I was prescribed Zantac a few years ago which proved to be useless for the condition I had at the time.
It seems to be a case with some doctors of if in doubt prescribe acid suppressants and it might keep you quiet for a bit while waiting for tests.
I think we are all Quack ers.
I donāt claim to know it either.
All I am doing is offering an alternative viewpoint, and saying what Iād personally do in such a situation. Itās up to the individual to make their own choice, but at least theyāll be better armed than had they relied solely on their ādoctorā. I use the word loosely - many of them are not worthy of the title!
That certainly seems to be the case Meg. The bad news is that taking them can be the beginning of real problems - someone said once that taking PPIs was like taking an early death sentence. The industry has a lot to answer for.
I believe that is a very defamatory statement for anyone to make least of all a forum owner.:shock:
GPās are not all specialists and prescribing to help relieve the discomfort in the interim while awaiting tests for a firm diagnosis is not unusual.
Pats I am well aware āGPs are not all specialistsā you are stating the obvious . For me prescribing medication which in no way fits the symptoms is a pointless exercise.
Itās my opinion.
Their lack of knowledge is nothing short of atrocious. The amount of times I have had to correct specialists on what I consider some of the basics is frightening.
It may not be unusual, but it can often be reckless.
I completely agree with Meg on the attitude of many Doctors in this regard.
I work with Doctors every single day of the weekā¦ I have a Nursing degreeā¦ and everytime I get to thinking I know more than they doā¦ I embarrass myself. They really are very inteligent people. I think that sometimes when laymen do not have the entire grasp of pathophysiology and anatomy, as well as not having 12 or 15 years of medical training, they draw conclusions that are not always accurate.
Of course true - but āexperienceā of consultants and doctors is also invaluable ā¦
Well said Audrey.
Originally Posted by Pats.
I believe that is a very defamatory statement for anyone to make least of all a forum owner.
And it was mine.
I would be very interested Azz.
Iāve suffered with horrible uncomfortable acid problems in recent years and have been prescribed the drug omeprazole. Iāve been reading up about it and apparently uncontrolled acid causes serious problems in the esophagus, throat and mouth but the drugs are certainly not a long term solution.
I like to think I have a health cynicism of doctors and the industry generally and am very lucky in that I have a GP that feels the same!
I just feel instinctively that acid issues are diet/vitamin deficiency related.
Noā¦ the stomach produces acid when histamine binds to the H2 receptor sites on the parietal cells in the stomach mucosa. After the acid is produced it is pumped out through a mechanism called a Proton pump also found on the parietal cell
So really there are two types of medicationsā¦ One is an H2 receptor antagonist. (zantac, pepcid) which binds to the H2 receptor so the Histamine cannot. The other is a proton pump inhibitor. (prilosec, prevacid) which stops the parietal cell from pumping out acid.
Have you figured out how diet and vitamins contribute to the production of histamine, or can work to block the parietal cell proton pump? I guess that would be the place to start.
Perhaps things are a little different there. Here, almost every consultant I have seen has had a god complex and a very narrow-mind, stilted by archaic information and have been on several occasions, just plainly factually incorrect. Not a single one I have seen seems to have kept up with the latest research about the fields they are meant to be an expert in.
Bitterly disappointing and incredibly frustrating - given that their actions (or lack of) can have devastating effects on the lives of others.
I completely understand you wanting to support your colleagues, though.
Great stuff - I signed up a domain name the other day 
just need to find time now to start on it. What I might do is make it a blog, so that I can get info up there as and when I get time to do it, rather than wait 6 months to a year to put up the bulk of it.
I wish more people had a healthy cynicism like you have. I have very little faith in the industry myself - all too often, all they care about is making money.
With regards to your symptoms, the way Iād look at it is āWhat could have caused this?ā for that Iād want to note when the symptoms started, whether anything led up to it, and what seem like triggers.
Having a test for H Pylori might be worth pursuing, or just going ahead with natural treatment such as 2 x Mastic Gum capsules first thing and last thing. Mastic gum, as far as I know, does not have any side effects. I have personally found these to be quite helpful and they have proven to be effective (against H Pylori) in numerous clinical studies.
When I get five minutes I will post up some links with further details about PPIs, and a general view of how the digestive system works.
They can be, Baxter.
Eating certain foods (and sometimes the quantity of them!) require more acid to digest them than others. Grains/carbs is one such group.
Also, a deficient diet can also have an indirect effect by means of some systems having to compensate for others. If your liver is sludgy or not producing adequate bile, then maybe your stomach will produce more acid to compensate?
I like to keep an open mind about it myself, but the thing I find interesting is why you personally feel that - have you found that you feel a little better when you eat certain foods?
Itās questions like these that Doctors generally fail to ask - everybody is different, and the root of your problems may be different to others.
I have a very strong inkling that it is wheat. Pasta seems to be ok but bread- I think is no no if I want to remain symptom free. I also think it could be British grown wheat - may be my imagination but I donāt react well to British grown wheat and I recall a nutritionist saying much the same thing.
I donāt think the human body is nearly so easily read as doctors like to think sometimes.
Wheat is a relatively recent addition to the human diet - being introduced just 10,000 years ago (short, compared to how long humans and our closest ancestors have been around; 2,000,000 years). Genetically, we are practically identical to early humans.
Additionally, it is no longer prepared like it was; properly prepared and fermented before cooking (not to mention stone ground and not being bleached or grown with pesticides etc). All this means wheat today is very different to the wheat that our recent ancestors consumed.
On top of this, gluten, a protein in wheat, is very difficult to digest (studies show that it can block neurotransmitters in our brains, too).
It may be a good idea to avoid wheat, or if you really must have it, make sourdough bread - the fermenting process helps break down the anti-nutrients (some of which I have not covered here).
Azz it may be helpful to us all if you could outline your āqualifications/training/practices etcā in this field of study and practice?
AudreyII and Pats have both declared their professional backgrounds
Iām just waiting for an explanation of HOW this theory is supposed to stop production of stomach acid and refluxā¦ I mean the scientific explanation and the physiological rational. Does it somehow STOP the production of acid by targeting the Parietal cells? or Does it stop the production of histamine by targeting the Mast cells? If so, how does it selectively target the stomach and not affect the other histamine pathways necessary for life. Can we get an explanation down to the cellular level? Iāve explained how the Proton Pump inhibitors and the H2 receptor antagonists workā¦ Now itās your turn Azzā¦