You too can TrySharing stuff that I know…

15^th Oct 2007.

 

I was often suffering from Acidity. An irritable feeling starting from the entrance of the stomach moving upwards and reaching the throat.  This usually happens after 1-2 hrs of any intake, be it the morning coffee, the breakfast, lunch or dinner. According to the doctors and what I can gather from the net, this happens because of the excess acid moving upwards (the wrong direction) damaging the walls as it moves.

 

I am told, this is also called Heartburn, Irritable bowel syndrome or Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD). 

 

Not an unbearable situation, nevertheless, I contacted the doctor who prescribed Splanz 30 mg a couple of years ago. This used to be a wonderful solution and I never had any problems with the intake of this. But once the medicine is stopped, this would revert again. The doctor then said, you could take 15 mg (a smaller dose) as a maintenance whenever you have the symptoms. After about 6 months, when I complained about this to the doctor, I was asked to get an endoscopy done. This proved that I have a reddish layer on the esophagus and that can cause the irritation when the acid refuxes back. Now the medicine and dosages were changed. It was nexpro 40 mg for a month and 20 mg later as maintenance. Most allopathic doctors confirmed this to be ok.

 

I was not convinced about this and started taking other steps.

 

First, I approached a homeopath who started treating me. This could be a year long affair and an expenditure of Rs 10000+.

 

Next, I started my morning walks regularly (25-30 mts) for atleast 5 days a week.

 

I started avoiding coffee, fried foods, spicy foods,chocolate, citrus fruits/juices, Colas. This helps me control my weight as well.

 

I was to do yoga (ardha pawanamuktahasana, kabalabhati and pranayamam). I must confess that I do this only occasionally.

 

My wife read Satsaritam (Shirdi Saibaba’s life) as a prayer for curing my acidity.

 

I browsed the net to identify natural remedies. While one guy scared me that prolonged use of Nexium (nexpro) can cause serious problems, he suggested an apple based cure report costing $40. Though tempted, I did not take it.

 

Baba Ramdev spoke of bottlegourd(louki) juice in the morning which I started. There was also a report of pumpkin juice in an empty stomach early in the morning. I switched to this from bottlegourd.

 

Chewing few almonds whenever you get a symptom was also one of the practices I followed.

 

I was asked to take about 2 litres of water everyday. I have certainly increased my intake though not sure if it is 2 litres. I have installed a water purifier at home instead of the traditional candle filter. I have changed the water intake habit. I now take 3 glasses of water as soon as I get up, have very little after meals but 2 glasses after one hour of eating.

 

I now take my dinner early and leave a gap of 1-2 hrs before sleep. I have considerably reduced the post dinner ground nut munching.

 

I usually take a fruit one hour after dinner. It could be an apple, sweetlime(mousambi) or a banana.

 

The Rasam at home is now prepared without pepper. I found out that on few occasions the pepper in the rasam and sambar increased the irritation. However, ginger is regularly used in the cooking.

 

One day a mail came to me saying if you forward this mail to 5 people, your prayer will be answered. I did so with the cure for acidity in mind. This was the photo of “mangala swarupam” of Lord Venkateshwara.

 

All these have yielded positive results.

 

The happy news is that, I am now able to get rid of nexpro to a large extent. It is now >15 days since I took the last one which was the day I forwaded the mail.

 

I am sure I will be banishing my acidity fully in a short time and not take any medicine be it nexpro or homeo. The pumpkin juice also will become a selective habit.

 

Going by this, I now want to attack the excess Cholestrol as well as the mild hypertension in me.

 

Also, I have to encourage my wife to fight her Gout on similar lines.

  

19^th Mar 2009

 

I opened this document after 18 months and have almost conquered the acidity issue by God’s grace. No Nexpro or any regular medicine since my last writing. Homeopathy is also history now.

I said almost since outside food (especially any item of Adyar Ananda Bhavan) brings back the irritation and I had to take one or two Tums then. Lesson : No eating at A2B !!.

  

I also keep gulping water frequently instead of heavy drinking. Am taking lots of fruits except oranges. No Colas ofcourse..

 

I am now able to take two coffees a day and two teas.

 

Isn’t it wonderful folks?

 

I heard that Pomegrande is very good for reducing cholesterol.

 

My journey with Poms begins now !!!!