/day, the whole rest of my life. I didn't question it, because my father was suffering the same thing and the alternative would have been, according to the doc, a severe surgery, opening up my belly and putting a ring-like device around my lower esophagus - this is the standard in treating severe forms of reflux.
Now it took me almost 14-15 years to come across some critical thinking and especially critical thinking of our medical system and nutrition advices. Until then, I had read over severe examples of reflux and thought, that I must be lucky to "just" have to take esomeprazol 40mg/day until I die (probably of osteoporosis).
After 14-15 years I had also gone through different dietings, since I rly liked experimenting on my body, also doing a lot of gym & substances, just to test my boundaries.
So it came that, after a while I was reading and listening to our prophet Ray Peat, I started googling stuff like "ray peat forum X", X soon being "PPI" (protone pump inhibitors, like pantoprazol or esomeprazol). Long story short: After going through traumatic experiences trying to get rid of PPIs several times in the past that almost burnt my esophagus, I this time tried it with a Ray Peat inspired diet. I mean, I was into proper diet acc. to RP standards 4 months now and took the courage to taper the PPI.
I started taking half the dose for the first two weeks. Then started taking the half of that for two weeks. Then started taking the half of that every 2 days for one week, until I realized I could just get off it
It was such a relief and I'm sober now for over 7 months!!!Schema for tapering (I was taking 40mg per day for ca. 14 years):
- 20mg per day for 2 weeks
- 10mg per day for 2 weeks
- 10mg every 2 days for 1-2 weeks
- sober after 5-6 weeks!
During my tapering days I had days with higher reflux and days with lower. I soon realized that I could break down the findings to following principles:
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Lower your cortisol through regular carbs (fructose, sucrose) intake; every 3-4 hours add carbs into your body to counter cortisol; don't hesitate to take 1 hour before going to bed a source of carbs (honey with milk for ex.). I realized that enhanced cortisol levels over a longer time period was hell for my stomach and esophagus.
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Additives etc. are hell! I don't know the exact science behind it, but each time I had an intake of emulsifiers, acid regulators, stabilizers, and all the other sh** they give fancy names, my stomach went nuts and spat acid to my esophagus like a volcano; therefore, for any case, avoid additives and its cousins ALWAYS.
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Add acid, don't lower! A myth told to you by your doc is: "You have to lower your acid bc excessive acid is what hurts your belly". Sorry but fo! I had tried so many stupid diets like acid-alkaline diets where I tried to lower acid. But what an insight when I found out that your stomach is spitting like a volcano acid, when it is too alkaline/basic, not too acid!!! Therefore, regularly eat proteines and in severe cases (or I supplement regularly), take aspirine! It worked so well, whenever I had acute issues, I just took 500mg aspirine and the digestion, as also acid was back to track. It's not excessive acid that is the problem, it's too low acid!
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For acute treatment, you can also use VitE. Worked very well when I had issues.
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I also felt issues when I ate PUFAs, especially cooked / oxidized forms. I had somehow the feeling that it shut the whole acid production of my stomach, leading to overreaction of it, leading to reflux. Aspirine and VitE helped in acute situations.
By reading through the RP forum I had found out, that the issues were regular high cortisol and low acidity. After all, if you don't follow my advice for some reason, try to find the best way to tackle these very two problems. I had found out that cortisol (also peppermint) and other substances that support cortisol, slacken your lower esophagus and open the corridor between stomach and esophagus. So you want to keep that cortisol low for any price! Keep the corridor closed, the acidity high, and your reflux will disappear, according to my experience.
Apart of that I'm doing workout with the philosophy of Mike Mentzer who preaches lowering cortisol during heavy workouts and not exaggerating cardio (also lower cortisol). I sleep 7-8 hours every day. I supplement since recently Thyroid and Testicles (see raw-animal.shop), Nicotinamid, Salt, VitA (if not taking testicles + thyroid much), VitE sporadically (if exposed to PUFAs), Aspirine 1g before workout, creatine, and Coconut (see my name).
After this journey of mine, in which I came to above conclusions, I'm really disappointed of the pharma industry and their agents, the ignorant doctors. The solution is quite easy and a question of changing your habits. Really happy if I was able to help the one or other reader. Let me know if I missed something or you have questions!
Your Coconut from Parthia
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@ParthianCoconut interesting post Mr. Coco thanks for sharing. Been struggling with this issue for a year now since a little breakdown I had at the end of the covid madness in Austria. Is the 1g aspirin daily or only 1-3/week synced with your workouts?
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@JaCoolBruh said in How I overcame reflux:
@ParthianCoconut interesting post Mr. Coco thanks for sharing. Been struggling with this issue for a year now since a little breakdown I had at the end of the covid madness in Austria. Is the 1g aspirin daily or only 1-3/week synced with your workouts?
hey Bruh
Currently, I'm only taking the 1g aspirin as pre-workout (30min before, much needed for the HIT).
But I also used to take it over a period of 1 months like this:
Morning: 1g Asp + K2
Mid day: 0.5g Asp + K2
pre-workout 0.5-1g Asp + K2I mainly used this one for "fat burning" purposes, but the underlying science is that topic with energy & mitochondria (there's a post somewhere in this forum from a guy with the same Zyzz pic).
Why you ask?
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@ParthianCoconut Awesome post, thank you for sharing, and congratulations on your journey so far.
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There's an anti-serotonin called ondansetron used for chemotherapy patients getting nauseous. I have successfully used it to stop really bad reflux in the past, or any other stomach issues for that matter.
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P pilky moved this topic from Case Studies on
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@ParthianCoconut just wondering if that could make the difference. I’m already doing most of the points listed except such doses of aspirin. I do take 300-500mg whenever I remember (4 times a week probably).
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@JaCoolBruh said in How I overcame reflux:
@ParthianCoconut just wondering if that could make the difference. I’m already doing most of the points listed except such doses of aspirin. I do take 300-500mg whenever I remember (4 times a week probably).
as far as I can remember, I didn't use at the initial stage any aspirin. But towards the end, when I was taking every second day 10mg esomeprazol and was experiencing higher reflux, I started taking aspirin. In the above sense, I countered in this switching period, when I was getting my stomach used to produce regular acidity again, with the acid of aspirin. I think that helped a lot. But again, remember the regular short-carbs intake to close the channel!
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@ParthianCoconut peating fixed my acid reflux as well. glad to see someone else had this experience!
I've decided to wander for ten years. There were two men - they walked the same road, but after ten years, they discovered completely opposite truths. So I think if I wander for ten years, I'll be able to find my own truth.
-Sojiro Seta, Rurouni Kenshin
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@sztrapacska @ParthianCoconut Cool to hear.
I somewhat recently treated H. Pylori with clarithromycin and amoxicillin, and I was also given a PPI (pantoprazole) along with it, which I took reluctantly. Towards the end of the 2 week treatment and after, I've had acid reflux quite bad for the first time in my life. I also have this weird tightness of the muscles in my neck that I've never experienced before.
Does anyone know why I would have this after this treatment? Is it taking and stopping the PPI after a short while?
Any insight would be appreciated. Going to try some of the things @ParthianCoconut listed above, thought aspirin has seemed to exacerbate it, and typically I've actually experienced many symptoms of low cortisol.
Thanks!
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Had it a couple years ago, started sleeping with a blanket under my pillow and it healed.
Basically what happens with GERD is that the stomach acid constantly irritates the wound and the injury can't heal as it keeps coming up when lying down. Gravity solves that.
Also avoid foods that trigger your stomach during healing. Mainly salty stuff.
