Progressive Progressive Medical Center - 2019 | Page 18

TOO MUCH ACID? TOO MUCH ACID? NOT NECESSARILY. WHY NEXIUM AND PRILOSEC MAY MAKE ACID REFLUX WORSE Y ou probably already know: heartburn is caused by stomach acid backing up into your esophagus. But what you may not know is that it’s not necessarily too much acid but rather acid in the wrong place. When the pH of your stomach is not acidic enough, food sits in the stomach and ferments, producing gas. This gas pushes stomach contents and acid back into the esophagus when the pH of the stomach is too alkaline. The pH of the stomach should be 1.5–3.0 on the acid-to-alkaline scale, with 7.0 being neutral and 14 being the most alkaline. like Prilosec, Nexium, and Prevacid). These medications actually turn off acid production completely. “PPIs are huge moneymakers and, as a group, generate the third-highest sales of all drugs sold worldwide. This dollar [amount] is due to the fact that once you begin taking acid blockers, your doctor will probably want you to stay on them indefinitely. These medications are currently only approved for 12 weeks!” - Dr. Agolli PPI medications are often automatically prescribed without actually testing the pH of the stomach. Many times, you actually need more acid to be produced to digest neutral If the pH of the stomach is, let’s say, around 3.5–5.0 (still acidic, but not acidic enough to trigger the next steps in the digestive process efficiently), the partially broken-down food doesn’t move into the duodenum section of the small intestine as needed. The LES valve between the esophagus and stomach can become weak, resulting in acid backing up into the esophagus. Since the esophagus does not have a protective lining, even a 3.5–5.0 pH is too acidic for the esophagus! Conventional medicine’s popular answers to heartburn are medications called PPIs (proton pump inhibitors, 18 efficiently, thus eliminating heartburn naturally! Plus, when your stomach acid is turned off, you lose the ability to break down proteins adequately (into amino acids) and absorb minerals . . . which can lead to many health issues! The truth could be that you don’t have enough acid!! This is actually the opposite of conventional medical advice. At Progressive our treatment provides natural symptom relief for acid reflux while addressing the real root cause! For those who have been on a PPI for years, there is another answer that brings real healing long term and prevents a host of other health related conditions. Clues you may have low stomach acid: • Bloating, belching, burning immediately after meals • A sense of fullness after eating just a few bites • Feeling as though food sits in the stomach undigested for hours • Indigestion, diarrhea, constipation • Multiple food allergies • Iron deficiency • Acne • Chronic candida infections Conditions that may be associated with low gastric acidity: • Addison’s disease • Asthma • Celiac disease • Chronic autoimmune disorders • Chronic hives • Diabetes • Eczema • Gallbladder disease • Graves’ disease • Hepatitis • Hyper- and hypothyroidism • Lupus • Osteoporosis • Pernicious anemia • Psoriasis • Rheumatoid arthritis • • Rosacea Sjogren’s syndrome Testing your acid level is the only way to know if you have too much or too little acid.