Healing Acid Reflux

Video Post by:  Andreas Moritz  (2012)

Hi, this is a question from Barbara Foley and she is asking, “I have been hoarse for 6 months, one doctor says allergies, and the oncologist says it’s acid reflux. I could see on the screen form the camera view that my vocal cords are inflamed but I have never had heartburn or the like, so I am puzzled. I’ve taken the antacids and homeopathic drops for allergies and reduced tea, chocolate, spicy food intake but nothing seems to change. I continue to have juices, and follow best Vata food for me. Any thoughts?”

Basically it is a very, very low grade acid reflux that is not felt as if acid is moving up into the throat but there is backwashing of waste materials that move up from the lower intestines all the way up into the stomach and from there make their way through the esophagus into the throat.

So this is not something that has dramatic occurrences like massive amount of acid or food regurgitating into the throat area, but small amounts, little bits at a time and the reason for that is because the stomach itself is not capable of making enough hydrochloric acid. The problem has more to do with a long term digestive issue that is usually caused by lack of bile secretion in the liver, and when the liver doesn’t secrete enough bile, food isn’t digested properly and this leads to slow peristalsis which can end up causing constipation or sluggish bowel movement and that in turn causes regurgitation of toxins, bacteria, acidic substances that then move from the lower intestines, make their way as microscopic particles and microorganisms, all the way up into the stomach.

Now when the stomach doesn’t make enough hydrochloric acid, the little valve between the esophagus and the stomach that normally opens when you eat food and releases that food into the stomach, normally the stomach shuts that little valve. And the way the stomach is doing that is by producing hydrochloric acid. So once the body has made enough hydrochloric acid, it will shut the valve and the sphincter, the esophageal sphincter, and that will prevent backwashing of the stomach content into the throat which in some people is experienced as heartburn.

In your case that is a very slow continuous occurrence in minuscule amounts because the door, the little door between the esophagus and the stomach is not closed at all times. And so you want to make sure you produce enough hydrochloric acid in the stomach for that to remain shut after you have eaten a meal, so that you don’t get these acids inflaming your vocal chords.

So I recommend that you may want to do a test, and you can go to a local herbal store or even grocery stores that have hydrochloric acid and look for Betaine hydrochloric acid either in tablet form or capsule form, and take one tablet towards the end of the meal like the last few… two or three, four bites… and so take that, then finish the meal and then see if you have some kind of burning sensation after that one capsule or tablet. If you don’t, the next day, same time, do the same thing again, but this time take two tablets or two capsules with that meal, towards the end of the meal and see if that creates a burning sensation in your stomach. If it doesn’t then the following day, take three capsules or tablets.

So you will find out eventually that you would get pain or tension in that part of the body and if you do, you may take some bicarbonate or soda to balance that, but then you will know how severe the lack of hydrochloric acid is in your stomach. If there is severe lack, you will need more tablets or capsules of hydrochloric acid to achieve that burning sensation.

So once you have done the test you can supplement with that for a couple of days but I don’t recommend to take it ongoing to just to see how this will create, to sort of restore the function of your vocal chords and diminish the inflammation there. So this would give you proof that the root cause is, in fact, lack of hydrochloric acid in the stomach.

Liver and gallbladder flushes tend to help improve the digestion and therefore prevent backwashing of waste into the stomach which diminishes typically the ability of the stomach to produce hydrochloric acid. So, once again, the digestive process regulated by the liver is very important in this respect and it’s often the root cause for diminished hydrochloric acid production in the stomach and that should mean that we must clean the liver before we can expect an improvement in the stomach.

There are other factors that can also interfere with the secretion of hydrochloric acid such as stress, if you are suffering some kind of conflict in your life that is ongoing, or that has been going on for 6 months or so, then it’s good to look at that and see if there can be some kind of resolution, because the mind has a direct impact on the ability of the stomach to secrete hydrochloric acid.

There are a couple of other things you can do as well. If you take a teaspoon or two of apple cider vinegar with your meal, anytime during the meal, then that can also increase the hydrochloric acid production, or if you take a half a teaspoon of grated ginger with a little bit of sea salt sprinkled on it and take that just before the meal, that will also stimulate gastrointestinal secretions and that itself might do the trick as well.

You may try to avoid hot, spicy foods. So if there are any very, very hot spicy elements in your food, including garlic and onions, I would definitely encourage you to avoid these, especially for the time being, and then see how that goes with your throat.

So I feel very strongly that this will help you balance this particular condition. Once again diminished hydrochloric acid prevents the closure or the shutting of the sphincter of the esophagus which allows minute amounts of hydrochloric acid and other stomach content to move up into the throat and cause the throat to become inflamed.

So I think this is going to work for you.

Thank you.