8/24/21 Today, I met with a new gastroenterologist doctor, Dr Mann. My old doctor whom I had been seeing for chronic acid reflux since college retired back in April. I had no idea until I called to try and set up an appointment. The new doctor was refreshing to meet and I’m glad he is getting Dr Willis’s referrals. He was nice, soft spoken and understanding. He explained things to me in a way that seemed like he knew what he was talking about. I have been several months now without the acid reflux prescription. I have been trying to follow the Induction Diet which was out of a book called Dropping Acid, The Reflux Diet Cookbook & Cure that I found when I was researching the topic. My main goal was to get off all medications, if possible. I wanted to give it a try. To go from a 1-gallon Ziplock bag full of pill bottles about 4 years ago from when I was in active addiction to zero sounded like a good story to tell, but I just couldn’t stand it anymore. The acid flareups multiple times per day were driving me crazy and hard to manage.
Today, I started back on the Omeprazole 20 mg prescription. We talked through all the options, and I feel as good about this as I possibly can. Part of me feels like I didn’t succeed. Like I failed at this zero-medicine goal. I gave it my best shot. I must surrender that I am powerless of this acid reflux disease. I didn’t make this doctor my higher power. I did my research and tried it my way, but it just wasn’t working. This medication is a tool that will help me function better.
I am currently living on a 750 mg Tums about every two and a half to three hours. Taken throughout the day, this adds up quickly to equaling 5-7 Tums per day. There was a YouTube video I watched on how to get off PPI’s, particularly Omeprazole, and it said to substitute Tums or Pepcid AC as acid reflux symptoms flare up. I did that but the only thing that worked and worked fast was Tums. I couldn’t even get through a 6am gym class before I had eaten anything yet without needing to chew up two to three Tums. I went 19 days on the Induction Diet, eating bland foods that are 5 pH and over. That was supposed to do the trick and help starve the pepsins, which do the damage. I went an additional 5 days past the 14 minimum but gave up at day 19. I did not see any reduction in the number of Tums that I needed to take per day in order to survive. I was still eating 5-7 everyday even with only consuming the non-acidic foods.
It didn’t work for me. I even cut out all coffee and herbal tea for two plus months prior to starting it. Let me say that again, because as a prior coffee addict, I was powerless over coffee. I had half a pot in the morning around 4 am when I got up, then around 2:30 or 3pm, I would start another pot of coffee at work. Being the only one who would drink it, I finished at least half of that pot as well. Dr. Willis told me that he had a friend who said he could drink either zero cups of coffee or dozen cups. That was me! I can’t just do one cup a day. Impossible for a recovering addict like me.
It also seemed like everything I wanted to eat based on the Whole30 program was acidic. I had to switch from eating nothing but fruits, vegetables and proteins to grains, legumes, bread, bagels, oatmeal, grits, pasta, no fat, no red meat, no strawberries, no oranges, limited apples…it seemed like total opposite.
The most frustrating part of getting off the prescription was having to always have 2-3 Tums in my pants pocket. Before we left to go to the pool, before I left for the gym or to do yard work, I had to grab a few Tums just in case there was an acid flare-up. I’ve been hooked on too many drinks and drugs in the past that I do not want to have to keep my stash of acid reflux meds nearby.
We talked through all the alleged side effects of these drugs and weighed all the available options and associated risks. I decided to make a conscious decision to get back on 20 mg of Omeprazole once a day. At least I can go back to the healthy foods again instead of all the low acid foods. Those were making me feel bloated and fat. Even feeling like I was going to get sick because I wasn’t getting all the high nutrient foods like I had been on the Whole30. Meagan and I are going to work towards eating on the Mediterranean Diet, which is a better compromise. The Whole30 just consumes what I believe is too much meat in general. The Mediterranean allows for some beans and rice, which we great to like on the Induction Diet, but really cuts back on the red meat to just once per month or so. I miss the fun fruits and veggies…shoot, even a salad was hard to eat, especially at a restaurant because the tomato, cucumber and most everything else that normally comes on a salad was acidic.
I feel good about my decision and am glad I challenged myself because many great things came out of it. I am happy to be off coffee for many reason that I could write an entire blog about. The main one being that I was able to get off sleeping aids. I had been on 1 Melatonin 3mg since I got sober but was having trouble going to sleep at night. My addiction therapist suggested that I take one at night to help me sleep and not drink or want a drug. Well, the amount of coffee that I was taking all day long really helped to contribute to my ability to go to sleep. However, I didn’t care because knew that I had the sleeping pill. In the morning, when I woke up, I would be a little druggy and would have to have coffee to get me going. And the cycle continued each day….I’ll leave it there for now.