The importance of nutrition in fatigue and pain: Part 4—enzymes and how to get off prescription antacids naturally! - Highly Effective Treatments for Pain and Fatigue

Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients,  June, 2003  by Jacob Teitelbaum

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The last 3 columns have focused on the importance of specific nutrients in chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia. Good digestive health, however, is the foundation of good nutrition. Because indigestion is epidemic in Western societies, this month's column will focus on getting people off their antacids and improving enzyme function. Because these problems are so common, I've chosen to write the column in the form of two information sheets that you can give your patients. If you e-mail me (endfatigue@aol.com) I can e-mail the information sheets to you so you can print them out on your letterhead for your patients. In later columns I will speak about leaky gut and spastic colon, two processes that usually are caused by bowel infections -- especially fungal and parasitic.

Eliminating Chronic Acid Reflux and Indigestion

Do you think your problem is too much stomach acid?

If you still think your problem is too much acid, keep this in mind. The older people get the more likely they are to use antacids. This is interesting as stomach acid production decreases dramatically as people get older!

We seem to forget that having stomach acid is both necessary and normal. In fact, the body has gone to great lengths to be able to produce stomach acid without digesting the stomach itself! Your body needs to have proper nutrition, however, to make the mucous lining that protects the stomach. Instead of giving your body what it needs to heal, we sometimes make the mistake of turning off our stomach acid to solve the problem.

Most of your indigestion symptoms occur when any stomach acid refluxes (squirts) back up into the food pipe (the esophagus). Your food pipe is not made to resist stomach acid and even a little bit will cause it to burn. Because of this we give medications that turn off all the stomach acid. Because there is no stomach acid, the burning stops and we get deluded into thinking the problem was too much stomach acid.

What Happens When You Turn Off Stomach Acid?

Unfortunately, using anti-acid medications for an extended period causes 2 problems. Firstly, with no stomach acid, your body is not able to optimally digest food and you become nutritionally deficient. This makes it even harder for your stomach to make the mucous lining it needs to protect itself and can set you up for even more reflux. Secondly, in your body's attempt to make stomach acid (when you take anti-acid meds), it makes huge amounts of a hormone called Gastrin that stimulates stomach acid. Because of this, as soon as you stop your antacids, the stomach makes massive amounts of acid -- which it cannot protect against. In essence, you become addicted to the antacids. It is no surprise that Prilosec, Nexium, Zantac and other antacids are some of the biggest money making pharmaceuticals!

So What Can I Do?

A wonderfully effective way to resolve your reflux and indigestion is the following (in mild or occasional cases, the DGL licorice for a few days may be all you need. For more severe cases, use the entire program below to restore healthy digestion).

1. Improve your digestion by taking the proper enzymes (see below and the "Enzymes and digestive health" info sheet) and drink sips of warm liquids instead of cold while eating (cold temperatures inhibit digestive enzyme function). Longterm use of digestive enzymes can also dramatically improve your over-all health and well being.

2. Avoid coffee, aspirin products, colas, and alcohol until your stomach heals and then use them in limited amounts.

3. Take measures to heal your stomach lining. Using DGL licorice (must be the DGL form. as others can cause blood pressure problems-see below) can be powerfully effective in resolving your symptoms. Research shows that it is as effective as tagamet, but is healthy for you! Mastic gum 500 mg capsules two capsules twice a day for two months is also highly effective. Both of these can be used separately or together. As they help to heal the stomach instead of just masking symptoms, they may take 3-4 weeks to work in severe cases. You can use your antacids during that time if you want.

4. In many patients, stomach infections (H. Pylori) can be a major cause of long-term indigestion. Most doctors treat this with Prilosec combined with 2-3 antibiotics used simultaneously. A better approach is to add Limonene (Heartburn Free by PhytoPharmica) 1 every other day for 20 days once your indigestion has settled down a bit with the licorice/mastic gum. It may initially aggravate reflux symptoms, but, by killing the infection, may give long-term relief after only one 10 capsule course.

How Can I Give Up My Prescription Antacids?

After you have been on this treatment regimen for 1-2 months and are feeling much better, ask your doctor if you can stop your prescription antacids and switch to Tagamet (or stay on the DGL licorice! mastic gum). This will decrease your stomach acid instead of totally turning it off. By doing this, your body can slowly ease back to normal production of acid. Decrease the dose of Tagamet or DGL licorice until you are able to stop. After two months, most people can stop the licorice/mastic gum. They can be used as long as you want, however. If symptoms recur down the line, simply use the DGL licorice for a few days. If needed, you can repeat the course of DGL licorice/mastic gum (and even the heartburn Free if the stomach infection recurs) whenever you like. Meanwhile, you'll have broken your addiction to antacids and allowed your body to make the stomach acid it needs for proper digestion.