If your doctor doesn’t know how to tell, you need to find one who does.

Nearly every senior you meet is on three medications (at least). They are most often a BP medication, a statin drug for cholesterol, and something for acid reflux. In fact, the dozens of medications for acid reflux bring in billions of dollars annually. For many people they may be making the actual problem worse.

Acid reflux occurs when you have acid remaining in your stomach that should have been neutralized by your digestive system. It can cause both flatulence and burping, and, in extreme cases, even regurgitation. To control it, the standard practice is to simply give you an acid reflux medication.

Few doctors ever test to see if the real problem is that you are simply not digesting your food quickly enough. Your food should completely empty out of your stomach in about 90 minutes–not three days or a week. It takes stomach acid to digest your food. As we age, our systems naturally slow down in production of the acid necessary for digestion.

If you do not have enough stomach acid to begin and complete the digestive process, your food will do what food does when you leave it sitting for days and days in a warm place. It will rot! It will begin to grow mold and become putrid, emitting its own methane gas. That gas has to go somewhere–and if it’s in your stomach, it’s usually going to come UP before going down and out.

The standard medical practice is to just give you more antacids–like Prevacid, Prylosec, and others to kill the acid. Good going. So now that the food has created its own acid, we have to kill that too, forcing it to sit there even longer.

So How Do You Know?

There is an easy, non-invasive, and relatively inexpensive test to see if you produce the acid needed for digestion. It involves drinking a coke like beverage and sitting in a recliner for about 45 minutes with electrodes strapped around the outside of your belly. The test measures the increase and decrease of acid as the drink is digested.

Insurance probably won’t pay for it.

Most doctors don’t even know about it. Find one who does.

What Can You Do About It

If your problem is being caused by too little natural–and healthy–stomach acid to digest your food, you need to add acid, not kill what little you have. First, you need to have a knowledgeable doctor confirm that this is your problem. The average doctor either doesn’t know or won’t tell you that this could be your problem.

Once you have verified that your food is sitting in your stomach too long, you can purchase non-prescription supplements that will help. You need something to produce acid to digest your food, and you probably need digestive enzymes as well. Since it is difficult to create exactly the right amount of acid with external supplements, you may also need something to neutralize the acid after the food has been digested.

Nearly everyone over 50 could use digestive enzymes. There are several brands available. You should do some research to see which ones actually work. Digestive enzymes not only help your food empty out of your stomach, but also keep the digestive process going in your intestines.

One way of creating additional acid is with an inexpensive supplement called “Betaine.” You won’t find it at Wal-Mart. You can purchase it at some health food stores; also a large GNC should have it. The easiest way to find it is through the internet at [www.iherb.com].

You can take from 2 to 4 Betaine capsules with every meal. You should take them just before eating as they work with your food to begin digestion.

If too much acid remains in your stomach after the food is gone, you will know it because you will begin to get heart burn. DGL is an extract from licorice that will calm the heart burn by neutralizing the excess acid. However, it will not stop the digestive processes. It is also non-prescription and easily found on [iherb.com] and possibly other websites as well. Local health food and supplement stores may have it, although we have not looked there.

Why not just keep going as you are?

There are certainly other causes for gas pain and poor digestion of food. You need to find out. However, the decreased production of digestive juices is one of the easiest causes to fix–and is the least known about. That’s because it doesn’t require expensive drugs, and most doctors are into giving out drugs, not actually curing the problem.

However, failure to cure the problem will lead to more and more medication that will ultimately fail to work. Failure to properly digest your food can lead to Perforated Bowel Syndrome (also called “leaky gut”), to uncontrollable gas, and ultimately to cancer. But, of course, that’s the ideal. The more drugs you take, the worse the problem will get, and the more likely that you will need the surgery–which means you contribute to the almighty no-health-care cartel that controls the finances of this country under the guise of treating illnesses and diseases.

Be aware, however, that most insurance companies will not pay for anything they consider “alternative” even if the treatment has worked in thousands of cases. Regardless, find a doctor who knows how to verify that this is your problem. If it is your problem, you will save thousands of dollars that you would have spent on medication and will also avoid the ultimate surgery that is recommended once your stomach starts refusing to keep anything down.

This article is for information only. We do not attempt to diagnose or treat any person’s disease.

By: Karen Ruff, D.A.

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