So, I’m a newbie in this forum, but when you talk acid reflux and enzymes, you’re in my specialty area.
I’m a DC and a practitioner of a style of practice using Applied Kinesiology.
The bottom line of this condition is usually a condition called cranial respiratory faults (we just call them cranial faults) where the bones of the skull become somehow jammed (blows to the head most commonly) and no longer move properly in a gear and lever like mechanism as we breathe.
This can affect the cranial nerves. The Vagus nerve innervates all the internal organs above the transverse flecture of the colon…including the stomach.
It has been my experience that when people have stomach acid problems, it is most commonly caused by an effect from this Vagus nerve; the 10th cranial nerve.
The Vagus nerve neurologically signals the stomach to produce/release stomach acids for the foods to initiate the digestive process.
The condition is commonly treated with hcl tablets where people do experience relief. What is going on with the enzymes is that the foods in the stomach need to be acidified as they continue down into the duodenum (first part of the small intestine). If the foods are not acidified, the duodenum is not going to signal the digestive portion of the pancreas to release digestive enzymes to further break down our foods and they begin to putrify and rot. It is my understanding that this is where the foods cause the reflux and the bloat.
Complicating this is that the acidic environment in the stomach is beneficial to kill off various undesirable organisms such as fungus/yeast, bacteria, parasites, etc.
You don’t necessarily have to have diminished stomach acid/enzymes to develop an overgrowth of the undesirables, but you will be all the more susceptible.
If the undesirables gain a foothold and sustain a population, they compete with the good bacteria, only the undesirables create an anaerobic environment where the good stuff does not thrive and you can be more susceptible for other bad critters to develop a sustainable population.
The good bacteria eat our poop and poop out critical nutrients to feed our gut wall. The bad stuff poops out literally neurotoxic waste that not only damages the gut wall, creating a leaky gut syndrome, but this nasty stuff is absorbed thru the gut wall into the blood stream that adds to our toxic load.
The ‘leaky gut syndrome’ is associated with chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, nutrient insufficiencies, Crohns disease, Irritable bowel syndrome and finally colon cancer.
It is unfortunately not very well understood my the medical community.
The concept of cranial faults is not universally accepted in the Chiropractic world. The knowledge of this was developed by an Osteopath (Sutherland) back in the early 20th century and is used with exceptional success by individuals who have studied the protocols of treatment.
I would guess that maybe a third of DC’s understand enough about cranial faults to know that the concept is real and treatment is beneficial.
I, personally, have been treating cranial faults for nearly 10 years and have many amazing successes because of this treatment.
Anyone who would like more information, please do shoot me a PM.
I hope I have not overstepped my bounds with this long post.
[quote]The bottom line of this condition is usually a condition called cranial respiratory faults (we just call them cranial faults) where the bones of the skull become somehow jammed (blows to the head most commonly) and no longer move properly in a gear and lever like mechanism as we breathe.
This can affect the cranial nerves. The Vagus nerve innervates all the internal organs above the transverse flecture of the colon…including the stomach. [/quote]
I would never have thought that it would begin within the skull; and a more important note, that will also indicate that the intestines (specifically the colon) wouldn’t be working optimally, yay small victory for me.
Ah, didn’t know it reaches phases in general. But yeah, it started with my father as a very serious condition of IBS. He was diagnosed with it for a year for the first time in his life at the age of 55, and now he’s fine. But the original poster has been dealing with this for up to 10 years now which bothers the shit out of me; because I’ve never heard of anyone having to deal with acid imbalances for this long.
And no, you didn’t overstep your boundaries; you’re fine.
I saw my doctor this morning and informed him that I was still having digestive problems, so he set me up with a gastro. Who knows what will come of that.
In the meantime, I’ve decided to back off the ACV. I’m sure it works for some people, and I may continue to take it in small doses simply as a dietary supplement, but I pretty much determined it was the cause of my heartburn, so I took that as a sign. Also, I realized I wasn’t taking in quite as much fiber as I thought (and used to), so I’m slowly reintroducing flax seeds and some psyllium husks into my diet.
Just to clarify, my problems began as acid reflux/GERD about ten years ago, but since then have morphed into something completely different so that now the issues are primarily with the lower intestines. I no longer have any trouble keeping food down; it’s what happens afterwards that’s the real problem.
The other consideration would be food allergies in the IgG category. These food allergies are highly inflammatory to the entire body and are being shown in research to contribute greatly to many chronic diseases besides just the gut stuff. Autoimmune disease where the body attacks itself.
These food allergies are not the ones that cause anaphalactic shock and hives; those are the IgE antibodies…the allergies that the medical skin scratch and blood tests look for. The IgG allergies are extremely rarely tested for in the medical community.
These have been called the silent allergies or the hidden allergies because of the delayed response from hours to days.
In my work, if someone comes in with whatever that is worst in the morning, especially the first 10 steps out of bed that improves thru the day…those are IgG allergies.
Most commonly seen by me are nuts (everything except wallnuts) and barley and dairy, sometimes soy.
Corn sugar can be a real bugger.
Many other things less commonly smattered thru the picture.
[quote]Big Julie wrote:
The other consideration would be food allergies in the IgG category. These food allergies are highly inflammatory to the entire body and are being shown in research to contribute greatly to many chronic diseases besides just the gut stuff. Autoimmune disease where the body attacks itself.
These food allergies are not the ones that cause anaphalactic shock and hives; those are the IgE antibodies…the allergies that the medical skin scratch and blood tests look for. The IgG allergies are extremely rarely tested for in the medical community.
These have been called the silent allergies or the hidden allergies because of the delayed response from hours to days. In my work, if someone comes in with whatever that is worst in the morning, especially the first 10 steps out of bed that improves thru the day…those are IgG allergies.
Most commonly seen by me are nuts (everything except wallnuts) and barley and dairy, sometimes soy. Corn sugar can be a real bugger.
Many other things less commonly smattered thru the picture.
The worse the leaky gut, the more allergies.
[/quote]
Food allergies are among the many things I’ve suspected are wrong with me, so over the last couple of weeks I selected a few foods that I suspected were causing me problems and eliminated them from my diet. After they’ve been out of my system for a week or so, I will reintroduce them and see how I feel.
Also, it’s nice to have a DC posting in this thread. I see a very good one myself, and his care has been the most beneficial medical service I’ve ever had.
The Gold standard of all food allergy tests is the elimination diet for two weeks followed by a reintroduction of the suspected foods to try to elicit a negative response.
Things you might look when reintroducing the foods are:
-aches and pains worse in the am’s
-changes in bowel function…loose stools, gas, cramps…any negative change
-fatigue…food allergies create a negative adrenal response (drain) and you might feel super tired later in the evening, but when you try to go to sleep, your mind races from one thing to the next and you cannot sleep.
(That is where the adaptogens come in with the Rhodalia in one of the formulas on this site…basicly adrenal support…LOTS of people’s adrenals are fried; I mean, fatigued) But you can be stressed and wired or stressed and tired…there are differences in the nutritional support.
-Food allergies can also cause skin eruptions…pustules/boils, acne; but these can also be involved with the bad critters in the gut.
If I eat peanuts, my right knee kills me.
Goofy sharp pains in the front and outside of the knee where I once had a meniscus tear fixed.
While I’m waiting to see the gastro, I’m continuing to learn as much from reading up on digestive problems as I can. I keep coming back to IBS, with a little extra to worry about.
In the meantime…
Oquendog,
You’ve mentioned in this thread that your father was diagnosed with IBS and managed to get it under control. If I may ask, could you elaborate on what helped him?
Don’t worry, I won’t just run off and copy everything, I’m just curious.
They performed a Pancreatectomy; removing the damaged portion (head; in his case) of the pancreas.
Which, earlier in the post is why I asked you to see a gastroenteroligist to see if all of your organs were functioning optimally before surgery becomes your only option.