12/06/2024
So I realized the other day that I had gotten used to the feeling of having chronically finicky digestion and was having the thought that I would always have it. And then I remembered that that's not the reality that I would prefer to create and so I should change that. So I said to my Angels - "I need y'all to show me the resolution to this, if there is anything that I need to do". And then I got serious about focusing on the feeling that my digestion is STRAC - an Army acronym for "strong, tough, and ready for action".
The following day, I had the desire to drink coffee with ice cream an hour or so after eating, and I made it stronger than usual. And I drank it relatively quickly. And I know all those things are a bad idea. My finicky digestion does not respond well to things like coffee or sodas or ice cream on an empty stomach. Nevertheless, I have an agreement with my body that if it really craves something then there must be a good reason and so I will ingest that. And I reasoned that my stomach wasn't really THAT empty - I mean, it had only been an hour or so since I ate.
And shortly after that, I developed a very unpleasant episode of acid indigestion.
Heartburn and acid indigestion happen to me very rarely because I know what provokes them and I avoid those things - usually. So I had no quick fix around for it. I had things that eased it a little but I was still really uncomfortable. So I turned to the internet to see what else I might be able to do with what I had available.
And there I quickly ran across the reason for the craving. I found an interesting answer for my long-term nasal congestion of unknown origin. It turns out that there is a form of covert gastroesophageal reflux (GERD) that does not have classic GERD symptoms. Instead, it has sinus symptoms. And it seems to be related to pepsin and not HCL. The pepsin refluxes up from the stomach and lodges in receptors in the sinuses - and in the throat and larynx and ears, and even the lungs. So it causes things like chronic nasal congestion, post nasal drip, cough, throat clearing, hoarseness, and even ear pain, weird lung symptoms, and chest pain.
It seems like allergies but antihistamines don't help. And if you treat GERD that is related to HCL, that might help some but not much because it's not related to HCL. The fix is to eat nothing but foods with a pH above 5 for a month, in small quantities, to minimize pepsin creation and give the body a chance to clear the pepsin out of tissues where it doesn't belong - which is everywhere except the stomach. And then long-term, paying attention to food pH and keeping most food on the alkaline side can help prevent it from coming back.
So having noticed previously that eating some foods would give me a stuffy nose and post-nasal drip, I though that this was worth a try. And after just a few days of it, I can say that food-provoked sinus symptoms have already decreased noticeably.
This ENT doctor wrote a book about it but he also provides some free guidelines here, in case you or someone you know might want to try it:
