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Thursday, June 12, 2014

Working to Get Off Omeprazole Again

Even though this a blog about heart issues, I write here about my digestive issues because I often feel chest pains that mimic heart trouble due to GERD.

My GERD is caused by a small hiatal hernia that developed from years of being overweight and seven pregnancies.  Thankfully, it's just a small hernia, but it still gives me plenty of trouble.

Lately, I have had to go back on omeprazole due to a redevelopment of gastritis after a celiac flare up.  Yes, my GERD is also related to that.  I haven't had a flare up in about a year, but this one was nasty, lasting several weeks.

I've had much pain at the base of my esosphagus, and I went on omeprazole, temporarily, to heal it so that I don't get Barrett's esophagus, which can turn cancerous.

Along with the omprezole I took mastic gum, which is extracted from pine trees in Turkey put in powder form, and I buy it from Amazon.  I believe it is useful because it seems to kill a measure of h. pylori I might have in my system, but that is just my theory.  Mastic gum got me off of omeprazole the last time, but this time, my system was so messed up, I needed a little extra help from the omeprazole.

I also just started taking manuka honey which has been a tremendous help.  This is my favorite remedy so far as I can relieve my pain immediately from my esophagus to the middle of my gut in minutes with this product.  I just started using this a week ago and it's been so helpful, that I purchased another bottle.  Manuka honey is a very expensive raw honey I also order from Amazon.  It is very thick and it also has been known to kill bacteria.  It coats the esophagus as it goes down and, like I said, the relief is immediate.

I don't know how it would work for severe pain as I no longer let the damage get that far.

Yesterday I started taking slippery elm.  Slippery elm comes from the bark of the slippery elm tree and it is powdered and put in capsules.  It has the color of powdered bark and smells like bark.  It has been known for centuries to be beneficial to the stomach, and yesterday I took it for the first time in a long time and immediately felt relief and a feeling of wellness all day yesterday after taking it.

I've decided I've got to get off the omeprazole, or Prilosec as soon as possible because I have had widespread disabling joint pain ever since I started taking it.

I have also been doing research on licorice root in the form of DGL "Deglycyrrhizinated" licorice root, which is the safe kind.  It is very dangerous for anyone with heart issues to take the original licorice root that has not been deglycyrrhized because is raises blood pressure.  This product, DGL,  helps the stomach replenish mucous in the stomach and esophagus and there are preliminary reports that it helps to heal Barrett's esophagus.  I figure I should try it out to prevent Barrett's.

By the way, if you don't know what Barrett's esophagus is, it's a condition that develops where the esophagus cells turn into stomach cells and then chances for esophageal cancer rise a bit.  I read that the chances are 1 in 100.  So, if you have esophagitis, it's very important to get your GERD under control.

Right now mine is under control, but now I have to get off of the omeprazole so I can get rid of the joint pain and get my life back.

I'll be reporting on the slippery elm and DGL licorice in a few weeks so check back and see how I did.