Immensely Educated by the Digestion Sessions from Underground Wellness

I cannot say enough good things about the FREE Digestion Sessions going on right now via the internet thanks to Sean Croxton! The interviews of highly knowledgeable functional medicine doctors and naturopaths are *A M A Z I N G*!

The interviews discuss things like:

--Causes and natural remedies for constipation, GERD, acid reflux

--How anxiety and depression may be rooted in the health of your digestive system

--How to get rid of Candida yeast overgrowth for good

--How stress affects your digestive system

--How to treat and heal IBS and IBD for good

Every interview has offered me *so much more* beyond what I thought it would be about! WOW!

April 2008 through June 2009, Added Notes

This is an addendum to my previous post “April 2008 To Present Day”. I forgot to mention a couple of other things that someone may find helpful.

To help my stomach heal from all the trauma that it had experienced due to low acid conditions and H. Pylori bacteria, I purchased some Aloe Vera juice and began drinking it on a regular basis. You don’t have to take very much, and it is best if you don’t, because it can give you diarrhea. The aloe vera juice also helps my stomach tremendously. Whenever I run out, I tell myself that I should now be fine without it. But within days, I start having stomach pains after meals. I am confused as to why for a couple of days, until it dawns on me again that I have not been taking my aloe vera juice! So I make it a point to have some every day. I have a couple of favorite brands that I use. I used the George’s Aloe Vera for most of the past year and really like this one because it is tasteless. Tastes like water and it was very easy for me to just pour the needed amount into my water jug each day and drink it along with my water throughout the day. Recently I was told that Aloe Life’s Aloe Vera is even better and fresher. So I have been trying that one also. I have a bit more difficulty remembering to take this one because I can’t just pour it into my water jug and instead have to drink it separately since it is flavored. The Cherry Berry flavor is the best.

In addition to the aloe vera juice, I also always keep on hand some papaya pills to aid with digestion as needed. I used to take these all the time, but now only take them if I feel any hint of stomach uneasiness after eating a heavy meal. They also help immensely if I am experiencing any signs of acid reflux.

Hopefully, this is all for now…if I think of something else, well I’ll have to add another post.

March 2008 - Killing H. Pylori

During the six weeks of waiting I continued taking the Protonix every day. All remained the same; no acid reflux, occasional lumping in the throat, stomach pains mostly had disappeared. But at least a couple of times, I had some chest pains after the evening meal. That greatly concerned me.

It was finally the day of my long awaited appointment with the gastroenterologist. We chatted about what had been happening with my stomach for the last couple of months and the H. Pylori results.

She said that I would need to be put on two different antibiotics at the same time along with taking two doses of Protonix a day in order to eradicate the H. Pylori. I mentioned to her that I was quite concerned about taking the Protonix for any extended amount of time because of the calcium absorption problem and she poo-pooed my concern. She told me, not in these exact words but her point was clear, that my concerns were unfounded and that there would still be enough acid in my stomach to absorb the calcium as acid levels fluctuated throughout the day. She also said that I would need to remain on Protonix probably for the rest of my life. What?! Yikes! I didn’t like the sound of any of that at all. Not to mention I was quite concerned about being on such high doses of antibiotics due to the awful antibiotic induced colitis I experienced in 2003. I’ll blog about that experience and what valuable things I learned from it some other time.

I went home with my prescriptions and began taking the 2,000 mg. prescribed daily (bear in mind I only weighed around 100 lbs.) and taking a dose of Protonix in morning and evening. It was a gross process at first. I had intestinal issues and one of the antibiotics constantly made my mouth taste terrible. I continuously felt the fumes (best way to describe it) of the antibiotic and the dying bacteria coming up my throat for the first few days. It was intense. One night, I became really frightened. I even debated whether to go to emergency room because it almost felt like I was having a heart attack. It was after the dinner meal, and I felt like a huge lump was in my chest which made my chest hurt and feel pressed on. I figured it was my dinner not staying in my stomach and traveling up my esophagus. Just as I was about to really panic, the pain ebbed and settled down.

I finished all my medicines after ten days and went back to taking the Protonix only once a day. I also decided to try using it only every other day and that seemed to be okay too.

Now I waited until my follow up appointment with gastroenterologist that was scheduled for April…

January 2008 - Gastritis and H. Pylori

Somehow I made it through the holidays; every day cramping terribly after any meal other than breakfast. I barely ate anything, preferring to go hungry than to suffer with the pain. Homemade oatmeal seemed to be one of the best things that I could handle without hurting too much. As long as I ate very small amounts I did better than if I tried to eat full meals. It was like my stomach was just plain tired of working on digesting food.

The day after New Year’s I called the doctor’s office and went in to see him. After describing all my symptoms and experiences he told me that I probably had a slight case of “gastritis”. Gastritis simply means an inflammation of the stomach lining. He didn’t offer any clues or suggestions WHY I may have it. But he was quick to give me ten days of samples of Protonix. Protonix is a proton pump inhibitor which works in your stomach to shut down acid production. The makers of this drug also boast about its abilities to heal the stomach. Before sending me on my way, the doctor gave me a few suggestions on dietary changes until my stomach was better, although these things I had already been implementing on my own. He sent me off for some general blood work and an ultrasound on my gallbladder. I got the tests all done, and the doctor’s office did not call me to tell me that anything was out of order in any of the testing.

I began taking the Protonix and immediately felt an improvement. I certainly wasn’t having the stomach pains as severely. However, I did notice that some times after eating, it felt like the food was in my throat. But I was not having any acid reflux; just that funny feeling in my throat. I was elated to be eating again since I had quickly (as I usually do) lost quite a few pounds in just that one week.

My ten days of samples ran out, and I still wasn’t feeling all that great. My stomach was still giving me some trouble and things just did not feel like they were taken care of. So I went back to the doctor again. He suggested that he could send me to a gastroenterologist, and we agreed that we would allow my stomach one more week and see if it improved any. He sent me home with more days of Protonix samples. I took them all but still everything remained the same. I did not get acid reflux, occasionally felt the food in my throat, and my stomach still seemed to be struggling and giving me some pains.

To my great fortune, at the end of January, I had an appointment to go see my favorite nurse practitioner whom I visit for my womanly issues and exams. Immediately, she was very concerned about my weight loss since the last time I had seen her. I proceeded to explain to her what had been happening with my stomach. She began to offer various possibilities on WHY this could be happening; whether it could be food allergies, etc. She also discussed various tests we could have run to try to discover the reason for my problem. In the discussion she asked me if my doctor had run a Helicobacter Pylori test. I told her I was pretty certain he had not because I had looked at the blood work order and everything was just normal stuff. She also recommended to me the name of a gastroenterologist she liked and gave me a full prescription for more Protonix to carry me through until I could see the gastroenterologist. They drew my blood right there in the office and sent it off to the lab to be tested for H. Pylori. H. Pylori is a terrible bacteria which makes its home in your stomach and then proceeds to take over. It is the cause of a lot of people suffering from gastritis and ulcers.

A couple of days later the nurse practitioner called and told me that I most definitely was suffering from H. Pylori. A positive count was anything above 1.0. My count was over 8.0! No wonder my stomach was shutting down and I was suffering from gastritis. I called immediately to make an appointment with the referred gastroenterologist and was given an appointment six weeks away.

Anxiously waiting to be able to kill this stuff…