I've suffered from heart burn/acid reflux for the last 20 years. I've been taking Prilosec (Omeprazole) for about 12 years. I had my gallbladder removed about 10 years ago. The Prilosec pretty much eliminates heartburn for me but it is your typical nasty pharmaceutical. It blocks the acid that your body needs to properly break down vitamins and nutrients. So you can become deficient in several key areas. Newer research is showing that people that take Prilosec long term like me have a very high rate of liver failure. Once you take the pill for a few weeks your body becomes dependent on it. When I would try and get off the pills my heartburn became much worse than before I started.
I started doing some research and talked to some chiropractors. Every thing would lead back to apple cider vinegar. I've tried this so many times and it does not work for me. It makes me throw up which causes much more pain. I finally got fed up up enough to quit the Prilosec so I decided to do some research and buy pretty much every natural supplement and herb that I could find and try them all. After 2 months I am finally off of the Prilosec. I do get daily heartburn but it is manageable and not bad. I'm looking for any tips or tricks that I can try that aren't vinegar (fuck that shit it doesn't work).
So in the last two months I've used the following products
D-Limonene
Marshmallow Root
Aloe
Slippery Elm
Betaine HCI
DGL (licorice root)
Peppermint, Fennel oil, ginger blend
Black Walnut oil
Vitamin B, C, and D
Magnesium
Obviously all of those are overkill and I don't plan to take that many pills going forward. I'm very happy to finally be off of the evil pharma pills. I already stopped taking the Magnesium because it made me shit my pants. I might just start taking a smaller dose of it. I'm trying to be better about eating healthier and exercise more. If anyone else has any insight or tips could you please share? Thank you.
I wanted to make an update to this original post. Fast forward a few months and I'm able to manage my heartburn with very few supplements. I'm now just using slippery elm in the morning and evening. Then once in a while I will chew a licorice root extract if I get sudden heartburn. I've also learned to avoid spicy foods and tomatoes. These were the main triggers causing heartburn and upset stomach for me. Hopefully this can help someone get off nasty pharma acid blockers.
i'm in the same boat here. what is slippery elm. so that is the only thing you are taking now (and licorce root) or do you suppliment it with the above mentioned things?
@frater222 Yeah Slippery elm is pretty much the only thing I take now. It comes from a plant with the same name. I use the pills from Now Foods brand but I've heard of people having success with multiple other brands. I take two in the morning and two at night. I only chew a licorice root tablets when I have excessive heartburn. So I chew maybe two of those a week. The licorice root is called DGL. I use the Natural Factors brand but I'm sure the other ones work just as good. DGL works fast and exceptionally well. I give it to my friends who have heart burn. After they are done cursing me out for the taste they say that it completely took away their heartburn. I like the taste of DGL but other people compare it to a black licorice taste.
If I had to do it all over again I would probably just use a combination of D-limonene to build up my natural acids. Then take Slippery Elm morning and night and chew DGL when I couldn't handle the heartburn anymore. I think it took me about 5 to 6 months before I started to feel some what normal again. Omeprazole is a horrible drug. I'm now able to eat buffalo wings again and not be in pain. I also started exercising which I hate to admit but it has helped more than I thought it would.
If you can handle apple cider vinegar that is most peoples preferred route to build back up your natural acids. I couldn't handle it but from what I've read that will have quicker results then D-Limonene. I really liked the D-Limonene. It taste good and the only side affect that I could see is you have some burps that taste like oranges. Which is more pleasant then it sounds.
Good luck. I feel so much better not taking the Omeprazole/Prilosec. It's a sucky journey getting off of it but I can say it is absolutely worth it.
