Alison Odey

Gastric reflux generally indicates an incompetence of the lower esophageal sphincter.

The most common symptom is heartburn, sometimes with regurgitation of the stomach contents into the mouth other times not. The usual orthodox treatment is to use anti-acids, although this gives relief it does nothing to prevent the problem reoccurring.

The problem arises from an inability to digest food. To digest efficiently you need an adequate supply of both enzymes and Hydrochloric acid (HCI) in your stomach.

If you continually pour anti-acid preparations into your stomach you are continually reducing the acid levels that are needed to digest foods, this will create a pressure in the stomach which will in turn force the gastric contents upward.

Proteins in particular can be a problem as these require a high acid content in the stomach to enable full digestion.
See page on ‘Heartburn/reflux’

Enzymes are found in raw foods – not cooked, steamed or processed, so a lifetime of consuming mostly cooked foods slowly puts a burden on our digestive systems’ ability to produce sufficient enzymes to digest a meal adequately.
Also as we age our ability to produce enzymes decreases.

Supplying extra enzymes removes this burden and allows the stomach lining to gradually
start secreting more adequate amounts of HCI and digestive enzymes. You need to
take a food enzyme preparation prior to each meal.
See page on ‘Enzymes – facts’.

Initially if reflux continues to be a problem, take 4 -5 tablets of No 10 cell salt (Nat Phos) or ¼ tspn slippery elm powder half and hour after each meal.

Rumbling and gurgling of the lower abdomen will reduce on its own accord it you use enzymes, avoid sugars and rebalance the bowel flora with an acidophilus capsule taken once daily. In some cases a more specific probiotic may be needed.
See page on Probiotics.

Also slowly increase raw foods and juices. Discomfort and distension of the upper stomach will also subside as will the incidence of reflux.
Note that it may not be immediate, as these things take time.

If these measures do not fully rectify the condition contact a good Osteopath and check you do not have a spinal problem in the vicinity of the mid-thoracics (T4-T7).
Spinal nerves that originate at these vertebrae have a direct bearing on the function of gall-bladder, liver, stomach and pancreas and therefore on digestion.